Shopping goodies in Siem Reap Old Market?

Day 3 (3 May 2010). To yo'all gurls out there... shopping spweeeeee.....



First of all, lemme just share that I AM NOT A SHOPAHOLIC (I think I've said this in few other blog entries, heheheee...) really am not! Hence the blog titled "Globetrotter" mah.... BUT..... Having said that, I DO shop ie souvenir shopping lar... probably a few item for personal (due to peer pressure).

Due to my rubbish excuses above (yeah! yeah!), my recommendation & suggestion on shopping areas & goods pretty much sucks, HOWEVER; I will try (lar...) to show what you can expect there.

The standard currency here is USD; you can also change to their currency which is in Cambodian Riel if you feel that you have more advantage; but I personally think it's not necessary, unless you plan to start currency collection as a hobby ofcos. Else, everyone (even locals) uses US currency for daily business - so easy peasy right!

I first went around town looking for a clean, nice ambience restaurant, nice authentic decor for ideas (not that am opening a restaurant or what not) but I like sight seeing these stuff. One that caught my attention and not so worrying for me to indulge (since I have to go for HALAL food) is Blue Pumpkin... the dessert stuff there is......AWEEESOOOOMEEEEE!!!!! The choco taste is much better then those I had in KL (put Malaysian to shame lar). It's a chain store apparently - all over Cambodia. Anyone who is going there, ABSOLUTELY MUST try their cakes and ice-cream. YUMMILICIOUS! And the best thing is that the outlet in Old Market opens from 6am.... so, you can always ta-pau before your sunrise trip to Angkor Wat *hint*hint*.

Ofcos, these areas are walking distance (1min walk) from each other or to Siem Reap Old Market. Hemm... how should I describe Old Market? Hemm.... nothing much seriously, especially if you have been to Behn Than Market in Saigon. This is smaller and not as much stuff but still good if you love authentic looking rings, cool bracelet or even local motive earrings. Then there are house or decor ornaments, paintings, handy crafts etc; those very typical touristy souvenirish stuff.

They also have silk just like every other Asian country.
:D

Hemm... what else.... hemm... Oh yah! The MONEY CHANGER! It's everywhere in a stall concept, the currencies ie MONEY is being displayed openly without slightest worry that maybe some lunatic robbers will "serang" them (attack). WOW! I thought that was KEWL!!!!

At night time, there's nothing much unless you go for a R&R ie LEPAK at Pub Street... where the world backpacker & tourist meet. Here, we saw what I thought I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.I.N.G - BANANA LEAF Restaurant. Heehehe.... back here in Malaysia if you say banana leaf restaurant, traditionally we meant food SERVES on BANANA LEAF larr.... here....ehheheh nothing of that sort. They even serve alcohol ok! HAHAHHAHAA..... I guess they brought the custom of banana leaf eating to the next level.

Not only that, the other interesting stuff I saw was FISH SPA. OK! Here's the thing. In Malaysia, the fish spa FISHES are ACTUALLY TINY LITTLE CUTE FISHES.... Here ie in Siem Reap, the fishes can be the size of half your palm. And that s SUPER HUGE ok.... and scary as I can imagine when they nibble you, it's won't be a nibbling feel, most likely a biting feel (I think). ARGH.... ME NO LOIKE! ME SCARED! SCARED!

Before we head back to hotel, we decided to stopped by at the night market which is similar to what they sold in Old Market but slightly cheaper, not that big an area, if you are not a shopaholic like me; you can finish this in 20 mins (slooooow walk)....

Fish perform better then people? Hehheheee....

Siem Reap 12km ATV Sunset Ride *mouthfull*

Day 2 [part 2] (2 May 2010). Yup! I just have to... and you guys MUST try it as well!



