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