The moment i read that MAS was promoting on Michael Buble, i was ecstatic! With the current mainstream songs being so poppish and auto-tune-ish, i couldn’t help but enjoy old jazzy music like Buble’s even more. When i got to know the date, i was torn. It was a week after Jay Chou’s concert (yes i attended his concert as well, lol. Awesome CG!) and a week before Angeline leaves for the motherland.

Seeing that Enrich members were given priority and was given a discount, we thought no further.

It was expensive.

But it was totally worth it!

The day finally came and we waited at KL Sentral which had a free shuttle service to Melawati Stadium, specially for Michael Buble’s concert. It took us less than 40 minutes to reach the stadium and there we walked around the F & B stalls waiting for the gates to open up.

Nearby the stalls was a board where everyone had to take a photo. Some even shoved each other to be in front of the board, lol.

We then made our way to the entrance of the stadium after realizing the dark clouds were fast approaching.

The rest also realized it was getting darker and the crowd started building up at the entrance.

After standing for close to 20 minutes, the organizers opened the gates and we all rushed before it started to pour from the skies.

We found our seats with ease and yes we were damn early. It slowly filled up as more and more people rushed in the rain.

The concert started with a local artist and she really had some powerful vocals.

After an hour or so, Michael Buble made his grand entrance and it was spectacular! At that point of time, i still compared any concerts to James Morrisson’s in KLCC where he played all acoustics and it was really classy.

Of course that was all out of the window with Michael Buble.

“Let’s not have a concert but let’s have a party!”.

That’s what Michael said at the beginning and it was definitely a party. Not only did he sing well but he was one hell of a joker!

He told us that to warm up before concerts like this he would sing 2 songs to energy pumped up. Immediately he sang Don’t Stop Believing, the Glee version and everyone burst into laughter. He then sang A Whole New World from Aladdin.

What a joker!

He also did a rendition of Michael Jackson which had the row behind me, screaming like mad. LOL

If only the upload speed for Streamyx was stable and probably faster than the current one,  i would have uploaded a couple of videos. Unfortunately after trying over and over again, i only got 2 videos up.

The crowd shouted for an Encore and We Want More! Michael reappears and sings Feeeling Good

This is definitely one of the many highlights of his ‘party’. Watch at the end of the clip. NO SOUND EQUIPMENTS USED. And he is still able to sing to all of us!

Hands down, the best concert / party i have attended to date!

Michael Buble’s Crazy Love Concert

The final week of 2010 was probably one of the best final weeks of the year i had so far. Started off with the AFF Suzuki Cup where Malaysia met Indonesia in the finals. Putting the stupid laser beams aside, i can easily say it was the one time where everyone in Malaysia was one, united. No race, no religion but Malaysian instead. It even came to a point when i was packing food and the fella manning the store asked …

“You are Malaysian?”

I was like in a state of shock cause finally, finally someone asked the right question and not the usual, what are you? what race, bla bla bla. This fella is actually an ardent fan of the Malaysian football team and he was giving extra chicken to his fellow countrymen. HAhahaha nice gesture.

My room mate’s cousin was getting married and i was invited to witness and also photograph the ceremony as i haven’t been to a Punjabi wedding before. Honestly speaking, it was damn nice and colourful!

The Punjabi community are very closely knitted and i had the chance to see that first hand. What left me in awe was how close were they to their Chinese neighbour! There’s a part of the pre-wedding where the ladies would dance around with one of them dressed up as a bridegroom and bride. I followed the group as they danced around the guest but they suddenly danced towards their neighbour’s house and i was baffled.

The owner of the house actually opened her doors and invited all of them to dance in their hall !!!!

I have never seen anything like that and just had to record it !

Neighbour also started dancing There’s always a first for everything.

Finally on New Year’s eve, i was invited to celebrate New Year with my cousins and nephew/nieces. I was forced to gulp down wine and beer though i never liked both. But over the years of attending family functions, i have slowly learned to drink beer -_-! Would definitely go for sparkling juice anytime but that would not look good especially when you are forced to mingle with your boss and colleagues in future; social drinking. So which better place to learn to increase your tolerance level for alcohol if it isn’t your cousin’s house.

