#RepeatCambodia
Date: 30 January 2015 - 2 February 2015 (4D3N)
KUL - Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - KUL
8 pax
Alhamdulillah. My wish to revisit Siem Reap is granted. As my birthday gift, mom booked a trip to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. We spent 2 nights in Siem Reap and 1 night in Phnom Penh. Instead of arranging everything ourselves, we took a tour package so everything was pretty much included. Well, except for my 'special tour'. Will tell you more about that later.
30 January 2015 (Friday)
Arrived in Siem Reap at noon and immediately bought the Smart SIM for US$5 (data 5.5 GB). Tour guide took us for lunch at the Wau Restaurant in the Angkor Shopping Arcade. They have another branch in Phnom Penh.
Note: the one in Siem Reap recently moved to the SR Shopping Arcade so don't use the old location on Google Map.
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| The restaurant staff announced the sambal with flourish. Unfortunately my tour group members weren't the type who need sambal while traveling. |
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| Somadevi Angkor Resort & Spa |
After lunch, checked-in to Somadevi Angkor Resort & Spa before going to Wat Bo, a quiet temple near the Moon Boutique Hotel which I stayed in during my first trip to Siem Reap. Our tour guide Mr. Sam told us that the right way to visit a temple is by going clockwise. Anti-clockwise movement is for funeral procession.
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| Wat Bo |
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| Artist in one of the workshops |
Next, we visited the Artisans d'Angkor, a craft workshop. You'll get to tour the workshops in the centre and buy the final product at the souvenir shop. We didn't buy any as I was rushing the group so I could get to the Angkor National Museum and spend enough time there. The rest of the group went to Tonle Sap lake for the river cruise and to see sunset instead.
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| Photo credit: A. Dali |
At the Angkor National Museum, I skipped the introduction video, the first few galleries and went straight to the Great Khmer Kings gallery. I've done a post on the museum earlier so I'll be updating that post instead of posting a new one. You can check it here.
Stayed until the museum closed and forced to go back to the hotel. Only 15 minutes walk according to Google Map. Started walking and got lazy half-way so I hired a tuk-tuk to drive the rest of the way :D Traffic was kinda scary and I hate crossing roads in general.
Showered and refreshed, met the group at the hotel. They were boasting about gorgeous sunset but too bad they had to skip shower as tour guide ushered us to dinner at D'Halal Cafe next to the Explorers House. You can find the place on Waze.
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| My sister's favourite tom yam |
After dinner, my parents and siblings went shopping while I opted to sleep early.
31 January 2015 (Saturday)
No sunrise chasing this time.
Tour guide took us to get the tickets for Angkor Archaeological Park. I've arranged a special trip for myself with Salim, our tuk-tuk driver/tour guide from my first trip. The group was going to Angkor Wat, Ta Phrom, etc. - those temples I've seen and I had arranged a separate tour to see the Roluos Group Temples and Banteay Srei. Banteay Samré was on itinerary as well but I got lazy :p
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| Lolei |
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| Preah Ko |
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| Bakong |
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| Banteay Srei Photo credit: A. Dali |
It was in time for lunch when I finished with Banteay Srei and so I asked the tuk-tuk driver to skip Banteay Samré and drive me to D'Halal Cafe to meet the group and have lunch. After that, we continued the tour with Angkor Thom and the whole shebang, ending at one of my favourite place - Bayon Temple.
Dinner was at D'Wau Restaurant and at 7.30 pm we were taken to the Amazon Angkor Restaurant for Apsara dance show. Amazon Angkor Restaurant offers buffet dinner, meant to be enjoyed while watching the show. Unfortunately (or fortunately because I don't really like queuing with huge crowd) for us, the food was non-halal.
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| Apsara Dance Show Opening Band Photo credit: A. Dali |
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| Photo credit: A. Dali |
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| Apsara Dance Photo credit: A. Dali |
Another night of shopping for mom and another early bedtime for me.
1 February 2015 (Sunday)
Early check-out and off to Phnom Penh by road. The poor road condition made a somewhat very interesting journey.
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| Photo credit: A. Dali |
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| Photo credit: A. Dali |
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| Photo credit: A. Dali |
We made a few short stops at the Prey Pros Restaurant with the beautiful lake view in Kampong Thom, a local market in Kampong Cham to get/see fruits, spider on stick and lemang, and the roadside vendor selling lotus seeds before reaching Phnom Penh at noon.
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| Prey Pros Restaurant |
Bidding goodbye to Mr. Sam and our driver, a different tour guide named Mr. Kun took over.
Siem Reap Guide
CHAN SAMNANG
lgsrp99@gmail.com
Phnom Penh Guide
KUNTHUL VANN
(+855) 93 97 70 70 (Viber, LINE, WhatsApp)
kunthul@gmail.com
vannsokun (Skype)
Honestly I pun tak tau mana first name, mana last name mereka. Suka hati je dia bubuh.
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| Telur dadar ni macam menu wajib for this trip |
Lunch at Ah-Man Green Restaurant before a very quick refreshing up at the Green Palace Hotel. No idea what's up with the green obsession. Good luck kut?
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| Green Palace Hotel |
First tour was the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. They are in the same complex- one entrance fee in short. Unlike other places, they actually observed proper dress code here. No sleeveless, no shorts.
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| Royal Palace |
You don't get to wander the palace of course, since the royal family still live there but you'll get to see the coronation room, some exhibition on royal outfit and lifestyle and the pagodas. Hire a guide so you'll be able to understand and appreciate the place.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
A depressing place but one that you should visit none the less. Great place to learn a bit of Cambodia's history and a lot about humanity. Couple this place with the Choeung Ek Killing Field and you'll get the perfect dark tourism package. I didn't get to visit the killing field so I'll have to return.
Learning from our 'short' refreshing up session after lunch, Mr. Kun didn't allow us to go back to the hotel and took us for a drive around town while waiting for dinner to be ready =p
Dinner was at the Phnom Penh branch of D'Wau Restaurant where we had the opportunity to meet the nice and friendly owner.
The restaurant was on the top floor though, not the ground floor.
The restaurant was on the top floor though, not the ground floor.
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| Traditional Khmer Massage <3 |
Back at the hotel, it was spa time for me while mom and aunt who had an earlier spa session went for another shopping trip at the local night market. So much of "there's not much shopping (can be done) in Cambodia!" *roll eyes*
2 February 2015 (Monday)
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| Sunrise from Green Palace Hotel |
Buffet breakfast in the hotel (got pork so pandai-pandai la pilih pastries and fruits only) before we were off to the airport for flight home.
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It's nice to have the opportunity to compare the experience between taking a tour package and arranging things on my own. I prefer the latter for Cambodia as it gave me more flexibility in terms of cramping as much tour/activities as I want in a day. Also, the food on this tour package is too 'Malaysian' whereas on my first trip we got to taste some local dishes like amok and their take on fried rice (which is different and tasty!).
But for places like Indonesia, I prefer to take the tour package and have everything pre-arranged, sorted and handled by somebody else.
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