We supposedly reach there at around 4:30pm or perhaps slightly after, they were waiting for us (ofcos lar right - paying customers). We saw the big boy toys - hemmm... (I was thinking to myself, abit worried on how to operate this), can I control this beast (ceh wah.... like real only). Honestly, I've tried beach buggy before and it wasn't THAT easy to control yah... despite that this monster was MUUUUUCH smaller, it is still a monster nevertheless. Panic attack hits me... Shucks! This is soooo not good, but I still look "enthusiastic, cool, and obviously non-chalant" hehehehee.... am hell a pretty good an actress; incase am unemployed, you know where to find me next. MUAHHAHAHAAA......

The owner is a French guy (nope, not good looking, in his mid 40s maybe!?!? hahahaa...), coaching us on how to handle this monster machine and allow us for a 500m or so test ride around the kampung area. Few things he told us that we MUST take note (of which we remembered "dearly") :

1. Do not lift up your hand to take pics
2. Do not change gear
3. Do not ride too fast (as it is a village/kampung area), we might meet with accident or probably cause one with the locals
4. How to hold you accelerator (with your hand, not a leg paddle)
5. How to break ie stop
6. Which one is the night light switch (Yup! We might be riding at night.... and here we thought it was merely a sunset ride)
7. How many instructor will be following us and at which position (front & back that is) on their dirt bike
8. And LASTLY, how to AVOID BICYCLE, MOTORBIKE, CARS, SMALL LORRIES, DRAIN and VILLAGERS (very crucial of all things) - basically just keep to middle lane and the locals know and will avoid us instead (PHEW....!!! Calmed us down definitely!)

We are set to go for our 2.5hours ride, our first "PIT STOP" was a green paddy field amongst the kampung houses, we thought "ok, snap few pics", then we were over-took by some speedy westerners (fast rider they are!) - around 6-8 of them I should think. We were like "WOW! You mean we can ride that FAST!??!"... We continued our journey, it was a LOOOOOOOONG ride whereby we passed by locals; the kids were very cute, they play - naked in the small drain (or river?!?!) or sand pit, or simply running around their home compound playing local games. And the best part was; they will STOP playing and run out to wave at us, I do kinda feel like a princess here...."TAH! TAH!"..... ehhehehee...... VAINGLORIOUS (Yup! My new vocab of the year!) moment here!

Then; just about then! What we WEREN'T BRIEFED, TOLD nor CAUTIONED happened! About 20-30 herd of cows/buffalo was "returning" home to their barn... and they were like everywhere, the "guardian" was a small little KID of 10-12 yrs old perhaps..... we slammed on the break not knowing what to do. You see..... if cars, bikes, lorries, villagers; they would know HOW TO AVOID non-locals riding an ATV BUT this are COWS/BUFFALO... they have a MIND OF THEIR OWN... HOW!?!??!?!?!? I mean, they were not even moving in single file.... PANIC ATTACK! Definitely gonna ask for partial refund - HAHHAHAHAAA.... apparently we 3 girls (on diff ATV ofcos) was thinking of pulling out our camera to take pics of this but we were to scared of sudden movement might distract the cows I mean, we were practically in the middle of them....the instructor reassured us it's ok to continue and then we proceed.... with a sign of relieved.

After what felt like a 10mins ride, we managed catch-up with the rest of the pack and soon we all ride into this HUGE paddy field and it was then the sun about to set... the site? FANTABULOUS....As I said over and over and over again - GOD GREATEST GIFT - SUNSET & SUNRISE. Never fail to awe me... sigh...... BEAUTIFUL! Parked our babies there (no more calling it “monster” as we are used to it by now - eksyen pulak!) and hopped off for pic taking time. YIPPEE!!!

:D

After about 20mins or so, we headed back... Fantastic Adventure.

