Cambodia, Day 2.1: Siem Reap (Temple Hopping at Angkor)

Click to read if you missed  Cambodia, Day 1: Siem Reap ( Tonie Sap Lake)

Day 2 in Cambodia was definitely one of the days I was looking forward to which was visiting Angkor Wat among other temples. There's something about architecture in the past that is so amazing and beautiful. Everything was hand crafted unlike nowadays where most works are easily moulded.

Jhon and I started our morning with breakfast at Angkor Era Hotel. All these while, I've stayed at 2-3 stars hotels except for that time we got upgraded to a presidential suite in Malaysia (We got the side room so we didn't get to REALLY sleep on the super lavish bed unlike Abg & family). I never see the perk in staying such a lavish hotel but after our Cambodia trip, yup, my body is spoiled.

Breakfast was pretty okay. Throughout the entire trip, my go-to breakfast meal was scrambled eggs, croissant or toast and maybe baked beans. I love the ambiance though.

We met with Thea and driver at about 8am at the lobby and off we went to Angkor Archaeological Park. At the main entrance of Angkor, we had to visit their main office to buy temple passes. There are 1-day, 2-day and even 3-day passes but we just got the 1-day passes. The place looked crowded but it was a smooth and quick process. Thea had helped with our details, payment and all we needed to do was take a picture for our pass.

Off we went again and went deeper into Angkor. Note that Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites of Southeast Asia.  It extends over approximately 400 km2 and consists of scores of temples, hydraulic structures (basins, dykes, reservoirs, canals) as well as communication routes. For several centuries Angkor, was the centre of the Khmer Kingdom. It is not only known for it's historic but also religion, cultural and symbolic values. These temples also have Buddhist and Hinduism history in one location which was interesting to me. Initially, it was 2 separate religions but eventually combined into one.

The atmosphere in the park is so much different from other parts of Cambodia mostly because of it's lavish and tall trees and as soon as I saw the Southern part of the Angkor Gate.
My heart stopped.





No joke, no drama.
I am actually there, witnessing such beautiful handmade and enormous artwork with my own eyes. It was mesmerizing and amazing. To think this is just a gate. All hand crafted and without heavy machinery.

Thea let us walked through the small entrance so truly experience the size of the gate and were picked up again by the driver a few meters past the gate.





Our first temple was Bayon Temple. This temple was the last state temple to be built in Angkor and it is well known for it's smiling stone faces.





The outer gallery has bas-reliefs that shares historical events and everyday life.









The inner gallery shares depictions of mythological events.







In the upper terraces holds about 200 faces of Lokeśvara.



















The Baphuon was built to be dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. Unfortunately, like most of the temples, it needs heavy restoration. Many parts of the temples did not survive through time especially the Baphuon because it was mainly built on sand.



























Yes, the stairs were crazy steep. Take note that the ORIGINAL stone steps were EVEN STEEPER and they have NO handrails! These people confirm had mad thigh and butt goals.



Before reaching Ta Phron temple, we passed Elephant Terrace and Terrace of the Leper King. This was the only spot when the weather really hit us. It was the only area were there was ZERO shelter and the sun was beating us down! You can tell we struggled because Jhon only got 2 photos while my video footage was non-existent because of poor shots. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful location it's that since the sun was at it's peak, it was so unbearable.





Ta Phron is the most popular among all temples because of the movie Tomb Raider. Besides that, this temple still able to maintain it's condition ever since it was found. At the moment, plenty of maintenance besides restoration is needed due to the large trees. It's ironic, what makes the temple unique and beautiful is also destroying it.

Try to spot the hidden Buddha within this tree root.































After trekking, climbing and visiting 3 temples, we had a break by having lunch at Restaurant Khmer Wooden House. It gives us a taste of how it feels like to dine in a Khmer wooden house. The first level was air-conditioned but we sat on the second level which was an open concept. We didn't mind at all because it's part of the experience.









After 20-30minutes, the wind started to blow vigorously and it started to rain. Then it started to pour! We didn't get affected except for some sprinkles but it was crazy. Too bad, we didn't get to catch it's true essence in photo or video but it was as much as entertaining as well as cooling and welcoming. As mentioned in day 1 post, it barely rains here and when it does, it was for such a short time. Not enough to help the drought.

[This post is getting way to long so I'm dividing it into two]

Continue with our adventure by clicking below!
Cambodia, Day 2.2: Siem Reap (Temple Hopping at Angkor) + Vlog


   

Cambodia, Day 1: Siem Reap ( Tonie Sap Lake) + Vlog

  I know it's unconventional to not go beach honeymoons like Maldives or somewhere far from Singapore like Europe. Just like other people, I do have a mental list of places to visit whether it's near or far. One of the many places is Angkor Wat. I've mention it in a post before. I wanted to be where tomb raider was.

Usually, people visit Cambodia for 3D2N specifically, at Siem Reap and sometimes Phomn Peh but Jhon and I went for a 6 Days 5 Nights trip from Siem Reap, Phomn Peh and Sinakhouville.

