The Flat Defeat of Siam ~ Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 5 of 5

Woke up very late that day and missed our free breakfast. Checked out at the hotel, took some pictures

and told them we'll just leave our bags to grab something to eat and do some late shopping at Pub Street.

Restaurants and Bars are opened at the morning but some of the markets are closed.

There are lots of restaurants you could choose from ( Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, European Restaurants etc.) but we decided to eat some authentic Indian food. We saw a restaurant that had Indian customers eating with their hands so we decided to check out the place ( after following around some Indian Nationals checking out the menu of every Indian restaurant they saw) 

Lunch: Recommendation ~ The Indian : South and North quality Indian cuisine ~ Own by Indian, Run by Indian, Chef from India

Legend: 

Red circle: The Indian Restaurant

Blue X-mark: Their sister restaurant that also serves authentic Indian dishes located at Alley West

Cost of our lunch: $16 - $ 18

* Forgot what the names of the dishes were but all of them were beyond the word delicious. If you don't know what to order, ask the owner *

The owner was really nice.  Asked us how the food was. Taught us that you had to mix all the curry dishes on your rice before eating it. Took a picture with him using the Instax camera and gave them a copy of it. 

I tried eating it with my hands but it was so messy I decided to use the fork and spoon.

After one of the most delicious meal we ever had, we decided to explore the rest of the Pub Street:

Remember this Map? ( same map I showed you finding your way to an authentic Happy Pizza~ POST: Day 2 of 5)

So from The Indian restaurant, we walked going to Old Market crossing a Foot Bridge. . . .

to Art Center Market

Things we bought there:
1. Dress $ 4 ( original price $8)
2. Sling bag shaped like an elephant - $2

Decided to wear the dress UA bought for me and took some pictures on how Pub Street looked like in day time. 

Corn beef Sandwich ( not recommended, flies all over the place)

..... then went to Blue Pumpkin for some nice / weird ice cream

We ordered: - both of them cost $ 3 per scoop
1. 4 spices ice cream  
2. Cookies and cream


UA's ice cream was weird but he claimed it was delicious. When I tasted it, I could taste the ginger on his ice cream ( thank God my ice cream was delicious)

Sat for a while and talked about our whole experience while UA checking out a guy with beard and day dreamed he had one.

Went back to the hotel to dropped off the things we bought and decided to explore the National Road just outside the hotel.

Legend:
Green circle : where Pub Street is located
Red arrow-like line: going to the temples
Yellow x-mark: The Kool Hotel
Red Circle: Fried / Noodles Stalls
Purple circle: Another existing Temple at present

The " fried rice" place

Last taste of UA's favorite-in-the-whole-world "Dragon fruit shake"

Saw this woman selling some kind of pancakes that had coconut meat on it.

Cost: 300 Cambodian Reals ( 4,000 reals = $1, do your Math)

Across the road of these food stalls

Existing Temple just beside this road ~

On our way back to the hotel, we decided to eat Cambodian Noodles for early dinner and their weird Halo-Halo ( fruit mix with milk) as the dessert. It was delicious but the thing that made it weird was it had slices of squash on it and some kind of a vegetable and beans.

Cost: 600 Cambodian Reals

The thing that I liked about the accommodation of the Kool Hotel was that even if we already checked out, they still gave us a minty towel upon arriving to freshen up.

We decided to use the outside comfort room of the hotel to freshen up more and I decided to change to the dress I was wearing before.

Bid our goodbyes and Thank you's to the staffs of the Hotel before going to the airport.

Tuktuk ride to the airport: $ 6

Arrived at the airport around 8 in the evening because we thought that the ticket going to Manila that said, "10:30pm" was in Siem Reap time but it wasn't.

So we just stayed at the airport for the rest of the evening taking some pictures, looking for more things to buy ( chocolates, food, souvenirs at the airport was times 5 the original price)

till UA fell asleep with this position.









Arrival Time at Manila, Philippines~ 2:00am

Stayed at Manila for 3 days then booked a flight for Dumaguete via Philippine Airlines (free baggage of 10 kgs. goes with your purchased ticket)

The Flat Defeat of Siam ~ Siem Reap, Cambodia Day 4 of 5

We told the front desk the night before that we wanted Mom to fetch us at 4 in the morning but we woke up around 4 and finished dressing up quarter to 5.

