A bright sunny day to start our exploration of Angkor Wat. First, we had breakfast at the guesthouse, and since cambodia was once under French colonial rule, I decided to try their French toast.Wrong move.
They were pieces of oily fried bread. The other 2 travelmates didn't enjoy their breakfast either. We decided to boycott the breakfast from this guesthouse starting tomorrow.
Siem Reap, literally means "Siam Defeated". Not very sure of the history, though I aspire to be a history teacher, haha. Most probably there was an invasion from the Thais centuries ago but the Kampuchea people held strong.
We took our own sweet time to finish the breakfast as there was no reason to rush. Lazing around at the breakfast lounge, playing with the dog, watching Stephen Chow movie (唐伯虎点秋香) in Cambodian language, until it was past 10am and we went to look for the tuk-tuk driver we met yesterday. We kind of promised him that we would hire him if we needed a tuk-tuk driver. Before coming to Siem Reap, we were contemplating whether to rent bicycles and explore the place on our own. But given my condition was not very good, and we were unfamiliar with the place, we decided to hire a guide on day one first.
The guest house we stayed in fact was called "Good Kind Guest House", not "Happy Guest House". "Happy" was fully booked and we were asked to move to this one, which was ran by the same family, a subsidiary guesthouse I would say. One thing for sure, they all have very simple and catchy names.
We could not find the tuk-tuk driver, as we set off too late. People usually start work early, around 7am, break at 11am, and continue after lunch until 5pm. In the end, the lady boss of Happy helped us to get another driver who came within 10min.
He called himself M. A very courteous and simple man, I liked him straightaway. He showed us the locality map and briefed us what would be installed for us for the next 3 days and told us the price. We said we might only want his service for day one, and he said not a problem. So off we went, to the tourism office to purchase our 3-day pass.
It was the first time I sat on a Tuk-tuk; not as bumpy as I thought, and much windier than I expected. On the way, my cellphone suddenly rang. Please, please, not ROY please...
"Hello, cheehian, this is ROY!"
WTF. Really was my client.
"How's the holiday?" he asked sheepishly.
"What's up?" I snapped back.
"Are you able to check your email now??"
"Definitely not! I am in the middle of a forest!" And I ended the conversation swiftly and rudely. CCY and Ken both were shocked by the sheer studpidity of my client for calling me, knowing very well I am on holiday. Now, both of them supports my decision to quit. (But I have withdrawn my resignation at the last minute...)
My dampened mood slowly recovered as I entered the compound of Angkor Wat.
It was a long aisle leading to the ancient temple, with 2 ponds at each side of the aisle. As we walked towards the temple (Wat in Cambodian), we could see the 3 looming towers, thought to be representing some mystical mountains in India. There are supposedly to be 5 towers, but the 2 outer ones had crumpled over time.
It is quite unbelievable that the entire compound is so well preserved, after what seems like a thousand years ago. What captivated me most was the galleries of bas-reliefs. They surrounded the inner-most of the temple, walls of carvings sectionalised in North, South, East, West. Each face is a narration of some mythical stories like battles of the demons and gods, victory of some god, etc. As we circled the perimeter, we observed the carvings and I, as the stand-in tour guide, narrates the story from my guide book.
After spending 1-2 hours, we moved on to the next destination, Angkor Thom, a much larger attraction. Angkor Thom comprises of several tombs and temples. Among them, one stood out most is the Bayon. It is a group of towers, each with carving of a Buddha face. Such art is known as gopuras, and the smiling Buddha face seems to come to life, as it protrudes out of the tower.
As the compound was very big, more like a city and said to have housed a population of a million, CCY was separated from me and Ken. So me and Ken were just wandering within Angkor Thom, and eventually got tired and rested near the Terrace of Elephants, eating ice-cream which we bought from a pink ice-cream van. It was indeed a luxury to have a cup of Milo ice-cream under the scorching sun.
Just as we were cooling ourseleves with this yummy treat, dark clouds begin forming over the sky. Run.
So we quickly find our way to the Tuk-tuk driver and sought shelter in the tuk-tuk. Shortly our travel buddy CCY came running to join us but he was already partially drenched. As we were leaving Angkor Thom, the rain suddenly stopped, just as abrupt as it started minutes ago.
We visited a few more smaller temples which I had no memory of, except for Preah Khan. This temple is so deep in the jungle, trees were growing all over the places, and a lot of the gigantic trees were actually merged with the walls and towers. It looked a little scary, as if the temple has come to life and sprouting trees all over its body. And when I say gigantic, I mean it is the biggest tree I have seen in my life. The roots are taller than me! What I fear is eventually the temple might be completely destroyed by the powerful roots of the trees.
The stuffy atmosphere of Angkor was even more eminent at night. Not a slightest breeze could be felt. We had an agreement that we would eat only Khmer food during this trip. Hence, we stepped into a traditional Khmer restaurant, packed with tourists just like us. I had already forgotten the names of the dishes we ordered, but to sum up, they are all very Thai-style without the spiciness, and with also a tint of Vietnamese touch.
Next up, we went to "Dr. Feet" for Cambodian massage. This massage parlour is highly recommended by Lonely Planet, but as usual, I am always skeptical of the creditibility of this guide. Nonetheless, we gave it a try. This is my first ever massage session, hence I have none other experience to compare. I had a rather heavy-weight lady providing the service, while Kenneth had a gigglish little girl. It was a rather comfortable experience, though there were certain sensitive parts she had pressed too hard.
With our bodies fully recharged, we headed to "Blue Pumpkin" for dessert. The cool thing about this place was the white furnishing of the second floor. We could laze around on the comfortable couch, enjoying the ice-cream. But to be frank, I had a rather unpleasant dessert. I couldn't remember what flavour it was, tasted like coconut milk, the expired kind. Maybe it was indeed expired.
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