220409 Wednesday – Cambodia

I still can’t get over the image of the victims portrayed in S21 prison. The vindictive and horrendous massacre of Poi Pot 30 years ago is good enough to make any decent person experience the destruction of a human ego and power obsession. The most devious endeavor is to kill children and weak women whom have no ability to retaliate. It makes me grateful of my life and the freedom I’ve enjoy. It’s not something that we can achieve it overnight. The idea that we hold and the liberty to carry it out is something we have always taken it for granted. I hope this kind of occurrence will never happen again. May all the victims rest in peace!

210409 Tuesday – Phnom Penh

I left Siem Reap to Phnom Penh early in the morning and met Charlie and Ria on the bus. Sometimes, the best way to know people is to look at each other and ask is this the right place to alight? Coincidentally, we both are heading to the same guesthouse so we shared a Tuk-Tuk to our guesthouse. Room are tiny and not very clean but the price is fair enough to stay for one more night. From C & R, I get to know Becky, George, Alexis and Emily. All of them are from Great Britain and I can’t help to fake my British accent “Can I have a cup of tea, please?” We have a wonderful conversation and dinner near our guesthouse. I came to know that Becky and George are planning to visit Singapore so I offer to show them around when they arrive in Singapore.

Cambodia point of view

There are a few interesting things to note in Cambodia.

The women in Cambodia wear their pajamas all day; to the market, selling food at their stalls and most attention-grabbing is when they serve my breakfast in the restaurant. Pajamas seem to be like their uniform. The pajamas come in bright cartoony or sometimes floral design. I’m sure the women in Cambodia likes to be comfortable in their own skin but surely no pajama can make you a supermodel.

Cambodians are kind of nosey parker. It first started while I was exchanging US dollars to Riel, when this man apparently for no good reason keeps staring at my money while I was counting privately at the corner of the money changer till I can’t stand it anymore and ask him, May I help you?? Several times before he back off. Then, I realize it doesn’t matter whether you’re White or Asian. They stare at your every move like a reality TV show in Amazing Race. It’s like 10 people crowding around a motorcyclist whom met with an accident without trying to help. Lastly, when I was hopping onto the motorcycle from my guesthouse to Angkor Wat, there are 2-3 men staring at my every move. They merely want to see if I’ll fall from the motorcycle. Ridiculous but that’s the Cambodia Reality!

Initially, I thought the children in Cambodia are pitiful and I bound to be struggling with my emotion whether to help by buying from them or not. It turns out the children is not that innocent after all. They are in fact bratty, insolent and sarcastic. Some children will come up to u slapping your arms or try to throw a punch on your face. I was pestered by a few children, talking into buying mangos or pineapple from them. When you buy from one child among all, they will show you their anger and say why you didn’t buy from me, some even sarcastically say “Thanks for not buying my mangoes” All in all, the children sure learn to tough it up in a harsh environment.

200409 Monday – Siem Reap, Cambodia

The Angkor temple tour is not for the faint hearted. I mean the steepest and tallest stairs you can ever encounter, make that a few flights of stairs (I’m fear of height). Multiply it by 8, that’s the number of times you’ve climbed up & down plus the hottest weather like boiling hot and sand flying in the air then into your eye. Water gulping in every 5 seconds. Of course, lastly it’s all about money, isn’t it? USD$20 (S$30) for one day pass, USD $10 (S$15) for the motorcyclist, in additional the USD $5 (S$7.50) lunch on the roadside. It’s only fried noodle plus it’s without meat. I’m not complaining but I wish someone could have warned me beforehand.
Nonetheless, is it worth it? Yes! Is it impressive? No. I guess I’ve heard so much about Angkor Wat and Tomb Raider in Angelina Jodie movie is not helping but build up my expectation. To me, it’s just massive rock architecture with engravings. There is no huge and highly embellished Buddha sculptures and it’s kind of messy, the way all the unwanted rocks lying around the temple. I’m deeply disappointed. Come on Cambodia, you can do better than that!

The route for my one Angkor temple tour;

Phnom Bakeng > Angkor Thom (Bayon temple) > Chau Say Thevoda > Thommanom > Ta Keo > Ta Prohm > Banteay Kdei > Sras Srang > Prasat Kravan > Angkor Wat

190409 Sunday – Siem Reap, Cambodia

The highlight of the day should be the admission ticket, USD$12 I’ve paid for the Angkor National Museum. Seriously, I’m kidding but I do feel it’s too much to pay just for the admission alone. There isn’t any free coffee or tea to go along, unlike the Death Railway Museum in Kachanaburi. The route to the various galleries is well-planned. The 1000 Buddha gallery is impressive; however, the information is not sufficed. Nonetheless, I spend the entire afternoon there just to make my ticket worth-while.

I started the day by visiting the local Cambodian temple, Wat Kerasasam just opposite on the main road of my guest house. The wall murals inside and outside the hall is stunning. It depicts the life story of Buddha and some Buddhist analogies.

I then walk quite a long distance to the Angkor national museum, along the way I pass by a few Buddhist shrines; that’s the beauty about walking, it surprises you with new discovery.

In the evening, I visited the Angkor Night Market and had a fabulous Green curry Vermicelli for dinner. I can’t wait for what’s to come, the majestic ruins, Angkor Wat.

180409 Saturday – Bangkok, Thailand > Siem Reap, Cambodia

At last, I’ve arrived in Siem Reap. The mentality that I’m still travelling in Thailand lingers even when I step into Cambodia, most Cambodian thought I’m Thai and begin to converse in Thai with me. No matter what, I can't shake off my Thai identity. That’s why I feel so close to Thailand.

