Siem Reap... in a (very) small nutshell

Confusing. Blogging, I mean. One moment, you just have so much to write about. And then the next, you stare at the screen and all you think about is the itch on your butt cheek and how you are refraining from writing about it because its inappropriate.

I am NOT having an itch on my butt cheek. *shifty eyes*

Anyway, the last I left this blog to rot was before I left for Siem Reap. To sum it all up, Siem Reap was hot, dusty, dry, dirty, smelly and (yet) WONDERFUL.

All things colorful makes Ah Moi happy :D

Grrrrrrr. Scared not?........... Oh wait. Snakes don't growl.

Ham Yu & dried sotongs at the Old Market. Smelt like athletes' feet *gag*

Elephant.Gajah.TaiPanCheong.

Silk scarves.

Colorful bangles made of colored glass pieces.

Mini Apsara dancer paperweights.

The Monkey God or something.

Angkor beer. Cheaper than water! And unless you wanna lao sai drinking from the tap, its safer than water too! :D

Dusty Siem Reap.

At the entrance of Preah Prohm Rath Monastery. Or endearingly, among the cheena ahpeks... "Pleah Plom Lat Monasteli"

Lots of beautiful frangipani trees in Siem Reap!

At the Night Market where I bargained until no more saliva.

Btw, I swear... shopping in Siem Reap is soooooooooooooooo exhausting!!! Not because you have to haul your stuff around, but mainly because of the haggling and bargaining!

Typical shopping conversation in Siem Reap:

Vendor: Haiii~~~ Miss, where from? Ching Chong Ting Tong Ling Long.

Me: Er, Malaysia. *avoids direct eye contact* 

Vendor: You see t-shirt? Want buy?? How much want to pay? (u dun ask them how much, they'll ask u. Champion not?)

Me: 5 Dollar.

Vendor: *gives well practiced dramatised exasperated expression* Haaaaaaaa??? Kenot, miss... no money miss. This shirt very nai~~ (this means "nice")... I gib u 10 Dollar. I gib good prai (this means price). 

Me: *insists* 5 Dollar. *pretends to walk away* 

Vendor: No miss, gib higher prai, miss. Gib 8 Dollar. We same same (no idea why but they like to say this).

Me: *walks away and returns 5 minutes later pretending to look at other stuff* 

Vendor: OK, miss I gib 5 Dollar because u pirst (they mean "first") customer.

Me: *Yay. Silent victory*

Cute little boy. He was fanning me with a piece of paper while my mum looked at the paintings at his dad's stall. Later on, I found out he picked up the piece of paper from a nearby drain. *nightmare*

Cambodia BBQ restaurant serving regular meat to exotic meat i.e: crocodile, snake, frog. Recommended by Lonely Planet but I think it's no big deal. Slow service and food was mehhh¬¬

Went the next day to visit the Angkor Wat. Beautiful place. No wonder it is (or was?) one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It's amazing how people back in those days build such an amazing architecture without the aid of machineries and technology!

The grounds of Angkor Wat is surrounded by a wide man-made moat.

Everything in the temple has to be odd-numbered i.e: the number of steps and even the number of pillars at the windows. It represents good luck.

Every tourist's favorite camwhore spot! And, let's play guess my favorite color of the day.

Amazingly intricate bas-reliefs on the walls of Angkor Wat. It depicts the stories of the ppl in the olden days, talks about the religion and the legends pertaining to Hinduism.

While I was admiring the Angkor Wat's grounds, someone was admiring my behind.

 Btw, on a whole other note, I just bit the inside of my cheek while typing the caption for the above picture. Now I'm using my tongue to prod it and stop the bleeding. Looks very suggestive. Hahahaha.

Just a piece of advice, you shouldn't wear anything sleeveless or pants above the knee length as Angkor Wat (& surrounding temples) are sacred places. Also, when you are in certain places where prayers take place, you should always remove your hat as a sign of respect.

I'm amazed how ignorant I am towards the puzzled looks of other tourists when I kick off my shoes, climb up a boulder and do poses like that.

These staircases are STEEP as hell!!!! It's pretty scary climbing up these staircases (leading to the centre of Angkor Wat also known as HEAVEN)... But I braved it anyway! Note: No handrails. So I wouldn't recommend ppl with vertigo problem to climb these stairs. Going up is a big issue. Coming down is a bigger one T.T

Managed to climb right up to the centre of Angkor Wat. So I can now tell ppl, I've been to HEAVEN and back :D

This picture is to show you how enormous the place is and how insignificant a single being is in comparison. Amazing.