About 1am plus we called it a day. One the way back i was stopped twice at the police roadblock asking for my nationality -_-! The moment i replied in Bahasa, i was given the hand signal to move on

On New Year’s morning i went to temple as how i would do with my family in Penang. On the way back, while driving on the Bukit Jalil Highway, a car cuts right in front of me … on a highway …. and he suddenly slams the brakes.

*Bang*

On the way to the airport, i sensed that i should be prepared with plan B as the possibility of missing the flight was almost inevitable.

A few months before, Angeline and i mapped out the roads that would lead us up to northern Luzon and checked if it’s possible reaching there without the plane. The reason why we had to map out the roads was because if you do a quick google map check, there isn’t a proper route. So we had manually check and if buses were going to the Vigan or even Laoag City from Manila.

The answer was YES.

Thus plan B was initiated. Plan B as backup and B as for … BUS.

Partas Bus to be exact.

*Some requested for a map to show where we were heading and so here it is. We are stuck in Manila where we missed our flight to Laoag City which at the far north. So plan B is to take a bus to Vigan City first before continuing by van to Laoag City.

Having taken a grueling bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap with chickens hung upside down by the passenger beside me through out the 10 hour journey, i was more prepared for anything LOL.

When Hannah told us that the flight was already on the runway, i looked at everyone to see what was their reaction and surprisingly all looked rather calm. I was ‘used’ to getting sticks in previous trips but probably this time around i was with the right people onboard.

Angeline and I then told the whole group that we have to initiate plan B if we were to keep up with the time lost.

Emily said,” Bus?! Woahhh like Cambodia?”.

We had less than 2 hours to get to the Partas bus station and also have dinner. We refreshed ourselves at the airport’s washroom before taking taxis to the bus station. There we bought the tickets and had dinner while waiting.

I asked around if i could charge my iPhone while having my dinner and i was asked to pay RM 2 for the service >.<! I didn’t really complain as i really needed it to be fully charged.

The time came and upon boarding the bus, the first thing that i realized was the blaring 80s music being played. It was in fact the only music being played throughout the whole journey. So far nothing has beaten the movie shown in the bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap where the martial arts were based on basketball moves.

By taking the bus we would move from Manila to Vigan and then followed by Laoag City.

Just like Malaysia, the bus eventually stopped out of nowhere for us to get something to bite and also to use the washroom.

I checked the map and realized we were nearby a town called Villasis. Not to sure if it has anything to do with Hannah since her name is Hannah Villasis

The journey to Vigan continued.

We arrived at about 7 something in the morning, local time. Hannah then got us a few motor-tricycles to bring us to our hotel, Salcedo de Vigan. We were actually suppose to spend a night here but because of the missed flight, we only had a few hours in Vigan. It wasn’t a problem with our itinerary but i could see some were already floating.

The moment we arrived the staffs welcomed us and immediately showed us to our dormitory. I called them the night before telling them we missed the flight and would be arriving late. I felt bad as they have actually sent 2 vans to pick us up from the airport. Even with all the staffs were very friendly.

I finally met with the person whom i was emailing regarding our accommodation, Kaye!

I asked the receptionist who was Kaye cause i honestly didn’t know if i was meeting a lady or a man. She then said,” Oh Miss Kaye will meet with you later.”

“Ohhh Miss Kaye. Hahah ok ”, i replied, LOL.

All of us took turns to wash up as for the rest who were waiting, totally knocked out on their beds.

We rested for like 2 hours before slowly moving our butts out of bed to have the complimentary breakfast. Everyone looked groggy.

We were staying at the highest floor and had to walk down 4 flights of stairs. Salcedo de Vigan has beautiful interior which was probably preserved from the Spanish times which was good cause it gives that old feel.

Some of us just couldn’t stop exploring the whole hotel. Had we had more time, we probably would have camwhored everywhere.

Before heading for breakfast, i finally met Miss Kaye and made the final payments for our room as well as the Kalesa rides (horse rides) that we were about to take right after breakfast.

For breakfast i had garlic rice with scrambled egg and pork sausages.

The receptionist then signaled that the Kalesa rides were ready and we all wrapped up our breakfast and headed outside.

Vigan is actually a town which is sort of stuck in a time capsule and tries to maintain their Spanish heritage which is beautiful and interesting. The roads itself aren’t the usual tar but slabs of stones instead.