Credit Hyperlinks : Quad Adventure Cambodia ATV Tours

Lily Croft of Angkor Wat ?!?!?! Hahhahahaa‏

Day 2 [part 1] (2 May 2010). Yeah RIGHT! Dream on LILY! You are NOTHING like Angelina Jolie! Hehheee....
HAHHAHAHAAA.....Don't worry, don't think I will make it pass the first cut nor the pre-lim of the first cut. HEHEHHEE... HOWEVER, it certainly got everyone's attention.
This is the day that I was waiting for, my UNESCO site, yup! You've guessed it right - ANGKOR WAT. Wait the minute, do you know the famous pic of Lara Croft or should I say Angelina Jolie at the entrance door where the huge tall tree octopused itself was actually taken in the Jungle Temple (Ta Prohm) not at Angkor Wat as we thought (sucker huh!). But if they were to say it was shot in Ta Prohm, I bet no one would have guessed where it is - well... it's kinda nearby Angkor Wat ie in Angkor Tom compound. Angkor Thom is basically a HUGE complex consist of temples built in 12th century. Apparently Angkor Wat is SLIGHTLY younger then its neighboring brother Borobudur (also blogged about it earlier here) - so they say.

Ahh..... AS USUAL. I won’t settle with something THAT easy right, what fun will it be if I were to go visit Angkor Wat as everyone else. I do have informative friends who told me that I SHOULD take a look during SUNRISE or SUNSET.... hemmm.... this sounds more like me. Guess my friends know me well, more then I think they do.... :D (thanks KT). We arrange our pick up at 6am... Oh! Before I continue with the story, lemme tell you first on the transportation here in Siem Reap. EVERYWHERE (note the caps in the letters) you go is within 30 mins reach BUT the actually distance is around 15-30KM the most (well... the popular places at least). Got the math? 30 mins journey for 15km destination. YUP! Kid you not! The MAX SPEED LIMIT = 30kph, that's 30 KILOMETER PER HOUR!!!!...I mean, it's Siem Reap - what's the hurry they say. Well, kinda true though.... However, the 1st day we DID feel like helping the driver slamming down his accelerator paddle. Sooooo SLOOOOOWWWWW....
OK! OK! OK! Back to my SUNRISE IN ANGKOR WAT. I took LOADS of pics in Angkor Wat that am so confuse to which one should I be posting; hence (to solve this vain side of me), I've decided to include my facebook album for your to peruse (if teringin lar.... macam ler cantek sangat my gambars!). I appended few of my favourite ones though (with higher amount of PERASAN ie VAINGLORIOUS), basically the ENTRANCE SUNRISE, the REFLECTION, the MEDIEVAL (just imagine the horse is a UNICORN should do the trick) and what is temple album without the MONK in orange robe pics right.... checked!

NEXT!!!! TA PROHM = JUNGLE TEMPLE = LARA CROFT FAMOUS PIC. First thing first, I have always wanted to get myself to try and take pics of locals kids in local environment and their most natural mood/expression. And what do you know, I saw this "great opportunity" - little kid waiting for mummy (I think mummy is one of the peddler); apa lagi... snap like crazy... she's kinda cute huh! Ah hah!... Guess what?!?!?! She CRIED!!!! I think she must have been thinking, why is this crazy woman taking sooooo many pic of me... is she CRAZY or WHAT?!??! At that point of time, first instinct - RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahhahahaa.... Yup! I did RUN! What a naughty me! Shh....... (don't tell anybody!)

They found this temple the last and it is well hidden in the jungle with trees entangling and weaving thru the ruins, making it look mysterious and ancient. I kinda feel as if I was in those era of cannibals just waiting for them to jump out from somewhere to pound at us. Well... the only person we saw was hundreds of French, Spanish, Japanese, Koreans etc... and they ain't no cannibals lurking around.

The first tree "GREW ON" the temple was amazing and we started taking pics ofcos, thinking this was the ever so famous Lara Croft tree, then Mr. Tee said "NO", he will take us to the real one, right deep inside... hemmm..... we walked further lar... wondering how can any other tree be better "tangled" then this (right??? agree??).

