Siem Reap#10 Old Market & Pub Street

After 3 days of temple sight seeing, this is the day where we relax around the town of Siem Reap. To get a look of Cambodian everyday life, we went to the Old Market****. It is a square of shops on the outside selling souvenirs while the wet market is centered inside. The wet market has all kind of smells, ooh.. and it is very dirty. And a small food court is located around stalls selling fish, meat and fruits. Well, we had to try the food still :)

This is the vermicelli$ in some sweet and sour gravy. Very tasty & appetizing, you can order spring roll as side dish. Others in the menu would be fried spider and insects (which we dare not try =P).

One of the restaurant/ bar we 'lepak' at Pub street --> The Red Piano$$. Our favorite drink in Siem Reap gotta be --> Orange juice! This is the best juice because the orange they use is different from Msia, it has the smell of mandarin oranges. So refreshing!

Our dinner at Temple restaurant$$. The food here taste okay and the price is reasonable as they have the 'Apsara Dance' performance every night. They have western, cambodian, and thai cuisine in the menu. The ambiance is lovely. Oh, cocktail buy 1 free 1 ;)

Siem Reap#9 Pink Lady Temple & Landmine Museum

Banteay Srei Temple aka Pink Lady Temple***, it is called the lady temple because of its meticulous and beautiful carving as if built by the cambodian ladies. We can say the sun is the hottest today during our stay here. Really 'beh tahan'..

On our way back, we drop by the Landmine Museum***. Founded by Aki Ra, it is a collection of decommissioned mines, bombs and other explosives. It is also a home for education and support for many children affected by the landmine. In fact our journey to Siem Reap is an eye opener because there were so many Cambodians sacrificed during the war. Many have lost their hands or legs, but still they have a strong heart to live on, playing music to earn $$ for living.

At night, we had Khmer buffet$ with special performance of Khmer classical dance 'Apsara Dance'*** which was recommended by our tuk tuk driver. The Apsara performance is one of the 'must see' (since u have nothing much to do at night :P) in Siem Reap besides Angkor temples. The buffet and show costs about USD12.

The food is not bad with western and khmer in the menu. Only the desserts were not too appetizing. The show is great too, many pretty cambodian girl and some funny act scenes.

Peter feels so happy because he can have a photo with the most beautiful girl on stage. Hehe.

Siem Reap#8 Kbal Spean

The journey to Kbal Spean*** takes bout 2 hours by tuk-tuk. A word of advise if u're travelling there by tuk-tuk, remember to wear a mask! It's a long journey and the sandy village road surely promises u a good supply of 'fresh' air. Well it's better to travel by van/car.

To reach the temple, we have to hike about 45 minutes uphill through the woods. Very refreshing walk and here we are at the river of 1000 lingas. There are carvings of Buddha images in the rock of the river. It was dry season during May so the carvings appear above the water level.

The carvings are so unique and beautiful. We were so obsess with the carvings and picture moments and suddenly Angie tripped over the stones. Oops.. Angie's leg (and her sneakers) are all wet~~ immediately our helpful tour guide ask angie to take off her sneakers and how in the world can we imagine the way he uses to dry her shoes.. by repeatedly banging the sneaker on the rock!

A: "OH NO... MY NIKE SNEAKER!!"

P: "I think he is over good service lah!!"

However we thank him politely for his help in the end. hahaha..

Siem Reap#7 Night Life

Things to do at night @ siem reap: eat, shop, massage, cycling, & drinks at pub street.. We love the cheap food and massage here ^^ fried rice/noodles for USD1, body & foot massage for only $3... fish spa for USD2.50 (eww.. very itchy ler..) Well u can spend yr bucks $$ in one of the pubs/ restaurant in pub street.. or opt for cheaper food at the food stalls just around the corner of the street.

Cambodian food lacks the variety compared to Thai/ Malaysian but the soup they make is great! There's one 'Cambodian BBQ' restaurant along the pub street for the adventurous as they have crocodile, snake, ostrich meat! >.<

Siem Reap#6 Pre Rup

Wow we're at a very high brick stone temple --> Pre Rup*** Supposingly a good spot for sunset viewing but cloudy day again. It's unique to other temples, very nice false doors on the towers.

We sit back and enjoy the sunset.

Sunset @ Pre Rup

Siem Reap#5 Preah Khan

After Angkor Wat and the jumping around, we feel so exhausted under the hot sun. We made a good decision to head back to our hostel, freshen up ourselves and here we go.. the moment we step out of the hostel, we're soaked in sweat again.. hahaa.. Here we visit another huge stone temple, Preah Khan Temple****

"Hi..."

A: "Not everyone can do this, hehe..."

The main entrance of the temple and it is for citizen because they need to bow down when they come to the center of this temple(Try to check out the arches are from big to small). The opposite side is for the king so the size of the arches are all the same because king do no need to bow down for their god.

This temple is very interesting and many things to see. Luckily we got a "special guide" that shows us all the interesting parts.

The man with Police wear is the "special guide". He asked for USD 2 for "donation".

I like the design of this building. It is a library. I can't imagine how they keep books in this old building.

The tree here also quite big like Ta Phrom.