We were shown around town and i can remember how the locals were looking at us. Probably because the rest of the town were on wheels and we on the other hand were moving around with manual power.

One carriage had like 3 of us in it …. depending on the body size. Some manage to squeeze in 4. One of the first stops was at the main Vigan gate (picture above). The kalesas stopped right in the middle of the road for us to take photos.

Super ganas to the max.

]]> http://satkuru.com/blog/2011/01/philippines-day-2-plan-b/feed/ 7 http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/11/meet-the-parents-deepavali-meetup/ http://satkuru.com/blog/2010/11/meet-the-parents-deepavali-meetup/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:14:00 +0000 satkuru http://satkuru.com/blog/?p=3419

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After my first few nervy encounters with Angeline’s parents, i took the next step which is to invite her parents over to my home. And what other better time than Deepavali to invite them over. I think i had to correct my invitation message a couple of times before actually sending it to her dad.

I never got any reply after that and Angeline never said anything if her parents did mention anything regarding my invitation.

The next morning, Deepavali day itself, i was too busy running around getting things down before the whole jingbang came to my house. This is in fact the first time i was having an open house. 2 hours before lunch hour, i went over to Angeline’s house to pick her up. That’s when she told me that her family was coming over.

I was like O.O!

So i messaged my sister telling her to inform my parents. So many things ran through my head like what are my parents going to say to her parents or will i do anything stupid.

Last year my sister invited her friends and this year i thought it would be nice to gather a few friends. With a special appearance of Angeline’s parents.

One by one appeared at the gate and slowly the hall started to fill up.

While i was busy entertaining the crowd, the house bell went off and it was Angeline’s family. I dropped what ever i was doing and welcomed them in. My father was already at the door to greet them. My mum on the other hand was busy in the kitchen bringing out the food. I couldn’t serve them lunch as my table could only cater 6 people at any one time and with Desmond, Emily, Jason yakking away lol, i kindly asked them if they were going for second round.

My parents then joined them for lunch and i think i panicked. I kept moving up and down bringing whatever that is needed to the table. This was when Angeline’s siblings laughed at me especially when i was serving them T.T

Tension sial.

To make matters worse, i was sweating like a cow when my hall had 2 airconds turned on.

“Eh you okay or not,” Angeline asked.

“Of course i am not,” i replied.

“Why lar? Don’t ler so tension,” Angeline said.

“No ler, it’s so quiet at the table. Why aren’t they talking? T.T,” referring to both the parents.

“Let them eat first ler cow,” Angeline mocked.

T_______T

True enough after lunch, both parents talked. Angeline was clever enough to divert my attention by asking to initiate a game of Monopoly Deal. Since only a handful of us were playing, i put on Avatar to keep the rest accompanied. Speaking of Monopoly Deal, i was introduced to this game by Angeline’s parents themselves.

I didn’t really concentrate on the game as i kept glancing over to the dining table. After a few rounds of Monopoly Deal, her parents signaled it was time for them to leave.

Before they left, Angeline’s siblings looked at me and controlled their laughter T.T

I think i did look stupid  but nevertheless it’s at least one step forward for me.

“Have you guys watched 2012 ?” a guy randomly asks the three of us when he overheard us talking about Avatar.

We replied him saying we have already watched it. Immediately he joins us at our table and started off by saying 2012 is for real. Out of curiosity I asked him what makes you say that.

He replied, “He told me it’s going to happen and it has already started to take its toll”.

“Who is he ?” i asked.

“He is the one above”

“ Who is ….?”

“God”

“Okayyyy”

Have you realized the amount of disasters that has been happening around the world ? Plagues, Earthquakes, Volcanoes erupting. The Tsunami in 2004 is only a small preview of what is to come *shows me his little finger with the tip of his thumb pressing on it to display the meaning of little*

So what do you plan to do now that I have given you this information.

*coughs* start saving for a billion euros *continues eating*

Noooo sure cannot. You won’t have the time to save. What you should do is release yourself.

Define the word release cause it could mean a lot of things, if you get what I mean.

Release as in release your soul. With 2012 fast approaching, Jesus is now here helping us to release the souls.

