My Asian Tour - Cambodia

waiting for the bus outside Sinh Tourist's office in HCMC, Vietnam


After Vietnam, we went to Cambodia. The tour was still with Sinh Tourist. For US$114, we got 3 days 2 nights food and accommodation in Siem Reap (SP), coach bus ride to and from Cambodia, an English speaking guide and ticket to Apsara Dance Show.

We got 2 rooms. They were spacious and clean. They also have WiFi, but since we're on the 3rd floor, we got poor signal. Buffet meals were also good. I will definitely recommend Sinh Tourist to those who want to visit Vietnam and Cambodia.

Bus ride to SP was comfortable, but traveling 12 hours is another story. I busied myself sightseeing just to manage my boredom. Settings in the countryside is similar to ours. Most fields were planted with rice.



Amazingly, we realized that they like eating exotic foods, e.g, millipedes, crickets, day-old-chicks or birds, tarantulas, snails and steamed turtles. We saw these in bus stops and in a river port. According to David, our Cambodian guide, these where deep-fried and crunchy. The ones that's tasty and which they preferred to eat, was the one that were roasted. So much with these foods. I'm salivating hehehe...








Highlight of this tour was the visit to the temples or wat. For one-day entrance we paid $20. They will take your picture and print it in your ticket for souvenir. Be sure to smile or you'll end up throwing the ticket afterwards...hahaha...that goes for me.

First stop was Ta Prohm where the famous Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider movie was shoot. There we saw roots of 600 year old trees entwined with the ruins. This is actually a temple-monastery according to the book "Ancient Angkor."



Second was Ta Keo, a giant 'temple-mountain'. There are five massive towers on top of this temple. Here, I saw a girl selling postcards with her mother and brother. I bought one set at $2 (prices are always in US $)and got pictures of the family...priceless!





Next in the itinerary was Victory Gate, entrance to the old city of Angkor. After taking pictures we proceeded to our last stop for that morning, Bayon.











This temple has a mass of face-towers to create a stone mountain of ascending peaks. I took pictures of carvings of dancing apsaras and devatas on walls. David volunteered to take our "nose-to-nose" picture with a sandstone face.




Wheeew, our morning tour was tiring but incredible. We were all sweating but eager to go up the sand stairs to experience and see what's inside those temples.

Afternoon trip started at 2pm. As it was so humid I decided to change from long pants to short, but the driver and guide said it is not allowed in Angkor Wat, our final destination.

Angkor Wat is the grandest and most sublime of all the Khmer temples and is dedicated to Hindu God Vishnu. We climbed up the highest peak leading to the courtyard. David said years before, 20 visitors died climbing the steep stairs and the husband of a fallen French woman donated amount for metal hand rail.



This temple is really awesome. I'd like to bring my family especially my son whose readings includes Asian mythology.








monk exits Angkor Wat

Our tour ended with buffet dinner with Apsara Dance Show. Oh, and as if not tired walking the whole day, we visited their night market and bought once again some pasalubongs. Enna and I, had foot scrub and head massage. My feet were so pampered. :-))



she's the star of the dance show...representing Queen Sita