What we saw was I.M.P.R.E.S.S.I.V.E !!!! HUGE COBWEB TREE weaving and growing thru the ancient temple. Even what I say couldn't' describe the feel, you have (MUST) be there to feel it. Ofcos, there are other ruins pic just as magnificent as this, love the FEEL! NOPE! We are NOT done yet! I have to split this entry into 2 parts, the temple part & the rugged activity part (hence the [part 1] in the sub heading).

BAYON TEMPLE... the Smiling Buddha Temple :)

Apparently there are about 216 Buddha faces in this temple at ever nuke and corner, and some of it is pretty steep climb, and me no brave soul here... scared of heights like crazy, I was practically clutching the guide and the walls to go up to the next level (what I get myself into does worry me sometimes!?!?! Sigh... but the adventurous part of me...sigh...). By this time we were tired and the heat got the best of us... we practically dehydrated and since toilet is not "that" accessible here, we kinda need to ration our drinking portion (wouldn't want to get into "toilet trouble" later on, heheehehee...).

The few things I would like to share would be the Halal restaurant that we went during lunch (and the next day dinner), this is one of 2 Halal restaurant in Siem Reap and this happen to own by a Malaysian Malay that have been in operation since 5 years back; and the other one is by a local imam (his restaurant located next to the mosque - the one and only mosque there, will post it in next entry). And the guest house or B&B (as some of you might call it) is just behind this restaurant, meal is kinda easy for those Muslim that stays here. From here you have to take Tuk Tuk to the night market or hot spot in town which will probably cost you around USD1 per person, more then 3 person - feel free to nego. Oh! By the way, KFC is HALAL! Hehhehe.... How cool is that!

Leaving Angkor Tom behind and heading to our "rugged" adventure.... are you curious now? *wink wink*

Tour - Mr Tee (no worries, I don't get commission out of this, just helping fellow travelers).

E-mail : khounvuthy@yahoo.com
www : angkorvictorytravel.com
Inter call : (855)12630785
Local call :012630785

Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia

I Blog About Travel – Pick Me!

FIRST: Create a new blog entry with title I Blog About Travel – Pick Me!
>>> Done

SECOND: Answer these simple questions (in English or Malay).
1. Blog Name / URL
>>> Globetrotter …addiction of a travelholic… / http://lilyrianitravelholic.blogspot.com

2. When do you start blogging?
>>> May 2009 and counting

3. Introduce yourself and your blog
>>> My profile on my blog (and Facebook) says it all - I am addicted to traveling. In fact, if there would ever be a Travelholic Anonymous Group, you won't be surprise that I will be the first one to sign up. Err... Nah..... I don't think I'll have the time to attend as I will be busy TRIPPING. Muhahahaa...

>>> As for my blog, it’s all about my traveling experience - in good time or bad time, it‘s highlights and lowlights, the great adventure even our misadventure as I hope it will serves those other travellers as a guide to the world of travelholic.

4. Why do you blog about travel?
>>> All of my friends know my weakness - traveling. In fact, am like their personal travel desk. So, instead of repeating my stories and emailing them the link or showing them the pictures, they encouraged me to start blogging instead (good idea I must say!). Basically, it’s all about my traveling experiences - in good time or bad time, it‘s highlights and lowlights, the great adventure even our few misadventure; as I hope it will serves those other travelers a guide to the world of travelholic.

5. Do you make money with your travel blog?
>>> Err… Not at this point of time. Any suggestions?

6. Why should we pick your travel blog?
>>> Cause....
... traveling is my passion and blogging is my “action”
... in what I care, the best way to share
... of my experience and deepest appreciation of god's greatest creation

THIRD: Link back to MBP and this contest page.
MBP – http://mombloggersplanet.com
Contest Page – http://mombloggersplanet.com/contest-i-blog-about-travel-pick-me/
>>> Done

FOURTH: Include the contest banner in the entry. >>> Done


FIFTH: Leave the entry URL here at the comment box
>>> Done

Summoned for 2 weeks by Beijing Emperor

I was sentenced for silence for awhile... was called by the "Ming Emperor" to Beijing to extend my help to the China dynasty. Hahaahahaaa...... YUP! just shortly after my Siem Reap trip, was tired, VERY EXTREMELY tired especially since I haven't had any good long rest since the Singapore x2 trips, Siem Reap and now Beijing for 2 whole weeks. Missed my Facebook & blog badly too.... :( aside from family, friends and colleague AND food AND CAT lar ofcos....


