Journey to the lands of the Khmer empire - Cambodia -day 3 and 4

We woke up early morning and left hotel around 5 pm local time to leave for Angkor watt just to watched the sunrise.We inform the hotel staff to pack breakfast the night before. We waited for the sun to rise but the sun was covered by the clouds.

Anyway, we proceeded to have our packed breakfast at the restaurant near the lotus lake in front of the main Angkor Wat entrance.

Angkor watt has north, south, east and west entrance (roughly pronounce by locals as ta Rik, talek, tako, tapit). We visited the third level where our efforts to climb the stairways to " Heaven" with the majestic view of the scenery and building structure.

We learned that thank you means "aw-koon" while" kit luy" means bill. The local favorite noodle was called " num banh chok".
 After that we headed to  Banteay Strei, also known as the women's temple.

According to our tour guide, the temple was mainly built from pink sandstone, which contributes to its long lasting sculpture pattern.

Before heading back to the hotel for a long rest, we had lunch at Rom Chong Angkor.

The chicken together with the famous fermented fish cheese know as "prahok" taste perfect.  The soups and the amok is very good.

After that is rest time to pay our sleep debt for waking up early in the morning. We stop by the stall back to get some palm sugar and their famous khmer palm wine.

Next is dinner time at 5pm local time at Rosana.

 We had dinner at Rosana Chinese restaurant before heading upstairs for the opera show at he same building.

The show was good. Then back to the hotel before we call it a day.
The next day (Day 4) , we manage to grab a blue pumpkin ice-cream before we board the plane. Farewell Cambodia, we shall visit again next time.

Journey to the lands of the Khmer empire - Cambodia -day 2

We had a nice and simple breakfast at the hotel before leaving the place at around 9 am Cambodia local time. Firstly,we headed to buy Angkor watt pass before heading to our destination. Angkor watt was packed with people.  We heard from Guan, our tour guide that the locals called  "tuk tuk" ( mostly used in Thailand) "remork".

Angkor watt is also known as" City of Temples".

It seems that the large statutes that serve as guardians are know as naga . The female naga are called nagi. According to our tour guide, most of the nagas are without head as the Siamese cut it down claiming that interfere with their religious practice.

The odd numbers are lucky number to Cambodian. Angkor watt is impressive, especially the sculpture pattern. Most of the heritage site at or near Angkor watt are under recover by various government from around the world under the observation of UNESCO.

People in traditional clothes and the" Apsara" dancers in white. According to our tour guide Guan, the beauty of the Apsara dancers are well known in legends.

We had lunch Khmer cooking empire.

From the restaurant, you can see a nice view of the lake.

My favorite food is still the fish amok and the mango shake.

Our next destination was the Ta Phrom temple, also known as the tomb raider temple, it was dedicated by the king to his mother.The place was famous for having trees with large roots that slowly destroy the temple's structure.

 The place has many big trees where the big roots are covering the structure .

Next we headed to the temple dedicated by the king to himself, the Bayon temple.

The most impressive part is there is one area where you hit your chest seven times for good luck. Each time you hit your own chest near middle right, the echo created a very loud and sound voice. Next we had buffet dinner while watching cultural performance at Koulen authentic khmer and international cuisine.

We got to see the "apsara"dancers performing .

 Lastly we headed to the night market, pub street and bought some souvenirs.

Journey to the lands of the Khmer empire - Cambodia -day 1

Today marks the first day of our little adventure at Siem Reap. We book our hotel with a travel agency and arrange transport as well as tour guide separately. Upon arrival, the unique said port design fascinates me.

Me and my family were greeted by our tour guide, nicknamed Guan who brought us to our lunch at nearly Khmer restaurant.

We ordered bitter gourd  egg, fish, pineapple rice, fried noodles, crab tomyam, fried broccoli stem, and had mango for dessert. The crab in the Tom yam soup was fresh and complements well with Tomyam. The pineapple rice was simple but the fresh pineapple really enhances the rice, making it my next favorite lunch dish after the Tomyam. The meal cost round $68 USD.

We heard from Guan that Siam reap was under the control of Thailand (Siam) for centuries.  After lunch,we headed to our hotel Bavyra boutique D'Angkor .It was difficult to find but the effort was well worth it. We were rewarded with awesome rooms.

Our next stop is to Tonle Sap lake. We had to buy tickets from tourist centre before we head there. We took a boat around the lake. According to Guan, the  lake was not clear as this is the dry season, the lake's water will look less muddy duringth raining season.

We came across many houses, restaurants, schools and even a crocodile cum fish farm in the middle of the Lake.

We stop by the Heng Rach Buth with crocodile farm and tried eating lotus seed.

That was my first time eating lotus seed. You have to remove the outer layer of the seed after removing the seed separately from the stem. The taste was special that it reminds me of corn. According to our tour guide, it is good for health and ease digestion.

Since the day is still early, Guan lead us to  Healthy Hand spa and Massage. The  2 hour full body massage session with jasmine oil cost us $40 USD.

Lastly we headed for dinner at Phanha Khmer restaurant.

We ordered, "ah mok", seaweed soup, fish, mixed vegetables with curry, chicken, bitter gourd  egg and fruits.

The main attraction is the chicken type of amok, the texture and the taste were perfectly matched by the herbs used.

These Fantastically prepared dishes really filled my stomach with love.
Then back to hotel and end of day 1.