-

-

-

-

-

-

* how come suddenly Jesus came into the frame ?

*disclaimer: i have nothing against any religion at all, don’t take it the wrong way. As the saying goes, a hungry man is an angry man*

-

-

So you are telling me Jesus is back ?

Yes he is helping to release the souls before the world ends.

*At this point i was thinking how come the Pope wasn’t informed about this*

He then continued talking about 2012, where the Mayan calendar ends and what will eventually happen. I tried to finish my lunch as fast as I could until he said this …

Satkuru, Siva also came down.

Hah? Who is Siva? Which department?

-

-

-

-

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Your God, Siva.

-________________________________-!

He came down ? -__-!

Yes

Why is he down here ?

Like Jesus, he is releasing the souls. In fact a few of them came down …

-

-

-

Let me guess, Buddha was one of them -_-!

Of course. He is also down. And speaking of Buddha, you see your nipple there *points at my nipple*

-

-

Yes  -__________-!

-

-

You put like one index finger from it, just below ur armpit, your chakra is there and that’s where you can release yourself. Satkuru do you do Yoga ?

-

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Most definitely not.

Then what do you do when you go back to your room ?

-

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Sleep.

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Oh, if you do Yoga, you can release yourself from the chakra and it’s a wonderful feeling.

-

-

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*Wonderful feeling? *

Don’t mind me asking, how many times have you watched 2012 ?

-

-

-

3 times and everytime I watch it I can relate to what is gonna happen

*coughs* Well that explains everything …

-_-!

P/S: To all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

The last time I wrote about my first encounter with dolphin’s parents were many moons back and if you haven’t read or can’t recall the main subject of that particular meet was her pet Husky!

Though it was Malu-ation for me but over the months it got better but occasionally I did have my moments.

A week after meeting her parents I was back again. This time around I wasn’t as nervous but as cool as a cucumber. While waiting for her to get ready, her mum asked if would like to read the papers in Hokkien T.T Just Before I could show her mum that i do know how answer her in hokkien, my phone decided to jump in:

“Ding ding”

“Lost satellite connection”

“Ding ding”

“Lost satellite connection”

-_______________-!

Her mum got a shock cause:

1) The voice was blaring out as the volume was set to the max

2) I was trying to get my phone out of my pocket but for some reason the phone decided to get stuck in the pocket.

So it was kinda awkward. A voice screaming that there’s no satellite connection and me looking like a fool.

Moral of the Story: Double check your phone if you forgotten to turn off the GPS XD Another tip is, have appropriate ringtone. At that point of time i had “Sexy Can I” as my ringtone. Though i only had certain part of the song but the words were:

Sexy can I, hit it from the front,
then I hit it from the back.
know you like it like that.
then we take it to the bed, then we take it to the floor

After that day i changed it, hahaha

On our final day, we made a stop at one of the orphanages with respect to Wen Yan’s request. Wen Yan who is Angeline’s ex uni mate was in Cambodia a few weeks before us but she didn’t have the chance to donate. So in return, we were commissioned to carry out her task, lol.

Of course giving cash wouldn’t be the ideal thing. We instead went to a nearby market to buy 100kgs of rice. The seven of us too chipped in to round up the cash so we could get 100kgs. Siya then brought us to this orphanage which was quite near to the place we stayed.

We arrived without informing their caretaker as there weren’t any phone in the house and so he curiously greeted us. We mentioned our intentions and he gladly brought us around the compound. It was like a mini-tour. They have a small classroom in the compound and also their own farm for them to grow their vegetables. We were also shown the rooms of the children and it was definitely small judging from the amount of children that gathered in front of us. Besides that, one of the girls was diagnosed HIV+. We were told that her school knows about it and they are trying their best to give her a normal environment, just like any other kid.

After placing the bags of rice at the kitchen, the children starting singing to us

This all happened after we returned from a long hike up the hill to see the river of the 1000 lingas.

We had to wake up early as the journey to the hill was quite a distance and since there were a few temples on the way, i thought it would be wise to include it into our itinerary. The name of the place is Kbal Spean.

The roads were not forgiving throughout the 1hour plus journey. It wasn’t tarred like the major roads in Siem Reap.

When we arrived, i noticed …

this super …

duper …

large …

weed!

