Sunday, September 10, 2017

Siem Reap (November 2016)

Gosh... Just realised my blog has been dormant for so long.....
Was and am still busy since then...

To sum up, traveled to Siem Reap for 4D3N last November (year 2016) with another two of my friends (girls' trip) and my longest flight ever to land of British gentleman (UK) in December!
Hope to visit the country (UK) again this year, guess I have fallen in love? *fingers crossed*

Alright, why not let's start with a brief update on my Siem Reap trip.
Advice to future tourist to the city, prepare USD instead of their local currency, basically everything there is sold in USD, though sometimes they might return small change in Cambodian Riel, anyway fear not, you can still pay with Riel anywhere and the locals are more than happy to explain how to convert them to USD.

Another advice, do hire a tour guide that can explain all the history in English if you are not chinese/korean/japanese and etc speaker. Tour guide has been very helpful to us in understanding their culture and you will be moved by the stories behind the wats (i.e. Angkor Wat).

Guess pictures are far more interesting than my explanation. (Simply don't want to be spoiler)
haha.. 
and ps: visit them (Angkor Wat and other ruins) as soon as possible as they seems to be not stable and falling apart soon. These building are pretty cool and magnificent, it is pretty sad to know that we may not be able to preserve these historical buildings, majority of them are either wrapped/support by the white cords (picture below) or woods.
Also, there will be a price hike in the entrance fee soon, or have they increased the price? 
not too sure though, anyway, we bought the 3-days pass for.....can't remember.. haha


these are destroyed by war.. =P
But I'm not joking about it falling apart soon.

They called it spung tree...
It is a huge tree indeed, and the tree contributed to the falling of the wats.

some of the remnants of the past..

one of the tree that I like the most there..
really enjoying to see the local rest under the tree but the weather is unbearably hot,
forced to leave due to the burning sun. (it was about lunch time when this picture was taken)

continued our tour after lunch
more wats and ruins to see
by the way, if you find these are boring, it is suggested to change your destination,
because we spent 3 entire days walking and sight-seeing all the wats.
There are more than hundred wats if not mistaken.

me selfie-ing

I'm glad my friend asked me along, have no regrets visiting this city, though you may end up sweating all day and become super smelly at the end of the day, I think it's worth!

Angkor Thom, should be the largest Wat there.


That's the end of our first day.
Siem Reap city centre.


draft beer is only USD1 for one pint during happy hour.

the second day we had to wake up really early to catch the sun rise,
well they say early birds get the worms..
unfortunately, luck was not on our side, it was a cloudy day

and this is the reality LOL
tourist everywhere.
another magnificent view indeed.

another thing to enjoy through the wats are their carvings
the carvings are so detailed and delicate.
These ancient carvings were carved hundred-thousand years ago and imagine back then without the help from advanced tools/technology to do such fine carvings, impressive aren't they?

surrounding views from angkor Wats - the only wats that is well-known world wide.

side view of Angkor Wat.
One of the most beautiful picture that I have taken in Siem Reap thus far.

it was another day with burning sun..

this is bantey srei if I remember correctly.
Carvings here are one of the most delicate ever amongst the wats.

and it was carved by woman.

another interesting thing about all the wats here, they were built surrounded by a pool of water.
it is for defense purposes from enemy.

after finishing our tour on second day, we cafe-hopped.
Found this hidden gem in siem reap - CRANE cafe.
am not a coffee person hence ordered chocolate drink only.
Anyway, my friends said their latte is really good, highly recommended.

Third day... yup, more wats..



last wat we visited
this was badly destroyed by war.
Reason for wars, the soldier or enemy came to take the Gold that was embedded inside each bricks.
Just heart broken to see the damage.


Alright, that's all for today.
It's Monday tomorrow, hope you all have no Monday blue tomorrow!
Have a great week ahead!

Praying for the best to come. =)