Toothless nun at the temple :) She flashed me a smile and muttered something in Khmer language. I don't know what it means but I hope its nothing bad... Lol.

Pang sai at Angkor Wat.

If I were a soldier on a battlefield, I don't think I hid myself very well. What with the bright blue cap......

Kids like to walk around without pants and shoot out a stream of golden yellow pee as and when they want. So convenient.

My favoritest shot of Angkor Wat. This picture is best taken around 1pm-2pm at the pool of water near the main entrance.

One thing I noticed when I was there was how ignorant some tourists were. I won't say what race or where they are from, but they were pretty disrespectful towards the history and culture of the city.

I spotted this girl wearing a bikini and a see-through top walking around the temple.

I also saw ppl touching the carvings and bas-reliefs eventhough they're not supposed to. In view of the thousands of tourists that flock there every month, constant touching of the carvings will be enough to destroy the original texture and erase some minute details that are originally there. I wish ppl will just keep their hands to themselves.

Bought this cowboy hat for only 2 Dollars from a little boy... I hope with the 2 Dollars he will buy himself a pair of pants.

Entering Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed!!! :D

Majestic temple ground filled with trees that have grown ON the buildings and walls. Sooo breathtaking!

See the tree roots picit-ing out of the bricks!

So Poh invaded Siem Reap. Ppl were looking. I obviously didn't care... -__-

Everyone wanted to take a picture with this awesome tree root.

Obligatory Tomb Raider-ish pose. Angelina Jolie was standing at the EXACT spot at the time of filming.

Pang sai in Ta Prohm.

Little Cambodian girl. I closed her leg for her but she opened it again. tsk tsk.

In Angkor Thom city. I think this is the Bayon temple... I forgot *hehhhhh*

The famous face sculptures.

Exhausted from all the climbing at the temples.

If you're there, I suggest you get the 3 days temple pass because trust me, you'll need more time than one day if you intend to see ALL the temples. But then again, bear in mind that after a while... all temples sort of looked the same... black, mouldy, crumbly and all smelt of dried up urine (really).

We went to the Chong Kneas floating village the next day but it wasn't floating much since it was dry season...#fail.

And because it was dry season, our boat has to ONLY travel in the MIDDLE of the river going out to the lake, otherwise the bottom of the river will scratch the bottom of the boat. wtf, we could have just waded our way to the lake.......................

...........On second thought, better not. The water is the villagers' toilet and in the dry season, I think the bodily wastes are more concentrated than undiluted acid >.<"

During the wet season, the water level will rise up to the bottom of the stilt houses in the above picture.

I bought my purple shirt in Bandung last year for only 3Dollars because it has a typo error. It says "Popeye the SAILOH man" Hahahaha. But nobody can tell, so it's a steal.

I thought this boy was 9 or 10 years old but turns out, he's 12. Most of the children there look much younger and smaller compared to other children of their age because of the lack of food and proper nutrition. Kesian. Anyway, he was our boat driver. I was secretly praying we won't collide with any other boats/rocks... not because I was afraid of the boat sinking and us drowning (water too shallow -__-) but I was more afraid that if our boat doesn't float, we will be forced to walk in concentrated concoction of pee and shit.

Them Cambodian boys... just... hangin' out... if u know what I mean....

Fisherman trying to catch some fish. I seriously doubt how any fish can survive in such murky, dirty waters...

One of the "better" looking house in the floating village.

Even the geese live in floating cages.

I think this is like a "restaurant" or something.

Little boy drinking water, of which the source, I'm afraid to know...

This is their floating school.

Poor little girl had to stand under the hot sun in her little shabby boat with a snake draped around her for tourist to take picture. And after each snap shot she will shout "ONE SHOT 20 DOLLAH! ONE SHOT 20 DOLLAH!!!"

Me :D

It's amazing how parents in the cities and everywhere else always protect their kids from germs and viruses and all things dirty. Look at these boys! Stark naked swimming in dirty, muddy water. And they seem to be fine at the end of the day.

Visited Artisans D' Angkor. It's basically an arts training school for the disabled and most of the items that the trainess produced are for sale.

Visiting the origins of artsy place like this is really an eye opener for me because my creativity level is almost as good as a brinjal. Hence, I really appreciate the knowledge I get when I go to these places and learn how wood lacquering is done, how silk painting is painted etc.