Well you might not be able to tell the size of it from this photograph, so i had to make a simple comparison.

Ai Ling vs Super Lalang.

The hike to the River of 1000 lingas.

If you are not outdoorsy kinda person, you might as well skip this part of the trip but if you would like to see how the 1000 lingas came about and why are they even there, then by all means go to Kbal Spean. It was said that the 1000 lingas were at the river bed so that the water is fertilized before being irrigated to the rice fields.

On the way down, we saw a tree which had it’s branches all over the place and it gave  that rattan chair look. Or probably it looked more like a throne made out of branches.

When we reached the foot of the hill, Siya mentioned that lunch was on the house ! and it was thanks to Mr Kunn !

Being on a budgeted/backpack trip, it’s always GOOD to have free things, especially food. Because places like Kbal Spean which is far from the main town, the price could be a bit steep.

For some reason, someone decided to show his true colours and started complaining about the variety of food -_-!

The food was free and he is complaining. Gosh, i really would love to see him pay more for all his future trips and then i will see who is complaining. This actually made me appreciate the girls more. Instead of having a hard time with the girls but i had zero complains from them.

Simply shows that the world is changing and guys can be as annoying as how girls were thought to be.

Anyway that didn’t deter me because it was the final day and i definitely wanted to enjoy myself.

*stays positive* oumm oummm oummmmmm

After lunch we continue on to a few more temples on the way back. These temples were slightly newer than the ones nearer to Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.

After viewing the final temple which is probably the most modern out of the lot (you can see it’s made out of proper red bricks), we headed back to refresh ourselves.

We then adjourned to a nearby massage center for a full body massage. After 5 days of walking which included a crazy bus ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap for 8 hours, we definitely deserved a full body massage. Of course all these were pre-planned before we arrived in Cambodia. Ai Ling was initially reluctant to do so but after convincing her that it was damn expensive to have the whole massage parlour to ourselves, she finally gave in. Hehehehe.

We all had our legs washed first before being ushered upstairs.

The guys in one room and the girls in the other. On the mattresses were PJs for us to change into. I tried setting a timer for my trusty iXus but i was too slow and thus the awkward looking pose -_-!

I thought i felt all my limbs being dislocated and repositioned during the massage. We were even stepped on by the Cambodian ladies, LOL. What an experience. Of course, this can’t beat what Chiaw Yin went through, which was a spa treatment. Gila sial.

After the massage we went back to wash up again for dinner and just before dinner, that’s when we dropped by the orphanage as above.

Before leaving for Cambodia, we all agreed to actually eat lavishly on the final night and that’s what we did exactly. We were spoilt by the choices of eatery at PubStreet. This is a definitely recommended place for anyone who drops by Siem Reap. It’s just a road filled with different types of restaurants and the ambiance is really nice.

We dropped by the night market again to do some last minute shopping before heading back to Jasmine Lodge to call it a day.

The next day we had to wake up early and it was clear that everyone was kinda reluctant to leave.

Everything definitely went according to plan and this definitely wouldn’t have happened if there weren’t AirAsia in the first place. The only reason the whole trip was conceived in the first place was because we managed to get cheap tickets.

For those who plan to visit Cambodia and have the intention to drop by at both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, i would highly recommend to go to Phnom Penh first then followed by Siem Reap

With this, i am happy to say the Chronicles of Cambodia has finally come to an end !

You can find all entries on Cambodia with the following link

The Chronicles of Cambodia

I suddenly had the inspiration to blog about Cambodia again after Chiaw Yin passed a very random statement over on Facebook.

“Mr Shiya is very good”.

I was cracking my head on who is this fella and why is she telling me this. Then it clicked me ! Mr Shiya aka Siya was our tourguide in Siem Reap and i used to call him as Ya. I knew Chiaw Yin was in Siem Reap not long ago but i never knew she also got him as her guide.

The best part was, she said he still remembers me ! ^.^

But to be frank, he is one hell of a guide, to be honest. Though we occasionally teach him the wrong things in Hokkien, hahahaa. I really hope the guide i am getting in Indonesia would be as good and enthusiastic as Siya

Back to my writing, I am still in 3rd day of Siem Reap of the 4 days we were there. The picture above shows a note from one of the kid saying she isn’t well to do and she supports the family by selling books. The thing about the kids, they really look pitiful but if you don’t play their game then you will just end up being cursed. As for the books, after closer inspection you would noticed that it’s photocopied. Just the cover is coloured. So yeah bargain hard.