One thing that made me feel glad though - FINALLY manage to step foot on one of the GREAT WONDERS OF THE WORLD - GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!! And ofcos, FORBIDDEN CITY too!!! The days there was gloomy hence the pic didn't turn out great AT ALL! Sigh... I will try to find few good ones to share in both my FB and blog (after am done with Siem Reap blog).

PS : Just found out no FB/Twitter/Blog....argh...

Seeking Siem Reap

Day 1 (1 May 2010). Tonle Sap impressed the seeker.

Touched down at 8am. They are behind Malaysia by 1 hour. Felt jaded but seriously just lack of sleep as usual. Choose (silly me!) to do last minute packing reason being “haven’t even finish UNpacking Hong Kong trip”…sigh….Travel salah, tak travel pun salah - can’t win wan lor…

:P

One MOST important thing I MUST highlight


FREAKING HOT WEATHER


There you go. Now that I got it out of my chest! Phew…

One and only MAJOR activity for the day - visit Tonlé Sap! Apa itu right? It’s a lake. YUP! You heard me awight. What’s the big deal hor, lake only mahh….. The same thought crossed my mind, but I figure that since am in another country, I should at least cover some of these places and see what they have to offer as you never know what they have install for you. Ngam?!? True enough - SURPRISE !!!!

How should I begin this… hemm…. Tonlé Sap basically means "Large Fresh Water River" in Khmer. Obviously lar right, it is a lake after all mah *still nonchalant at this point* - normal lor. Aahhhhh….. How big will be the question next betul?!?! It is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot that was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997!!!

The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: 1) its flow changes direction twice a year, and 2) the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. In fact, lemme just share with you on this map DARK BLUE - DRY SEASON, LIGHT BLUE - FLOOD SEASON, can you see the MASSIVE transformation?? Simply put - from approximately 3,000 square km to 12,000 square km ie 4 times BIGGER. Can imagine it now? SCARY!

The lake size on Cambodia map - HUGE!!! Don’t ever doubt the power of THE lake (or god!). By the way, so that everyone knows, you can take a 5 HOURS river cruise to Phnom Pehn from Siem Reap (Biqque, you hear that - go do it GURL!)

Since we were there during “dry season” hence the water is VERY VERY VERY murky macam teh tarik colour like that lar.

Anyway, we really don’t have any expectation as all these info was given when we stopped in the middle of this huge lake. My heart was saying, such a BORIIIIIING river ride, is this “their” definition of a “LAKE”? Said (or thought) with much “SNOBBISHNESS & ARROGANTNESS”, am soooo ashamed with meself.

I guess this is god’s way of a “revenge” as when we hit the river/lake mouth, I was..... in awe. GOODNESS GRACIOUS, I see NO END of the lake, I mean… might as well call it a SEA!!! As usual lar, where there's a source of income (fish, fish & more fish) means there would be people living here - thus, floating village. I don’t want to explain much here, just check out how “true to nature while embracing the future” they are (below pics).

Few things that caught my eye.

1) 2 floating village - (i) Cambodian & (ii) Vietnamese
2) Floating school - each community
3) Chicken can be rear on water (where there’s a will, there’s a way!)
4) Cable TV - ANYWHERE, EVERYWHERE
5) Floating church - aiks! what happen to mosque and temple :)
6) Kids showcasing talent with python for USD1 (naked mind you!)
7) Even an one arm boy can row a boat to earn a living

And…. During monsoon season, they will dock and live on dry land; apparently the current is too strong and dangerous; interesting, even lake have strong current, hemmm…..



So, are you as impress now?

Hyperlink credit : Wikipedia