Cambodia: Short Getaway to Siam Reap Part 5 (Bayon Temple and Ta Prohm)

Day 2 in Siam Reap

The Smiley Temple -- Bayon Temple and Ta Phrom

After visiting Angkor Wat, we were all exhausted and requested for a break. Tour guide brought us to a restaurant nearby Angkor Wat for breakfast. Breakfast in Siam Reap is simple, they either have porridge, noodles or baguette. I ordered a bowl of maggie with soup, served with chicken. The soup is rather salty and in addition to the saltiness of maggie, this is a very very salty bowl of noodle. 

Ta-daa! The bowl of noodle. It looks simple and the taste is rather unique. 

If it were to be less salty, it would be a tasty bowl of noodle. XD How to describe the taste? I can't find a way to describe it. Just like how we can't describe the taste of durian. 

After breakfast, we proceed to Bayon Temple, another must-visit temple in Angkor area. 

The Bayon is located in the centre of the city of Angkor Thom, roughly 1500 meters from the south gate. Prasat Bayon was built in late 12th century to early 13th century, by the King Jayavarman VII, dedicated to Buddhist. The Bayon was built nearly 100 years after Angkor Wat. The basic structure and earliest part of the temple are not known. Since it was located at the centre of the royal city, it seems possible that the Bayon would have originally been a temple-mountain conforming to the symbolism of a microcosm of Mount Meru. The middle part of the temple was extended during the second phase of building. The Bayon of today belong to the third and last phase of the art style. 

The architectural scale and composition of the Bayon exude grandness in every aspects. Its elements juxtapose each other to create balance and harmony. Over 2000 large aces carved on the 54 towers give this temple its majestic character. The faces with slightly curving lips, eyes placed in shadow by the lowered lids utter not a word and yet force you to guess much, wrote P Jennerat de Beerski in the 1920s. It is generally accepted that four faces on each of the tower are images of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and that they signify the omnipresence of the king. The characteristics of this faces - a broad forehead, downcast eyes, wild nostrils, thick lips that curl upwards slightly at the ends-combine to reflect the famous "Smile of Angkor" ~~~~ information from tourismcambodia.

Bayon Temple is my favourite temple out of all temples I've visited during my stay in Siam Reap. I like its uniqueness that there are so many smiley faces. All the faces are exactly the same and it really amazed me. According to the tour guide, the people carved the stone on the ground and then move the pieces one by one to the temple area and stacked them up to be towers like what we see today.
A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Let the photos tell the story of the short tour at The Bayon. =)

You may find Bayon nothing much different from Angkor Wat in this photo.

But if you zoom in, you can see the difference.

Zoomed in! See the smiley faces? 

How to not do a jump shot in front of such beautiful temple?!

And the historical frames

This is one of the favourite photo. 

Visited Bayon at 12pm and hence the sky is perfect for photoshoot. Clear, blue sky!! I've sacrificed my skin for these. 

Me and the smiley face carving. 

And this was captured by my tour guide!

He asked me to look to my right and smile. I have no idea what he wants to take at first until he showed me the photo. I didn't know there's a face behind me. Such a surprise! Thank you! Love this photo so much!!!

Under the hot sun but still want to take a bit more tourist photos. =)

Cambodia: Short Getaway to Siam Reap Part 4 (Angkor Wat)

Day 2 in Siam Reap

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat. It is a place where I’ve never thought I would be stepping into it. Angkor Wat is such a historical place that I’ve seen on textbooks, on magazines, on TV and on the web. I never thought that one day, before 25 years old, I have the chance to visit it on my own with a bunch of friends. The trip to Siam Reap is definitely unforgettable and sometimes, I can’t believe that I’ve really been to such a beautiful place.

We left our villa at around 5.10am and our tour driver drove us to the entrance to purchase our ticket. 

There are 3 types of temple pass: 1-day, 3-day and 7-day pass. We bought a 3-day Angkor pass as we are visiting the temples for 2 days. 

Here are some guide on the admission fee:

• One-day pass: $20
• Three-day pass: $40
• Seven-day pass: $60

Passes can be purchased at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat. These passes will have your photo attached (taken on the spot with free of charge) to make sure the passes cannot be sold to others. Passes will be checked at entrance of each major temple (And yes, they do check one by one. So, don't try to cheat!) Visiting hours are 5:00am till 6:00pm.

