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
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Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia