Cambodia Day 1

I wasn't the one who planned our family trip to Cambodia, hence had no idea what the itenerary looked like, or where we were staying for a matter of fact! I was happy, just being oblivious to it all... All I needed to do then, was pack some clothes for KL for the few "stopover" days, and shorts and singlets for Cambodia. **sis have warned me that the country's really hot and humid. Apparently, more so than Malaysia** 

I also didn't realise that the flight, was at 7am! OMG!! Imagine waking up at 3ish am, so you can get ready by 4am.... and then get yourself to the airport by 5am in the friggin' morning... because you need to check in 2 hours before any international flight!! Oh gosh... that part was so NOT fun!! 

But that being said, we did have some yummilicious plane food, so that kinda partially makes up for it! We had nasi lemak, which surprisingly tasted real yummy!! Or maybe, my taste buds just haven't fully waken up themselves...

The flight took about 3 hours, and upon arriving in Cambodia's Siem Reap International Airport, we were greeted by a smile-generous tour-guide. **You know, the kind that's holding your name on a piece of cardboard?** I thought "She seems nice. We should have a good time!" until she opened her mouth and said something I couldn't understand.... 

OH.MY.GOD! They got us a Mandarin speaking guide!!!! **wants to slap travel agent now**

But none-the-less, we were happy cause we've finally arrived at our destination after 3 hours of boredom. We decided that we could probably put up with her for the next couple of days, because the rest of the people on tour with us couldn't understand English.... :( so we couldn't really swap tour guides. 

And besides, dad understands a little bit of Mandarin, and so do I. So, for most parts of the trip, we weren't really listening to what she had to say anyways....

First destination was to Artisan Angkor - a place where they make handicrafts and souvenirs etc. It's kinda like a factory production line here. One person does one thing, and then passes it on to another, and another... and tadaa! the finished product! No wonder there's no signature on the drawings and paintings... because if you had to sign your name on it, it would have taken up half the painting! 

Some girl will paint the background color. For example, green and brown, and then the other girl will paint the faces etc. and finally, the "master" will add in the minute, finer details to the painting... Perhaps they get things done faster this way? Or perhaps, it's a way of generating employment... like in factories. 

Well, I do have to admit though, that the final result is quite nice.... 

The guys carving and sculturing. 

We didn't really get anything from here, cause I was told by Sweet Ping before we went to Cambodia, that souvenirs and stuff are generally cheaper in the market. AND you can bargain with them... whereas in Artisan, the prices were fixed. So we merely surveyed the prices of things, and didn't really buy any. Didn't wanna get cheated on our first day here I guess :P

Then we proceeded to see a little bit of Cambodian culture... Civilisation (or lack there of) @ the huge Tonle Sap Lake. 

One of the boat taking passengers on the "river cruise". 

The family on board. 

Notice that mom's the only one with life jacket on? She was sooooo freaked out the whole ride, kept thinking she's gonna fall into the lake and drown. Haha, how cute! I found that pretty amusing...

The water was really quite murky from what you can see on the previous pic. And there's no proper sanitation as well. The people who lives along the river bank, mostly fishermen families, uses the water from the lake to shower / do the washing / drinking / cooking, but they also do their "business" into the lake.... And one little boathouse, would normally house a family of 5? 8 sometimes? They don't have their own rooms, what more a walk-in-wardrobe??? They all sleep on hammocks, hanging off every edge of the boathouse.

It was a good eye-opener... Made me realise how lucky I am, to have the luxuries I have, to be able to sit in front of my Macbook, typing this in comfort. 

After evening was a little more physical. We were supposed to watch the sunset @ Bakheng Hill. I thought we would be driven up to some hill to watch the sunset, but boy... was I wrong?! 

We had to hike up a hill, AND THEN climb up some rock structure ** which looked a little like Angkor Wat ** to get to the sunset "spot". 

Us, after the long hike, arriving at the bottom of the rock structure. Note the steps behind us?! 

I wouldn't recommend going up, or worse still.... coming down, if you weigh more than 100kg's, or have super big feet. Cause the steps are actually quite steep, and are very narrow. I am a size 5.5, and I have to go up sideways.... Maybe people back in those days, were all size 2's. Who knows?! 

And coming down, WOAHHH... definitely 3x scarier than it was, heading up. 

But the view, was definitely... soooo worth it! 

Then it started drizzling, and we had to "retreat" back into our little van... But not before hiking downhill again! 

At least the evening ended in a relaxing way...

We had dinner at some buffet restaurant. The food selection was pretty good, and they had heaps of drinks and fresh juices as well... But we were too afraid of getting food poisoning, so we only ordered bottled water, and coke in a can. 

Enjoying the cultural dances over dinner.... I reckon the Cambodian culture is very similar to Thai and Vietnamese... even the costumes and jewelleries etc. looked very much alike... 

Well, the night ended after the cultural show, and the tour guide dropped us back at the hotel. Needless, to say, I slept like a pig that night... AND it wasn't even the most "physical" day of the whole trip!

More updates soon... Time to get ready for work :D