We were back in Angkor Wat after having breakfast in Jasmine Lodge. By this time around in the day you would see plenty of tourists flocking by the bus loads to the main entrance. Security is tight as usual. So it’s advisable to keep your daily pass properly at all time.

Sometimes i wondered how the people of the that time used the stairs ? Were they all using their four limbs like Emily and Ai Ling ? Btw, this is the library. For some reason, this is the only part of Angkor Wat that i can remember well. LOL my memory damn bad T.T

The women in this trip are really hardy women, hahaha. No joke. I was worried at the beginning on how would they handle such situation where dust, heat and walking are common in this trip. Cha Bo power, rofl. For their hardiness, the upcoming trip to Bali should be a little challenging. Let’s see how the sister no. 1,2 and 3 handle

We were in Angkor Wat until late evening before heading back to wash up.

For dinner, we were brought to Amazon Angkor Restaurant. Here the dinner served is buffet style and there’s a huge variety of food but the main attraction is the performance. Different styles of dance by the locals are performed during the whole course of the dinner. It’s kinda touristy and commercialized so it may not appeal to those who only wants hardcore local standards.

As for me i loved it. I mean after walking like cow for hours, i just wanted to sit and enjoy my food with some ambiance and this place was perfect.

After dinner we went for walk walk at their night market. Everyone started to unleash their bargaining skills, buying what they could afford. Price wise it’s really cheap, especially when you buy in a big quantity. So if you are in group, gather a few to buy.

But if the price doesn’t appeal to you, you can try the stalls out of the night market. Since they are slight out of the main area, they would be able to lower down even more. But if that also not good enough for you, then just go to the old market place. You can get shirts are 2ringgit there, lol. The down side is the place starts to close down at 9.30pm unlike this Night Market. Further more the atmosphere here is much better.

Before heading back to call it a day, we headed to the local so called pub. I had their Angkor beer but Aaron decided to do one better

Baliksssss to hibernate !

The next day would be our final day in Cambodia !

Stay tuned !

I am finally BACK ! I am BACK blogging. Curse facebook and twitter for taking up my blogging time, LOL. Anyway i am back here to finish off my Cambodia entries with the second last entry which is basically the 2nd last day in Siem Reap. For some reason i think it was a bad idea shooting this particular shot in sepia cause it emphasizes how dirty the hands were.

If you didn’t already know, the egg looking thing in the plate my friend is the unborn ducky -_-!

It’s known as Balut in the Philippines.

We didn’t actually plan to do this but so happened a lady cycled passed us and asked in Cambodian if we would like try. Our guide, Siya then stopped her and said he would have one. Thus giving us the opportunity to see how she prepares. From cracking the egg, to digging out the duck and serving with certain leaves and ginger.

Sister number 1 was terrified seeing the duck on her plate. HAHAhaha.

Siya showed us how to eat it and then he explained why people in Cambodia resorted to eating fried insects, unborn ducks, etc. It all started off with a certain regime taking over the whole country and the people were left to starve for food. Thus most of them resorted to insects to fill up their hungry tummies. Of course time flew by but the habit or crave for insects never left, thus you see many roadside vendors selling fried insects and also unborn ducks.

This is why i love traveling, you always gain something from a trip especially when you are backpacking. Experiencing what the normal people have to go through would definitely open our eyes bigger and thanking for what we have.

Imagine me telling a Cambodian my side of the story of hunger. When i am hungry, i don’t go hunting for insects but i end up at Murni having Nasi Goreng Maryland Special and Watermelon Special, LOL.

Nom nom nom the duckling T.T

Lee May also tried …. with her eyes closed. Might as well don’t see what you are eating. Good thinking by our resident pharmacist

So as Lee May tried … Sister Number 1 and Sister Number 2 were …

…. freaking OUT ! HAHAHAHA

Imagine halfway through, Siya pointed out that certain part of the egg was like the pillow for the duck @.@!

I didn’t try.

