Trip Report: Day 7 Angkor Wat
I was glad that we didn't need to wake up at 4.30 am for the sunrise because we already had trouble waking up at 6.30 am. After a quick breakfast of baguettes and jam we hopped on to our tuk-tuk and headed towards Angkor ticket office.
A day's ticket cost 20 usd; 3 days pass and one week pass are 40 and 60 respectively. There were guards situated at some of the temples to check for the tickets. We visited all the temples on the Little and Big Circuit; Angkor Wat, Bayon, Baphoun, Terrace of the Leper King, Terrace of the Elephants, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean, Preah Khan and Bakheng. So at the end of the day we were all templed-out.
When I was about to reach the top of one of the stairs at Angkor Wat, someone called out my name. To my surprise Junli aka Rollo was at the top smiling at me. He was doing CIP at Phnom Penh and would be going back to Singapore the next day after visiting Siem Reap.
Bayon was crowded with many tourists when we visited it but the sculpture of faces were still impressive. There were as many Western tourists as Asian ones; the Koreans were especially prominent and their "han-dul-set"s could be heard everywhere.
Terrace of the Leper King revealed a surprise for us; a boy of about 10 year old became our guide for that place. His knowledge of the temple was amazing and we were prepared to give him 2000 riel each for his efforts. However he prefer Thai Baht or USD. In the end he was rewarded 2 usd.
Lunch was at an overpriced stall beside Bayon; the meal cost the same as any air-conditioned restaurant in the Old Market area. The temples that we subsequently visited became a blur; the only few which stood out were the famous Ta Prohm where the Tomb Raider was filmed and Bakheng where the temple was situated at the top of the hill.
There were many kids peddling things to the tourists at every temples; I would decline them politely with a smile. All of them were only trying to make a living. While they did get on the nerves, there was no need for over-reaction like a Japanese obasan at one of the temples. She was screaming and shouting and called the vendor a 'devil' because of some miscommunication. I was sure that the dollar that she was upset about would hardly get her anything in Japan.
We were back in the guesthouse before dinner to settle our onward transportation. Michael the guesthouse owner booked us a taxi to Poipet the next morning at 5.30 am for 35 usd. We had decided against taking the bus to Bangkok because the road condition to the Thai border is quite bad. After settling that, we went out for dinner.
Blue Pumpkin's breads were to be sold at a discount after 7pm and we were there at 6.45pm. Meanwhile another group of Singaporeans came in as well. LOL... Singaporeans really aren't ones who miss out on a good offer.
Food had been surprisingly expensive in Cambodia; an average meal with drink cost roughly 4 usd. Finally we took the plunge in street food while watching Korea play Japan for the 3rd place in Asian Cup. Kok Wai went out to find supper and the grilled prawns that he brought back were nice. It left us unsatisfied and Kok Wai went out again look for more food. In total, 12 prawns and a pack of fried rice cost only 6.50 usd.
Only I stayed on to watch Lee Woon-Jae saved the 6th penalty from Hanyu and Korea beat their arch-rivals with 10 men. I went to sleep with a weird thought. Perhaps the reason why Japanese lost was due to the behaviour of the auntie at the temple. Retribution indeed.
A day's ticket cost 20 usd; 3 days pass and one week pass are 40 and 60 respectively. There were guards situated at some of the temples to check for the tickets. We visited all the temples on the Little and Big Circuit; Angkor Wat, Bayon, Baphoun, Terrace of the Leper King, Terrace of the Elephants, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean, Preah Khan and Bakheng. So at the end of the day we were all templed-out.
When I was about to reach the top of one of the stairs at Angkor Wat, someone called out my name. To my surprise Junli aka Rollo was at the top smiling at me. He was doing CIP at Phnom Penh and would be going back to Singapore the next day after visiting Siem Reap.
Bayon was crowded with many tourists when we visited it but the sculpture of faces were still impressive. There were as many Western tourists as Asian ones; the Koreans were especially prominent and their "han-dul-set"s could be heard everywhere.
Terrace of the Leper King revealed a surprise for us; a boy of about 10 year old became our guide for that place. His knowledge of the temple was amazing and we were prepared to give him 2000 riel each for his efforts. However he prefer Thai Baht or USD. In the end he was rewarded 2 usd.
Lunch was at an overpriced stall beside Bayon; the meal cost the same as any air-conditioned restaurant in the Old Market area. The temples that we subsequently visited became a blur; the only few which stood out were the famous Ta Prohm where the Tomb Raider was filmed and Bakheng where the temple was situated at the top of the hill.
There were many kids peddling things to the tourists at every temples; I would decline them politely with a smile. All of them were only trying to make a living. While they did get on the nerves, there was no need for over-reaction like a Japanese obasan at one of the temples. She was screaming and shouting and called the vendor a 'devil' because of some miscommunication. I was sure that the dollar that she was upset about would hardly get her anything in Japan.
We were back in the guesthouse before dinner to settle our onward transportation. Michael the guesthouse owner booked us a taxi to Poipet the next morning at 5.30 am for 35 usd. We had decided against taking the bus to Bangkok because the road condition to the Thai border is quite bad. After settling that, we went out for dinner.
Blue Pumpkin's breads were to be sold at a discount after 7pm and we were there at 6.45pm. Meanwhile another group of Singaporeans came in as well. LOL... Singaporeans really aren't ones who miss out on a good offer.
Food had been surprisingly expensive in Cambodia; an average meal with drink cost roughly 4 usd. Finally we took the plunge in street food while watching Korea play Japan for the 3rd place in Asian Cup. Kok Wai went out to find supper and the grilled prawns that he brought back were nice. It left us unsatisfied and Kok Wai went out again look for more food. In total, 12 prawns and a pack of fried rice cost only 6.50 usd.
Only I stayed on to watch Lee Woon-Jae saved the 6th penalty from Hanyu and Korea beat their arch-rivals with 10 men. I went to sleep with a weird thought. Perhaps the reason why Japanese lost was due to the behaviour of the auntie at the temple. Retribution indeed.
posted by shyh jie at 1:19 PM
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