Initially, I was apprehensive as I’ve read online all the visa scam from crossing the borders from Thailand to Cambodia and how crafty they can be. However, as an experienced traveler, I’m glad to say that I manage to get through without a sense of rip-off. I first started taking a bus from Lumphini Park to Aranyaprathet. It’s a casino express bus from Thailand to Poi Pet Casino in Cambodia which usually most people will get to Aranyaprathet from the Northern Bus Terminal, Mo Chit. Once I reach the border and exit myself from Thailand, I’ve to walk 800m to the Cambodia immigration hall which I’ve to fill in the arrival card before getting a stamp. The officer in the immigration hall is very dodgy, I’ve seen earlier a Thai lady offering 100 Baht bribe for a smooth transition. But when it comes to my turn, the officer took his own sweet time, waiting for me to offer him a bribe which I pretend not to notice. About 5mins or so, I started to ask him in English “Is there any problem?” which I can tell he couldn’t understand so I irritate him further till he stamp my passport and let me go. I seriously cannot tolerate corruption, not in my passport.

I left the immigration hall with a few drivers pestering me to take their car to Siem Reap. I took the tourist shuttle bus to a shop which sells the bus ticket to Siem Reap only to find out that the previous 9am bus had left. The next bus will be in 3.30pm which is 5 hours away so I decided to take a taxi instead which is USD $5 more but the catch is I’ve to wait for 3 more passengers. After waiting for an hour or so, an old white man which I happen to know later, Andrew from Scotland got in the cab, I guess he must have booked the whole taxi without realizing there is one passenger in the car, on the way we pick up one more passenger which turns out to be the driver’s sister, Miss. We’ve an interesting chat, got to know a little bit more about Cambodian culture. Andrew drops off at a tuk tuk stand while the driver is kind enough to send me directly to my guest house.

The ambient of the guest house wasn’t that bad except I was disappointed that the Wi-Fi is not working for the whole month till to the Cambodian New Year; at least that’s what the receptionist said.

After I checked in, I decided to explore the town. I begin with the old market where most of the stuff seems to be imported from Thailand.
Siem Reap is a sandy town (I keep eating sand); infants are everywhere, bare naked running around, and children selling whatever you can think of from bracelets to books. Nicely decorated café and restaurant clustering in the old market catering in US dollars. At night, turning one of the streets into Pub Street for foreigners entertainment.

170409 Friday – Bangkok

Cambodia seems to delay one more night again as the guest house I would like to stay in Siem Reap is fully booked thus I brought Becky to Grand Hyatt, Erawan Shrine to visit the four face Buddha which contrary to popular belief is not a Buddha at all but Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of the Hindu creation god Brahma. Becky wants to make some offering as she has heard from me that the story of how people have their wishes granted by returning and donate large amount of money for the Thai dancers to dance non-stop

The Erawan Shrine was built in 1956 as part of the government-owned Erawan Hotel to eliminate the bad karma believed caused by laying the foundations on the wrong date.

The hotel's construction was delayed by a series of mishaps, including cost overruns, injuries to laborers, and the loss of a shipload of Italian marble intended for the building. Furthermore, the Ratchaprasong Intersection had once been to put criminals on public display.

An astrologer advised building the shrine to counter the negative influences. The Brahma statue was designed and built by the Department of Fine Arts and enshrined on 9 November 1956. The hotel's construction thereafter proceeded without further incident. In 1987, the hotel was demolished and the site used for the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel.

160409 Thursday – Bangkok

I met Becky (England) from the dorm as I extended one more night in Bangkok for an early trip to Aranyaprathet. I brought Becky to Khao San as she needs to check out the travel packages to the south, we come across a local temple and decided to check it out before we returned to our guesthouse by boat. In the evening, we chill out in True Cafe and ended our night at the Siam night market.

150409 Wednesday – Si Saket > Bangkok

Raining heavily, yet I need to take a bus back to Bangkok so I could precede my next destination, Cambodia. I was totally drenched even my underwear is wet when I reached the bus terminal.

I took the 9hrs bus back to Bangkok and recognize that the water splashing continues aggressively the moment I step out of Silom sky train ... Bangkok is even more destructive than Si Saket. The kids will keep splashing water through the bus windows and teenagers will group themselves wearing flowery Hawaiian shirt in a pick-up attacking one another, blasting loud music and dancing in the middle of the road that cause traffic congestion. Of course, I was not spared. My huge backpack becomes the target of everyone. Girls come up to me and smear the white powdery substance on my face. Gay boys mobbed me and start touching all of my body, parts I would not want to mention.

I then meet khun Puk for dinner, the traffic is horrendous but yet I experience the sanuk (fun) in the middle of the road with the wild teenagers splashing water with one another. Khun Puk brought me to this nice Chinese restaurant where I devour the most delicious vegetables fried with small crunchy garlic, the sugar yam stick is the highlights at the end of the meal. Greatly appreciate Khun Puk buying me dinner once again.

It’s hard not to get dry during the SongKran, so just embrace it and enjoy!

140409 Tuesday – Si Saket

I’ve heard about this temple, Wat Lan Khuat which literally means temple of a million bottles. Ironically, it was not built by any kind of bottles but beer bottles. What interest me is the eco-friendliness and the analogy that even an ordinary beer bottle can be use to build a holy place for the monks. It is a bizarre, yet entirely serious Buddhist temple complex. From what I’ve read, the monks started collecting bottles and decorate as their shelters in 1984, and more and more people got involved in collecting bottles for the initiative, until a sufficient number was collected to build the temple (more than a million of course).

That explains everyone or objects has a purpose in this world, even those which seems to be detrimental. There are always both sides in everything. Even the clock that stops gets it right twice a day…