Cambodia - Day Two

Morning of Phnom Penh

We woke up early to catch a bus to Siem Reap, the town of Angkor Watt, which is about 6 hours drive from Phnom Penh. The journey should have been less than 6 hours, if only there is a highway. Unfortunately Cambodia is very much under construction.

The bus cost us 7USD, with air cond but no wash room. We had no choice. The seats were a bit uncomfortable as we are both 5"6 and we found it difficult to strech our legs. We got to see a bit of the life of the Cambodians along the road, of which poverty is very much prominent.

Grilled banana.

Cute lady selling fruits.

We stopped by at a restaurant, supposedly for lunch, but of course Ijul and I had to hold back our hunger as they were no available halal food around. We should have bought some bread. And oh ya.. Alhmadulillah Ijul's Sis insisted her to give me the famous Indonesian 'kek lapis' (layered cake)as a take away. That saved us until lunch !

Cambodian Boys After School Hour

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the happening town in Cambodia. Almost all tourists will flock the town as its the nearest to Angkor Watt. When we stepped down from the bus, we were flunk by the Tuk-Tuk drivers. One recognize me immediately as Malaysian (from my tudung) and spoke to me in Bahasa Malaysia. Sukry apparently had once worked in Malaysia. We didnt want the trouble talking in sign language so we chose Sukry as our official Tuk Tuk driver.

Sukry. Our Superman For the Day

He brought us to an Indian Restaurant as it was the first thing I requested. Our stomachs were making noises already and I knew I had to eat immediately before mine get worse. The street was heavily polluted by dust. Almost everything was under construction new roads, new buildings and all. Thats why a bandanna would come in handy at this time, but I didnt bother to.

The Halal Indian Restaurant is only next to Old Market. Its a bit pricey as, again, all the dishes are in USD. Sukry got his share too, courtesey of the owner (obviously for bringing people to the restaurant) and we were lucky because as Sukry only ate only half of his nasi goreng, we tucked half of his share for our dinner that night. We met one Malaysian family from Johor in the restaurant.

Some of the Tuk-Tuks with their customer at the Ticket Booth

To get into Angkor Watt we had to buy the passes. One day pass costs 20USD and for a three day pass it d cost 40USD. We decided to get a one day pass only as we didnt plan to stay that long in Siem Reap. Sukry suggested that we buy the pass that day itself because the one day pass bought in the evening of that day can be used for that day itself and the next day. He thought we might like to get into Angkor Watt that same evening to see the sunset at the top of one of the temples (there are apparently many temples in that 400km sf area and Angkor Watt is actually one of the famous temple they have inside that huge area).

A bit from the map

We had to do some climbing before we reached the peak of the temple to get the sunset view. We had to first climb the hill and later the stairs. The stairs were steep and narrow.

First the hill. Look at the people

Then the temple steps. Look at the people again

Look at the crowd and Ijul

It must be the weather ; because in our opinion the sunset was not really spectacular that day. Or maybe it's my inability to get a good composition. My bad then !

Our hotel in Siem Reap. 20USD

Look at the bed. You can guess which one is mine.