This is how my Angkor Pass looks like. Blur face snapped at 5.30am. =D

They took just a while to process the pass. Don't worry about the waiting time, unless you go during peak season. 

I reached there at 5.40am, standing by the water, looking Angkor Wat. There’s a sense of calmness in my mind although I was surrounded by a lot of tourists. I sat there, looking at Angkor Wat, waiting for sunrise. Meanwhile, I took out my phone and camera to snap down the beautiful view in front of me.

Here are 2 photos of Angkor Wat at sunrise. Not a perfect sunrise but it is still breathtaking.

Here's some history about Angkor Wat. When you are in UNESCO World Heritage Site, you need to know about the history. I am really grateful that my tour guide was really awesome as he can tell great story about the temples. Being an unprepared tourist, I'm so thankful that I have my tour guide. If not, this trip to Angkor Wat would be a waste. As all these meaningful architectures will be just STONES... STONES.... and STONES...... So my advice for all my readers and friends, please do get a tour guide unless you know history very well.  

Angkor Wat (means "Capital Temple" in Khmer) is a temple complex in Cambodia and it is the largest religious monument in the world. It was originally founded as a Hindu capital for the Khmer Empire, and then gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th Century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yasodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture and become a symbol of Cambodia. (information from Wikipedia)

Ok, done with simple history telling and now, it's photo time! Can't wait to share with you all the beautiful photos taken at Angkor Wat. ^_^

Sun is rising. We are heading into Angkor Wat! 

The long walkway towards the temple. 

According to the tour guide, this walkway will be very crowded during peak season. The number of tourists during my visit is consider little. 

Too excited to go in and explore! =)

I was so tourist that day! Look at my shirt. Haha...

The walkway. 

One of my friends was having headache and hence he decided to rest at the walkway while the rest of us went into the temple. Stay safe friend. We will be back for you. 

The middle temple to enter.

Most of the tourists used this way but our tour guide brought us to the one on the right. A little more special huh. =)

This is the entrance that we used to enter. 

I was really amazed by the details of the temple. W-O-W!

A lot of carvings on the wall, in great details.
Indeed, all these carvings symbolize something and there's story behind each carving. To understand all of them, I think you need to spend weeks here to explore. This temple complex is way too HUGE!

The Apsara (celestial dancers) Statue can be found all over the walls in Angkor Wat.

Hotel Review: Fantasy Hotel

As mentioned in my 24-hour trip to Malacca Itinerary (click here to read), I stayed at Fantasy Hotel for a night. What is so special about this hotel that attracted me to book? It is not a grand hotel but it has cute design. Accidentally saw this hotel's facebook page and I decided to give a try. Wanted to book their Hello Kitty Room but it was not available. Blame myself for booking it late. Aikzz... In the end, I booked their Doraemon room and it doesn't disappoint me. Just that changing pink to blue, the mood is definitely different. XD 

Near the reception. European style design. 

Everywhere can be a photobooth in this hotel. haha... 

Doraemon every where in the room. The room is so blue!

Me and the huge doraemon. Great background =D

Spent half an hour snapping photos with the background of the room.

If it is hello kitty room, I might spend the whole day taking photos inside. 

The service is quite good and I really enjoyed the stay. The size of the room isn't too big but it has attached bathroom. And there's an add point, they have a small pantry which has coffee/tea/biscuits for light breakfast (if you need some). Thank you for the stay! Hope I can get to stay at the hello kitty room next time. =D

Facebook page: Fantasy Hotel (Here's the link)

Itinerary: 24-hour trip to Malacca

Early July this year, my sis and I spent almost 24 hours in Malacca. Would like to share with you all my itinerary. Short trip but we feed our tummy really well. 

We departed from Subang around 4pm and reached Malacca around 6pm. Malacca was really jam that time when I exit the toll. Jammed for about 30 minutes and finally we reach our hotel -- Fantasy Hotel (Click here for my review on this cute hotel =D )

After cleaning up, my friends came over to fetch us out for dinner. Our night activities were just Nyonya Food as dinner and stroll at Jonker Walk. We had Nyonya Food at Restoran Nyonya Makko, which was a fantastic experience. My first try of traditional nyonya food and it is really my kind of food. Hehe... Sorry that I was too hungry that time and forgot about taking photos. XD

Night view of Malacca River. Colourful lighting =)

At Jonker Walk, you can see lots of colourful and well-decorated cycle rickshaw. You can have a ride on it, but I'm not too sure about the price.