So to recap, i never tried the insects in Phnom Penh and i never tried the duck in Siem Reap >.<!

After so many months of neglecting my Cambodia entries, i am finally writing again and hopefully i can be done soon. For the past 6 months i have been receiving messages, emails and even tweets regarding Cambodia. This has definitely given more the reason to complete the Siem Reap section

Siem Reap is definitely famous for it’s Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and of course the smiling faces just like the above.

As stated in my previous entry, there are 3 types of passes for Angkor Wat which are the 1 day, 3 days and 1 week pass. We took the 3 days pass which would cost USD40 per person and this covers all temples surrounding Siem Reap. Security is quite tight and the pass has to be with you at all times.

Upon arrival at the first stop, we were brought to the temple of faces. On each so called tower there’s faces on each side. I have seen this many times in books, postcards but to see it in person was simply awesome. I had the impression that the face was carved out of a slab of stone but found out later on that it consisted of a few stones. That’s why it looked like a jigsaw puzzle in the first pic.

Some of the faces were defaced due to time and also the war centuries ago.

Angeline and the face

The problem of having 7 photographers around is that they just keep photographing every single thing To the point that our guide, Siya, just sat and waited patiently for us.

I can’t imagine what will happen in Bali …. there’s gonna be 16 of us there -_-”

The whole day we went to different temples around Angkor Thom. Definitely a lot of walking involved. I would highly recommend you to get a guide if not most of the time you wouldn’t know what to do or worst still where to go. Thankfully, i managed to arrange a guide, Siya, prior to our arrival in Cambodia.

The ‘four sisters’ posing with their gong xi pose. Our trip was actually just before Chinese New Year. So it was kinda good timing cause when we reached back, all we had to do was receive angpow to replenish our funds

Some of the temples require you to climb a flight of steps … a very steep flight of steps. Like this one it has a handrail for you to hold on but there are others where you would need to use all four limbs to climb down.

These four really know when to pose, ROFL. It’s good to have a bunch of friends during trips like this because you would never be bored and there’s always laughter along the way.

The south gate of Angkor Thom.

Another problem with us is, we just stand where ever we liked …. even in the middle of the road -_-!

Hahahaha, i realized Siya kept looking out for us if any vehicles were to come by.

As evening approached, we left to witness sunset in Siem Reap.

To be frank i am not really a sunset enthusiast nor sunrise unlike the ang mohs you see above. There was already a huge crowd when we arrived. We all walked around to find our spots and waited patiently for the sun to set.

I got bored so fast that i ended up snapping Angeline’s D60, lol.

Guess how many pictures i took of the sunset ?

Two. The first one was overblown cause i had the wrong settings on and this was the 2nd one which isn’t sharp at all T.T

After the sunset we left and headed back. After washing up we walked around Siem Reap for dinner before calling it a day. We slept early cause the next morning we were off to Angkor Wat for sunrise.

The next morning we woke up about 5am and headed to Angkor Wat.

Everyone was still half a sleep and it was really cold.

I was shocked when we reached Angkor Wat as there were so many people already there. Some brought their own fold-able chairs, others stood and waited, some adjusted their tripods and camera as all of us waited for the sun to rise.

If you didn’t know, the weird looking cones in the middle are part of Angkor Wat, lol. I think i had more pictures of William and Aaron setting up their cameras then the sunrise -_-”

After breakfast, we headed back to Angkor Wat and this time we were at the place where Angelina Jolie made her mark as Tomb Raider.

The roots of the trees were all over, some even grew above the structures.

We had to pass thru some tunnel-like passage to get to the other side of the temples. Those who like hiking and adventure, Angkor Wat is definitely the place for you, hehehe.

One of the few group photos we took We then continue walking to a partially dried lake where there’s 4 elements that are built to channel the water to 4 smaller water catchment area. Along the way we encountered music in the forest, hahaha.

By afternoon, the sun was really blazing. Ai Ling herself had to shield using her hands The puteri lilin as usual was ever ready with her umbrella.

Besides the heat, we also had to encounter with dust all the time which is why i switched to my slippers from shoes. It’s easier to wash up and dry. Check out my feet !

We moved on to another temple where some of us had the chance to eat Balut ( egg with deform duck in it) which i will continue writing in the next entry.