Siem Reap - Day 2 - 5

We woke up really early on our second day. 4am local time. We were with the same tuk-tuk driver for 2 days by the way. Mr Saveon was very punctual; he was waiting for us downstairs since 4.45am. A responsible tuk-tuk driver indeed.

We were wondering why Mr Saveon wore such a thick jacket but once he started riding, we immediately understood why. Haha. The weather in Cambodia in the morning is freezing cold especially when the wind blows against your face. We started shaking and almost froze to death. Imagine Genting Highlands without jacket on.

Anyways, we weren't the only ones who sacrificed a few hours of sleep for the sunrise. We were really surprised when we reached the entrance of Angkor Wat because the number of tourists there were countless.

Okay, enough talk. Let the magnificent pictures do the talking.

Panoramic view of Angkor Wat.

It was too cloudy that day so we couldn't see the sunrise. But seeing how the sky changed from pitch black to purple to orange to light pink and finally to sky blue was such an unforgettable experience. Definitely worth it.

We spent the entire day at Angkor Archaeological Park on the second day. The park opens from 5am until 6pm everyday. By the way, I'm still glad that we finally decided to buy the one day pass because it was boring looking at those stones after a while. My advice to you if you're planning to visit Angkor Wat anytime soon is to buy the one day pass (unless you want to understand the history of the entire park, don't buy the 3-day pass)

Angkor Wat behind me.

We covered Angkor Wat in the morning. Then head off to have our breakfast and continued our day with Angkor Thom i.e. Phimeanakas, Baphuon and Bayon. I know most of you are confused by now. When I did my research on this, I was extremely confused too. Haha. Let me show you the map.

Photo taken from Tourism Cambodia.

Phimeanakas, Baphuon and Bayon are part of Angkor Thom.

Phimeanakas

View from above - Baphuon

Steep stairs at Baphuon.

Bayon

 

After Angkor Thom, we stopped for lunch near Ta Prohm before visting Ta Prohm itself. 

Ta Prohm is popular after the release of the movie "Tomb Raider"

Last but not least, the one thing you have to do when you're there is to climb up Phnom Bakheng to see the sunset. JH didn't know that in order to see the sunset you literally have to hike up the hill. Haha. So he claimed that I didn't inform him beforehand. :P :P Anyways, we were there early so we had our heart-to-heart session while sitting on the floor, leaning against some stones with our shoes off. :) 

What could be better than to enjoy the sun setting with your dearest one?

Anyway, that wasn't the end of our day! Next on our itinerary was to have buffet dinner while watching the apsara dance. It's a kind of traditional dance by Cambodians. Did I mention that the food at the buffet suck? Buffet and the dance was US$12 per pax. Tuk-tuk service for the entire day was US$15 (after some serious negotiation. haha)

 

Sorry for the blur pictures. My camera died on me by the time I took the second picture.

Day 3

We had our breakfast at the hotel on the third day. (Sacrificed breakfast on the second day because of sunrise) Breakfast at the hotel was really nice too. After breakfast we head back to our room to rest. We then went to the Old Market to look around and JH bought a few things from there. We were told that Cambodia is famous for cheap massages (it's a scam, for real) so we dropped by at a massage parlor near our hotel for a full body massage. The service and skill was somehow disappointing. Even my yoga teacher could massage better than them. We paid US$5 each for 1 hour full body massage. So I have to say that it was a waste of money.

Then we went back to the hotel to take a shower before heading out for dinner. Dinner that night changed my entire perspective on Cambodian food. Haha. Yes, it was that good. The good thing is that it was our most delicious meal of the entire trip and the cheapest one too. We had our dinner at Steven Corner which was a few steps away from our hotel. We met a couple from Austria and we chatted for almost an hour plus before hugging each other goodbye! Really friendly people I must say.

I don't know what's the name of this dish but it was superb. Only US$1.50 for this.

After dinner, we walked to Pub Street to have a drink.

US$0.50 for the beer and US$1.25 for the Long Island. How cheap is that?

Day 4

We had breakfast at the hotel again but we decided to chill at the hotel after breakfast. They had this modem which was connected to the TV that gave us the access to various movies and dramas in the modem. Both of us being movie addicts, were so excited about it that we watched at least 3-4 movies before heading out for dinner. 

I insisted that we dined at Steven Corner again because I couldn't stop thinking of that plate of thick, flat, spicy noodle. Walked around Angkor Night Market (every stall sells the same thing like wth) after dinner. Then went for a 30 minutes food massage. JH's right arm was contaminated. HAHA. (inside joke) Went to Pub Street to chill again after that.

Day 5

There's actually no Day 5 because our flight was at 8 something in the morning. Took a random tuk-tuk from the hotel to the airport for US$5. Reached KL at 12 something in the afternoon. 

xxx

That's my entire trip! I would recommend you guys to visit Siem Reap at least once, just to see the Angkor Wat because it's really worth seeing. Another UNESCO heritage checked off my list! Hooray!

P.S. Can't wait for Bangkok in May. :)