By the third day of the temple tour, you would get sick visiting them all and they would start to look the same to you, so we just visited two temples that day:

Ankor Wat : for the epic sunrise

Ta Prohm : famously known from the movie Tomb Raider










Ankor Wat ~  known as "Temple City" or "City of Temples". This temple used to be a Hindu temple then turned into a Buddhist until present. 

The road going to Ankor Wat was very dark that's when we realized that we forgot to buy a flashlight. The whole place was dark except some of the food stalls that were open at that time. What we did was we followed the other tourists who had a flashlight.

* Ankor Wat has a long bridge, halfway through it, go down from that bridge ( left side). Sit near the river bank overlooking the temple. *

I think this is the best place to wait for the sunrise, some of the tourists went to the other side of the temple.

A lot of other tourists would be watching the sunrise with you

* Bring something to sit on. A paper or a carton would do, in our case, UA's tripod cover *

We decided to see the rest of Ankor Wat after the sunrise while it wasn't that hot yet.

another thumbs up from a tourist who saw this

Ankor Wat is big but the hallways are not as confusing as the other temples, just go about this temple and explore your way through it.

Carvings about culture and style of Ankor Wat mostly about
The Churning of the Ocean of Milk; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Awatoceanofmilk01.JPG

used to be the Swimming pools of the temple

Just beside the Budhdist shrine, we had our second blessing

The blessing was in a foreign language. He would be saying the prayer while tying the bracelet and blowing on it.

His voice would echo throughout that area forcing other tourists to keep quiet.












Our feet led us to what-used-to-be the garden of the temple 

and we were amazed by how big it was...

Around this place, you would see a lot of the architectural structures of the temple. . . 

UA started playing with the lights and made me his "instant" model. . . ( sorry for the vanity shots)

Unedited nor cropped~ sorry for the dog and the lady wearing pink behind me.











and moreeee picture taking. . . . 

and some shadow couple pictures. . . 

On our way out, we met an old man whom we named " Echo Man" because he taught us  how to make echos throughout the temple by leaning on the wall with holes on it and tapping your chest with your hand. We guessed that maybe in ancient times, this is how they passed messages throughout the temple walls especially if there were enemies coming.

Oh! and more pictures of me. . .

After all the vanity shots and awkward poses, we decided to go back to the hotel to eat breakfast and went back to bed.

Ta Prohm ~ originally called Rajavihara, founded by the King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university.

We woke up after lunch. On your way there, you would see a lot of other temples. 

* Ask Mom what are the other temples you could visit if you still want to *

Upon arriving, a flock of children would literally push their souvenir goods on your face, urging you to buy one so from day one to day three, these would be your exact sentences and reactions. . . 

Day one of the tour~ " No thank you" ( with a smile of your face)
Day two ~ " No thank you" ( no smile anymore)
Day Three ~ " NO! NO! NO!!!!! ( insert whatever your facial expression would be)

UA was trying to protect me while I was grabbing the water from the tuktuk because these children were very aggressive.

* There were food stalls and souvenir stall outside this temple, and its dusty everywhere.

The distance from the gate going to the temple was quite far but the good thing about this trail was that there were tress along the sidewalk so you could walk under their shade

The temple was under construction when we got there. The conservation of this temple is a partnership project of the Archaeological Survey of India and the APSARA ( known as Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap). We were also told that the movie Tomb Rader donated some money to help restore the temple.

The trees growing out of the ruins and the trees surround it made this temple unique from the other temples that we've visited.

Bas relief on Ta Prohm corridor

 Hall of Dancers

Left side hallway of the temple

A Buddhist shrine could be found at the end of this hallway.

Back side of the temple

From this side of the temple, you would see another entrance that would lead you to a hallway that has another shrine, we received our 3rd blessing there.

There was nothing more to see after this part, so we decided to leave this temple and eat our late lunch at Ankor Wat.

When we came out, a crowd of tourist was just coming in. I tried to look for Mom and found him immediately but lost UA at the same time.

Story of a mean witch and a cute child ~

Me: Where are you going? ( looking at UA and the child dragging him)
UA: I'm going to buy her an ice cream
Me: Where?
UA: To that guy there. 
Me: How much does this ice cream cost?
UA: $3?
Me: ( looking at the child) NO!! ( and drag UA back to the tuktuk) You'll get kidnapped or something. If you want to buy an ice cream, buy me one for $1.
UA:  But she was so cute. . . .

