Siem Reaping

Siem Reap City is the capital of Siem Reap Province, Cambodia.

Siem Reap has colonial and Chinese-style architecture in the Old French Quarter, and around the Old Market. In town, there are Apsaradance performances, craft shops, silk farms, rice-paddy countryside, fishing villages and a bird sanctuary near the Tonle Sap Lake. The name Siem Reap means the 'Defeat of Siam' —today’s Thailand —and refers to a centuries-old bloodbath, commemorated in stone in the celebrated bas relief carvings of the monuments.

Source: Wikipedia

Day 1: 09Jan08

- Met our tour guide(Ah Meng) at the Siem Reap International Airport.

  + Arrived at 9am GMT +7

  + Art gallery like airport

- Check-in to hotel (Golden Temple Hotel)

  + nice 3 star hotel

  + near to eatery area and markets

- Visit Tonle Sap Lake floating village

  + 1 word ,Hot!

- Visit Sculpture School (Artisan Angkor)

  + impressive stuff.

- Phnom Bakeng Hill for Sunset

  + 15minutes hike up the hill for the sunset. 

- Dinner at Local restaurant and cultural dance.

  + food was ok 

Siem Reap International Airport

Nice airport.Appear to be simple but its interior looks more like an art gallery.

Our tour guide,Meng.HK actor looks.

Tonle Sap Fisherman pulling the net.

Artisan Angkor,its a sculpture and art school.

Sculpting a buddha statue,that size takes 4 days.fast huh.

Painting 

Sculpture blueprint.

Teatime,went to the nearby market hunting for food.thats roasted pork,duck and chicken stall

flour with spring onion pan fried goes with the sweet sauce.the best!

Phnom Bakeng Hill,everyone waiting for the sunset.

there's the main actor,camera snapping every moment.

that's the part where i lost the sun.

had dinner at the Amazon Angkor(buffet) and cultural show.

Day 2: 10Jan08

- Visit the South Gate of Angkor Thom which include:-

  -Bayon

  -Baphoun

  -Royal Enclosure

  -Phimanakas

  -The terrance of elephants

  -Leper King 

  -Preah Khan

  + i couldn't differentiate the temple above. All looks the same to me.

-Visit Angkor Wat(this is the main ingredient!!!)

  + this was good,but too huge. Only manage to explore part of it. Close at 6pm

  + photo craziness starts here

-Traditional Khmer massage

  + i took foot massage only 

the south gate.Brahma statue on the gate.

think this is Bayon.too many temple and all looks the same.

smiling face

Royal Enclosure

Leper King

Preah Khan

nice sculpture and carving

black pepper egg which is good,and the disc shake coconut pastry is also good.

Amok fish.Coconut milk with fish grill in the banana leaf wrap.very salty.

red color one's.Snake meat.taste good.just like beef.

opposite the Anglor Wat mout,where many people had their picnic.

Meng choosing a good spot for our Big Meal.Meng's first time bringing tourist for picnic.He say tourist usually go for restaurant food,but we ask for street food.Weird group.haha

that's Angkor Wat, really huge!

the causeway,took 3-4min to cross

many ways to visit.

main entrance ,guarded by a buddha

out of the 2000+ Apsara in Angkor Wat this one smile with teeth.

the signature shot.Angkor Wat reflecting on the lotus filled pond.

walls of walls of carving.

a monk sitting on the stair

middle of Angkor Wat complex.

again monk,taking a break.

Sunset @ Angkor Wat.Spot the hot air balloon at the backgroud.that will be good!..didnt have chance to get on that.

Day 3: 11Jan08

-Visit natural mountain Phnom Kulen for the reclining buddha

 + long drive uphill

 + reclining buddha was nice.

-One thousand carved lingas on the riverbed

 + thousand of those things laying on the river bed.Those days people too free.

-Waterfall and picnic

 + waterfall was fun,water was very cold

-Visit Banteay Srey

 + nice temple ,Pink is the color!

journey to the top of the hill,offroad

buddha on top of the main entrance arch

child on the temple stair

roof of the ground temple building

the huge reclining buddha carved from a single big boulder

one thousand Lingas.lay on the riverbed,to purify the water.sort of Holy-ed water.the smart way.

the waterfall.super cold water.its water could wash your bad luck and sins away!

Banteay Srey.Pink sandstone is the best sandstone.there's grey and green sandstone

cloud covering the sun

one of the temple structure which is made from pink sandstone

Day 4: 12Jan08

-Visit "Tomb Raider" temple.

 + lots of huge trees growing on the temple structure

 + crazy photo heaven

-Visit Takeo Temple

 + steep stairs 

-Visit Hari Haralaya

  -Preah Ko

  -Lo Lei

  -Bakong

 + don't know which is which

temple structure with tree roots entangle

eaten whole by the forest

the famous tree

inside the temple complex,most of the area are under restoration

dinosaur on the wall.hmmm..they keep one too?

a steep steep step up the temple.

look at the steps

one of the few first temple structure.build using bricks instead of sandstone

the last of the temple hopping stops.

Pub street,this is where we had our dinner for the entire trip

night market

Day 5: 13Jan08

-Visit Silk Farm

 + silk making,boiled the silk worm till its melt. Like making popcorn.

-Local market Phsar Chas

 + nothing much here.Every stall almost sell the same thing.

-Cambodia Cultural Village

 + show was funny 

introduction of the facility

worms farm

the eggy

the larveee

the fury larvee

then those silk worms are cook at 50 degrees celsius

the silk worms that is boil,will produce this fine silk 

he was too hungry.silk worms taste like peanut.

various dye ingredient that include rusted nails

silk making process

the Phsar Chas

giant wheel

various attraction inside the village

some of the wax sculpture

some performance,funny one's

the entrance of the village

The following day,flight at 830am.Touch down at LCCT at 1130am.

Summary

Good and nice experience although temple(snap over 2k of photos.=.=) and the other 10's are almost quite there the same.The place a lil too dusty because of the unpave road that make the sands flying everywhere.Other from that everything looks good and the food was great especially BLUE PUMPKIN shop,i went there almost everynight for ice-cream.Things are a bit pricey because of the wide usage of USD and foreign tourist flocking there.Cool place,get more than i expect.

Looking forward for the next destination on June09.

Stay tune...