Me and sis with the significant statue at Jonker Walk. 

Have been seeing people posting about this coconut drink. The seller managed to cut it so nicely and sell it as a whole (Flesh and juice). Yumzz. It is served with some ice and is a great drink to cool down yourself after a sweaty walk along Jonker Street. 

Before walking back to the car, saw some chinese calligraphy on the wall.

Nice one! Instead of drawings on the wall, street art can be very traditional too! =)

***************************************************************

The next morning, we went back to Jonker Walk to have the famous chicken rice ball (konon-nya). It was 9.30am in the morning and there's a long queue in front of the shop already. O-M-G. We queued for about 30 minutes and finally its our turn. We can't make any decision on the chicken rice. We were asked how many persons and they decided to sell us a whole chicken with 5 rice balls per pax. Hmm... Fast but it is a bit harsh... Customers can't make decision. If you were just there to try while having a full tummy, you might need to think twice.

The chicken is very smooth and the rice balls are really compact. I would say it is nice, but to queue for an hour at noon for this? No thanks! 

When we left, the queue gets even longer. 

After eating, we went for a malacca heritage walking tour, on our own XD. As I have a local friend to bring me around, I did not read the map beforehand. *bad tourist*

1st spot: Windmill opposite the Dutch Square.

2nd spot: Dutch Square

Christ church (the red building at the middle of this photo) was built between 1741 and 1753. It replaced a Portuguese church, which was shattered. Bricks were shipped from Zeeland in the Netherlands. Besides Christ Church, there is also the Stadhuys at Dutch Square and Tang Beng Swee Clock Tower (which was built in 1886, not by Dutch).

Beloved friends and me. We hardly meet, we hardly talk. But that doesn't affect our friendship in anyway. Still love spending time with them. 

The red stairs where tourists love to capture a photo here. =) So do I.

3rd spot: Saint Paul's Church

To reach to church, we took a path up the hill. This was originally built in 1521, by the Portuguese. It became a fortress in 1567, until 1596. After the Dutch siege it became St Paul's, before it was known as Nossa Senhora da Annunciada (Our Lady of Annunciation). It has been used as burial ground for the Dutch. You can still see the tombstones, along the walls of ruins of the church. (information from WikiTravel)

Cambodia: Short Getaway to Siam Reap Part 3 (Night Market)

We spent 2-3 hours in the Villa before going out for dinner. Friends had a swim while I sat beside the pool and watched them (and took some selfies and some photos).

The walkway from our villa to the pool/cafe.

The pool. Fried said that the water is salty. Hmmm.... Special?!

The pool isn't too huge but it is just nice for a few friends to play in it. =)

*****************************************************************

In the evening, everyone done cleaning and had some rest. I was a bit bored and looking forward for dinner, to explore the city at night. Who knows..... Who knows...... A few of my friends K-O-ed and left 3 of us went out for dinner. Time to explore the night market! Time to shop!!! 

Angkor Night Market is the first night market in Cambodia. There are 2 entrances for this night market and it has a lot of shops/stalls. This night market is quite a huge one, with lots of food stalls and souvenir shops. 

Need some guide to the night market? 
1) My first advice would be just jump on a Tuk Tuk and tell the driver you want to head to the night market. It is a place where all drivers will know. Pay $2 and get here for some cheap beer/food/souvenirs.
2) Log on to their website for some directions. Click HERE for the link.
3) If you are at the city, look up for signage to night market. Or, ask the locals. People in Siam Reap are all very friendly and helpful. 

Here's the night market! The signage looks very new and island bar looks very promising.

However, I didn't get to try that due to time constriction. 

Here is the side where there are more souvenir shops.

Me and the signage. 

Took one photo with this dress in Taiwan last year at Xi Men Ding (Click HERE for the post). Same time, different place. =) 

Oh, and not to forget the fruit juice stalls. They are everywhere. 