* Always make sure your partner is beside you at all times, this place is very crowded, anything could happen *

Lunch ~ Back at Ankor Wat

* There were a lot of food stalls in that area, ask your tuktuk driver which of them is better*

Lunch~
Chicken curry ( whole bowl) - $3
Beef curry ( whole bowl)- $3
Grilled chicken ( they have this special sauce that tasted amazing: sauce~ mixed lemon juice with pepper and garlic) - $4 each 
Rice - $2 each
Soda in Can - $3

* Food that are near the temples are always expensive *

Ate our lunch with Mom whom we needed to persuade for a couple of times because he was too shy to order something.

We told Mom that we wanted to be blessed by an authentic monk near Bayon Temple so he helped us looked for one.

* Around Bayon temple 3 monasteries could be seen *

We've chosen the biggest one and waited for the monk and our turn to be blessed. We saw this girl and her father offering some food and perfumed the whole shrine.

The prayer would last for about 15-20 minutes. The monk would be praying to you in a foreign language and would sprinkle a blessed water using a metal kind of brush. After your blessing, you would light the scented candle at the right side of the stage, pray by yourself and put it on the handler. You would then offer the monk food or any kind of offering where he would bless it and put it on the shrine.

After the blessing, we felt complete, happy and relaxed. I then told UA that I want to see wild monkeys walking around Ankor Wat so Mom looked for one.

We saw some locals gathering around a tree just beside the road. We soon found out that, that tree had 30 or more monkeys living on it.

The monkeys were very friendly, just be careful going under the tree because they would suddenly urinate while their hanging on a branch

After this we decided to head back to the hotel. . .

The pictures below is a current temple near the town of Siem Reap on our way back to the hotel.

Said our goodbyes to Mom and told him how happy we were that he was our tuktuk driver.

We then decided to relax first by the pool before going to Pub Street for a nice dinner.

Dinner at Pub Street

Recommendation: The Temple Bar 

The temple bar would serve your food while you watch some traditional dances of Cambodia ( butterfly dance, peacock dance etc and their National dance ~ Aspara Dance)

* Dance performance starts at 7:00 - 10:00 pm*

Aspara Dance

The food there is quite expensive and not that delicious either but we wanted to see their traditional dances so it was worth the price.

* Better for you to call this restaurant and have a reservation table near the stage because there would be a lot of other tourists dining with you *

Dinner ~
3 different traditional dishes ( most of them contained a lot of vegetables and coconut milk) - $ 6- $ 8 each dish
Rice - $2
Fruit smoothies - $ 4

We enjoyed watching the dance and UA gave 3 foreigners a pitcher of beer because one of them was wearing a shirt that says, " Keep Calm and Chive ON" ( both of them were frequent visitors of the website the Chive) ~ man code thingy ~




After that, we decided to do some shopping. We went back to Chida Stall # 6 for some souvenir shirts and loosed colorful pants. All for $ 2 from the original price of $ 5. 

At the other night markets, we were able to buy:
1.  pillow covers - from $ 6 to $3 each
2. Hammocks - from  $ 8 to $ 2






Tips of how to get a good bargain:
- They would ask you to give the price first, then they would tell you it's too low. Stick with your price and don't give in.
- If the price they gave you is not negotiable or they won't give you a discount, tell them you've found another store that gave you a big discount, start walking away. They would try to stop you and offer you a smaller price.
- Always check for the material or cloth. Some shirts has nice designs but the cloth is too thin.
- If some rude saleslady calls you a "witch" because your picky, move on to the other store ( or you can slap them with your dollars and give them a middle finger ~ okay this one is a joke,  don't do this)
- Don't be in a hurry to buy, survey the markets and remember the stores that would give you the best price.
- Silvers are everywhere in Pub Street. They would always tell you its real and it's expensive. Look for a better store that would offer you the higest discount
- If they would give you the half price of an item, ask them to lower it more


Enjoyed the rest of the night taking pictures and exploring Pub Street more.

Bought some junkfoods and bubble baths at the same convenient store and called it a day for Pub Street.