This is going to be a long series which may take more than 5 posts so I hope you will enjoy reading and watching (my vlog) as much as we enjoyed our trip.

One week after our wedding, was our Cambodia trip. We had engaged with Chan Brothers which was not as easy as it seems because most packages don't focus on Sihanoukville which is a beach resort area for Cambodia.

We had a roughly 2+ hour flight with Jetstar at 1:55pm and set to arrive at Siem Reap at 3:10pm. Note that Singapore's time is 1 hour ahead. The flight was alright, no complains. I just didn't realized how much weight we lost during the wedding preparations up till the wedding.





When we arrived Siem Reap International airport, we were informed that it was 37 degrees. The passengers groaned but I laughed. *psycho* I mean, what do you expect?

Before alighting the plane, we were giving several pamplets one of each was a list of advises while in Cambodia. Such as do not encourage children beggers by giving them money, respecting the monks, conserving water and such.



The trip was supposed to be a group tour but to our happy surprise, when we were greeted by Mr Thea, he said it would be just the 2 of us! Hooray for sudden private trip! Thus far, we have always been lucky whenever we had our getaways. It always somehow turned out to be a private tour. As soon as we got our luggage, we headed to our ride and went straight to Tonie Sap Lake, the largest lake in Southeast Asia.

Cambodia has the same vibe as certain parts of Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia. I guess the word I could describe is same difference, if that makes sense. You'll see what I mean when you watch my vlog at the end of this post.





Unfortunately, Cambodia is experiencing a drought period. Even if it rains, only lasts for a while.
Due to this, we can't experience the true vastness of the lake since we see mostly the bottom of the lake. Either way, it was still an interesting experience for us.



Obviously, everyone commutes by boat and since the lack of water, sometimes the boats have to squeeze by as our paths crossed. There were also time where some boats get a little stuck with the low lying water.











I was not kidding when I said the lake was low lying.



We were told that we will be visiting a floating village but I take this as a floating restaurant. I don't know about the other floating restaurants, but the one we visited had crocs as an exhibit. Do you know previously, the lake is filled with crocodiles? They were huge and imagine coming across with it while on their boats?

Items here are expected overpriced but we are here for the views anyways.







From the top of the floating restaurant, we can see the actual floating villages from afar.
 It would be interesting to able to see them up close like Jhon did in Phomn Penh during his company's charity work but I guess having thousands of tourists peeking in your house is not fun at all.





Cambodia was also known for their beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately, during our stay here, we didn't get the awesome sunset shots every night due to cloudy days. I mean, who am I to be selfish when there's a drought going on right? But we did managed to get a few good shots on the first day.









As soon as we got off the boat and climbed up the stairs, the clouds had almost covered the sun. Talk about luck!

After the ride, we were sent to Angkor Mondial Restaurant for dinner. The place was MASSIVE with loads of food. Since Cambodia is not Halal food dominated, we only choose vegetables and fish type dishes. No complains there because Jhon and I are not picky eaters. Anyways, having this diet will prevent us holiday weight. hehe The restaurant was decorated with traditional Khmer style which yet again a reminder that all Southeast countries are not that different after all.







The food was okay, at least the ones we tasted. Plus, we were hungry and anything edible was good enough for us. The main star of the entire place was definitely the traditional Khmer dances. They were plenty types and the show actually last for 2 hours.

The dancers were legit beautiful and I did went up close. Their movements were precise and delicate which match their traditional music. Like all traditional dances and music, every performance had a storyline. Sorry to say that we didn't last very long. We only lasted 1 hour until we decided to head to our hotel.







Our hotel was Angkor Era Hotel. Before I proceed, yes, even though it was a simple trip to Cambodia, we actually went all out with our accommodations. I mean, it's a honeymoon after all. I never cared for 4-5 star hotels because when I travel, I spend most of the time outside, not inside. Since we were travelling with a special reason, we splurged.

It was the best decision we ever made. One, being Cambodia an affordable country, prices were legit cheap. Two, since some of our tours can be tiring (there's going to be temple climbing), it was really nice to come home to a wonderful room with bathtub and all.

The lady was giggling away, saying that we got bumped to a special side of the hotel and that she had a surprise for us (it was funny that I always say I have surprise for people lol). The room was decorated for our honeymoon because while booking, Jennifer at Chan Brothers stated that we were honeymooners.



This candid shot of me being shy-shy is hilarious!



Do you know how appreciated I feel? When I transferred the towels, I maintained their origami state to a chair. Jhon laughed at me but I didn't care. Too pretty to destroy even though it was probably easy-peasy for the hotel staff to fold.



Our pool side view was gorgeous and almost a shame we didn't get to enjoy it fully.



And that was about it. We soaked in the bathtub and regret not getting bath bombs (for fun). Jhon didn't understand the concept of marinating ourselves in the tub but I love it. It's more enjoyable after a long and tiring day and I soak in hot water.

Here's my vlog for the day. It has some clips that are not in the photos so you gotta watch!