This woman is deaf and mute. But her workmanship is flawless!

And apparently, not every Tom, Dick or Harry can get themselves into this art school. They have to go through numerous testings to prove that they have a certain creative bone in them.

My creative bone only goes as far as allowing me to pose with many expressions for the camera. #fail

At Wat Dam Nang. Former palace but now a modern monastery and centre for Khmer studies.

 It was such a serene place to be... 

...until Miss Hyperactive came along.

The one thing about me when I go travelling... is how terribly I miss the food back home! Which is why it was no surprise when I was OVER THE MOON to have found this...

Ice cold authentic MALAYSIAN KOPI PING! Tasted just like home!!

And PENANG CHAR KUEY TEOW!! Not as good as the original but how can I complain. My tummy was awfully homesick... T.T

Yumzz!!

And can you believe it!!! BAK KUT TEH!!! #can'tlivewithoutpork

Can you imagine, I traveled all the way to Siem Reap to eat CKT and BKT and drink KP. (abbreviations only to be understood by crazed food lovers).

But like many travellers I've seen said: You'll never know how much you miss home till you're away from it... 

I love travelling. Can never get enough. But Malaysia is always home...

Anyway, we took a tuk tuk all the way from central Siem Reap to the outskirt to go see the landmine museum.

The distance is roughly from Ampang to Nilai. ON A FREAKING TUK TUK ON FREAKING BUMPY ROADS.

Can you imagine the agony of the whole journey??? Didn't help that I *kap liu at the time.

(*kap liu: NEED TO PEE!)

A row of tuk tuks in the Cambodian countryside.

At least we had nice view of paddy fields.

Once we arrived at the landmind museum... I rushed to the toilet because I have miraculously tahan-ed my pee for close to an hour. (o.O)

But like all other public toilets in Siem Reap, the toilet at the museum was equally terrible!!!!!!!

Me exiting the toilet. Reason for such an expression was because someone dropped his/her own version of a big bomb at the landmine museum. How appropriate.

All in all, the museum was no biggie and totally NOT worth the journey there in a tuk tuk... But if you go there in the evening you may get to witness spectacular sunset over the paddy fields. That was the ONLY good thing about our journey to and fro the museum.

And one thing about Siem Reap, transportation is NEVER an issue. You'll be lucky if you are not harassed by a Tuk Tuk driver to take his service. They're so insistent that by the time they're done insisting, you have both walked to your destination already. #exaggeration

If you have a problem with getting a tuk tuk, just get on to some open top lorries and get off when u reach your destination. Like a local hop on hop off bus except that its free and crammed with sweaty people who have yet to discover the wonders of deodorant.

o.O"

 And btw, when you ride on a tuk tuk in Siem Reap, I would HIGHLY recommend u to get a mask because the city is SOOOO dusty. I refused to wear a mask one time (because I didn't wanna look like an OCD idiot) and by the time I reached my destination, I could feel the sand in my teeth when I grind them together.

AND I would recommend you to wear a black shirt because the likelihood of your white shirt becoming brown/grey is erm... very high.

Ignore my shirt. It's my affordable way of telling ppl I'm taken... Only cost me RM20 :D

The back lane of Pub Street. That place is FOOD haven. Restaurants line up the whole street and you can get anything from Khmer food, to BBQ to Italian to Japanes to Chinese. ANY-FREAKING-THING. #syiok

I would HIGHLY recommend people to the restaurant called "Champey Restaurant" (Pub Street). It serves traditional Khmer food and is yummy and VERY affordable! And the ice-cream girl there is cute (even for a straight girl like me).

I spent 5 days in Siem Reap, but I wished I stayed longer (as with all other holidays I embark on). About a month after Siem Reap, I went to Bali (AGAIN). But I'll leave that for another post.

My point is, I've been travelling quite a number of times over the past month and undoubtedly, I have gained some holiday weight. I want to go hide my fat face somewhere but I realised my face is too fat to hide fml.

And that is precisely why I have recently joined FITNESS FIRST!... AND... signed up for 20 SESSIONS OF PERSONAL TRAINING! Woo hoo.

So far so good. I THINK I'm noticeably shedding off some weight and getting slightly toner.

The only complain is that... if there's anything that comes with weight loss, it will be shrinking boobs. fml.

I ciao first,

Ah Moi