Leaving

Finally we arrived at the final hours prior to leaving Siem Reap. The airport is small, but quite nice and clean. We waited at the business lounge, which was also quite small but not bad. They offered limited selection of snacks and drinks and I had my cappuccino there.



We had to walk to the plane and we were able to take picture of the sign board. we have been to many airport but were never able to do so.

The sunset behind the plane, which actually was a Vietnam Airlines' , made the picture look stunning, IMO. We took a sister carrier of Singapore Airlines, Silk Air. We're going home.

Til the next trip!

Last Lunch In Siam Reap

Our flight was 6:20 PM, we had plenty of time to kill after we checked out from our hotel. But first, we had our lunch at the restaurant of the hotel and had our picks from the menu. We love their fish cakes for appetizer, they were made thinner than we normally have in any other (Thai) restaurants, quite delicious.

Miss K had her pasta with Carbonara sauce, which was well cleaned up.

Yours truly had a plate of Pad Thai, that she could not finish, even with the help from the others.

The gentleman had his pasta with Alfredo chicken sauce, which appeared to be well liked.

For dessert, Miss K had a scoop of ice cream served on sliced apples with some cinnamon and sugar, which I thought was a bit too sweet and unattractive. It was, however, presented prettily.

More Pics From Siem Reap

An ice cream-bakery-cafe place in Old Market area - Psar Chaa.

One of the common souvenir shops in the Old Market Area, selling scarfs, wallets, key-chains, bags, etc.

From the street outside Angkor Wat.


One of the souvenir kiosk near of of the temples.






The above pictures are from The Jungle Temple - Ta Prohm.


View of The Terrace of the Elephants.

Smiling Statue

The smiling statue picture above was taken at Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom. It looks serenely beautiful with the blue sky background.....

Pictures From Angkor Wat

In the afternoon of our second day in Siem Reap, we had the opportunity to explore Angkor Wat, which used to be one of the Seven Wonders of the world.

After such a sunny morning, we had a rather cloudy afternoon, making it a lot easier for us, to walk about and enjoy thousands of figures carved on the walls of the temples. There were a number of tourists, but it was not crowded at all.

By accident, we met a gentleman who has been so kind and helped us when we just arrived at the airport and found that nobody from the hotel that we had booked picking us up. While one man tried to push us into getting a cab, the others tried to sell us their products. One man (jerk!) working from Sofitel told us ton pay $1 to use his mobile phone to call hotel, which completely turned me off. It's not about $1, it's about compassion. What a jerk he was to take advantage of the tourists that come to his country and would help its economy.

The very nice man that helped us was having his lunch and started speaking to us in Chinese and offered his help to call the hotel, upon overhearing our problem. That's a gentleman indeed and a great ambassador to Cambodia. We thanked him then and thanked him again when we saw him at Angkor Wat and told him how much we appreciated his help. He said, "Bu keqi!" - You're welcome.

I only read later on that Angkor Wat is really beautiful at sunrise and when it's dark. They have some lights lit up and that creates such an extraordinary sight.

But I guess, in the bright light of the day, we were able to see every feature clearly.

Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom

Bayon Temple is located in Angkor Thom, it is the largest temple there, built by King Jayawarman VII around 11-12 century. Bayon Temple is also one of the most well known temples in the area. There are thousands of carved figures on the wall, very interesting place to visit.

Le Tigre de Papier

When we visit a place for the first time, without much knowledge about the place and good places to eat, we would rely on hotel food, people's recommendations and some reviews from the web. If we have none of the above, we simply go around and pick, after making sure that to some extent the food that we are going to eat there won't murder us or make us miserably sick over the next few days.

We read restaurant reviews from Tripadvisor and found this restaurant, which also offers cooking classes. Conveniently located in the area of Old Market, around 10-15 minute walk from our hotel, Le Tigre de Papier was ranked 4 among the reviews. Bear in mind that sometimes there are only one or two reviewers, so the opinions can be heavily biased.

It was late afternoon on the day we arrived in the city and we took a dusty stroll around Old Market and we found the place. It was not exactly by accident, cause my daughter and I were looking for it! It would not be my kind of place, but so are nearly all the others that we had seen. But the fact that they have pizza baked on wood-fired oven, we were right there and were willing to try, we decided to sit down and try their food. We had spring rolls that we did not take pictures of, they look like ordinary spring rolls and taste just like them, my girl had Gnocchi and we also shared a Pizza Formaggi. For us, the foods were fine, not bad, but not too extraordinary either. They are good value for money. Our bill was US$17 for the three dishes that we ordered including one big bottle of water and two coca cola.

And... ssshhh... there's ATM inside the restaurant, the real one!

Around Siem Reap ...

The above picture was taken after we entered the Gateway to Angkor Wat. Ladies riding bicycle carrying large mats, I believe. Men on the street were shouting at them, sounded more like making fun of them... They lost control of their bikes as the road was slightly going downhill.

It is a common sight to see very young kids on motorcycle being held with one hand by the adult rider. So are pick-up trucks loaded with lots of people....

The Gateway To Angkor Thom

Here we are in Siem Reap, Cambodia, a city of hundreds of temples. The picture above is of the Gateway to Angkor Thom, widely used as entrance to the temple complex. The are plenty of tourists despite the fact that it was low season, maybe not as many as they used to have prior to the economy crisis. There are lots of local sellers, offering everything under the sun.... books, jewelry, souvenirs, etc.