Problem is, we don't know which stall to buy from. Some stalls have fresh milk, some use only condensed milk. Some stalls have coconut shake, some don't have. It all depends on what you want, but I find it a little hard to ask their recipes. So, just buy with your instinct/feel. =D

After walking around at the night market for about an hour, or a lesser, we decided to try a roadside noodle stall for dinner. I didn't take photo of my food because it was too dark. I ordered a plate of fried noodles with chicken. It LOOKs pretty much like Malaysian-style fried noodles but it tastes really different. I don't know how to describe the taste but it is too salty. But the taste is really worth remembering and if it is less salty, it would be a great dish! Khmer style is really special. =) 

Cambodia: Short Getaway to Siam Reap Part 2 (Angkor Herb Restaurant, Street, Old Market)

Part 2: Let's take a look at the city and our first Khmer meal

After resting in the villa for a while, we went out to the city by Tuk Tuk provided by the villa. It was very hot in the afternoon, but we were very excited to explore new food and new place! The city is about 5 min drive from the villa. The number of people walking around and the number of motorcycles plus Tuk Tuk did surprised me for a while. 

Siam Reap, previously known as Khmer, is a popular resort town as the gateway to Angkor region. Don't be surprise with the number of hotels in the city... PLENTY!! Siam Reap people focus a lot on tourism and hence it is not hard to find a hotel/hostel. And restaurants too! You will only have problem on what type of cuisine you want to pick for today's lunch/dinner. There are Khmer, Indian, French, Western, Mexican, Japanese, you name it, they have it. =D

To search for our first lunch, we started walking around to find our ways to Haven Training Restaurant. We walked under the hot sun using google map to guide us. After about 10 minutes of searching, we found the restaurant! BUT..... it was closed for training. How disappointing. According to my friend who did the research, she said it is one of the restaurants that serve good Fish Amok. Oh well..... Then, we proceed to...... ANY RESTAURANT that seem decent and serve Khmer food. Trying our luck out. XD

While searching for the restaurant.. Took photo of the street. 

I love Siam Reap street view. It feels so historical. 

In the end, we stopped by at Angkor Herb Khmer Food Restaurant for lunch. Too hot, too hungry and too tired to find. We just simply go into a restaurant. This restaurant is located at Pub street and it serves Khmer BBQ too. However, we were dying to try Fish Amok and hence all of us ignored the BBQ menu. 3 of us ordered Fish Amok and others ordered Lok Lak.

The menu of the restaurant. 

The restaurant is very decent and it has a feel like those western restaurant in Publika. XD

First of all, let me show you Lok Lak. 

Lok Lak is actually stir-fried marinated, cubed beef served with fresh red onions, served on a bed of lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes and dipped in a sauce consisting of lim juice, sea salt and black Kampot pepper. It is the Cambodian rendition of the Vietnamese dish Bo Luc Lac, which means "shaking beef" in Vietnamese. ~~ Information from Wikipedia 

According to my friend who ate this, they said it is nice! Because I don't eat beef, hence I have no idea how Lok Lak taste like. Sorry for not able to describe that. =)

And then it's time to show my Fish Amok ($5.5)! 

Close up! (I'm sorry for the bad lighting... it is suppose to be yellowish green X( )

"Amok" refers to the process of steam cooking a curry in banana leaves, or to the resulting dish. Thick coconut cream and galangal are classic ingredients. Amok is a major national culinary tradition in Cambodia, and also popular in Laos and Thailand. Amok is thick soup cooked with fish, meat, vegetables, eggs, and coconut milk. Unlike in Thai and Malaysia, the curry is not intended to be spicy, but rather fragrant, zesty and flavorful. ~~ information from Wikipedia

AHH!!! No wonder all the curry I've tried throughout the trip is non-spicy. Spicy level 0%. 

And of course, I ordered a mango shake ($2) to quench my thirst and cool down my body.

The texture is so thick and it feels like heaven! 

Lunch was great and satisfying! Something different. FIRST Fish Amok --- CHECKED!!

******************************************************

Immediately after walking out of the restaurant, we saw a man driving a motorbike that sells ice cream baguette. ICE CREAM! Hesitated for about 10 seconds and we ran across the road to stop the man. Bought two ice cream baguettes for the man for $0.50. Cheap Cheap! 

Baguette is another famous food in Siam Reap city. You can find baguette served with BBQ, ice cream, etc etc... It is because this city was colonized by French in the past and they left their food culture here.

The man who sells Ice Cream Baguette.

Ice Cream Baguette -- Done preparing. It is served with 3 small scoops of ice cream, some condensed milk and my favourite peanuts! Yumz yumzz... 

Tourist photo time! Yours truly and le ice cream baguette.

I was actually very full that time and I still finish the baguette by myself. There's always some space for dessert. =P

Then, we stroll around the city to explore a bit.

Arts are everywhere. Cambodia people can really good in arts. 

From the beauty of all the wats, to the nice paintings. Talented.