Aspara Dance, Siem Reap - Day 2 (Saturday, 12-Jul-2008)

Like what the Siem Reap Angkor Visitors Guide states "No visit to Cambodia is complete without attending at least one traditional dance peformance, often referred to as 'Aspara Dance'"!

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After being much persuaded by the Tuk-Tuk driver outside our hotel, we decided to settle for a local buffet cum Aspara performance. We do need to pamper ourselves after the hard day "walking" !!

The Tuk-Tuk driver took us to "Angkor Mondial Restaurant" (address as per the receipt is : Pokambor Avenue (River Road), Wat bo bridge, Siam Reap - Cambodia). Local buffet is USD 12 per pax, they accept credit card with a surcharge of 3 %. Drinks are not included. Cost of Tuk-Tuk - USD2 both ways. (hotel/restaurant/hotel)

Now, who is Aspara? Aspara's' are known as celestial dancers who performed for the royalties. They are carved in stones, all over the temples in Angkor ....

Aspara Dance @ Angkor Mondial Restaurant

I would say, food is so-so, loved the endless supply of dragon fruit, my favourite! Worth the USD 12 / per pax spent! Pamper your tummy a little! Go for at least one buffet, with Aspara performance if you are in Cambodia. Higher end buffet may cost up to USD 30 per pax (or even more!).

Angkor Thom, Siem Reap - Day 2 (Saturday, 12-Jul-2008)

Second part of our Angkor Discover Tour, we moved to Angkor Thom ... this is where I get all the temples mixed-up.

Angkor Thom, means "Big Angkor", constructed late 12th - early 13th century by King Jayavarman VII, it is Buddhism based. It was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. Bayon temples (famous huge Buddha faces) is located within Angkor Thom.

:)

Gate (South, I think) to Angkor Thom

First temple we visited in Angkor Thom was Bayon, temple of the infamous giant carved stone faces. As explained by the tour guide, it was first thought to be Hindu based temple by French, until they unearthed several Buddha statues.

Bayon was constructed in late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII, religion : Buddhism.

Amazing Bayon

Terrace of the Elephant

At this point ..... I am already very "confused" with the temples...... we did briefly visit another two temples, but as I said, "confused" , thus I don't even know the names! (plus, king refused to walk up on of the temples, he said he is too TIRED!)

The next temple is Ta Prohm (ala Tomb Raider), that'll be easy to remember !

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap - Day 2 (Saturday, 12-Jul-2008)

YES! The no. 1 thing not to miss while visiting Siem Reap is ANGKOR WAT or VAT?

:)

For the Angkor adventure, we again, booked a tour (Angkor Discovery) with The Villa Siem Reap, http://www.thevillasiemreap.com/ at the cost of USD 17.50 per person ... (new price : USD 20.00). You see, the reason why we are getting the old price is because we booked early! So the early bird gets the worm!

(>'.'<)

Oh ya, breakfast in the hotel ... well, sux! The buffet spread was only half-ready by the time we got down at 7.30am.... again, we were disappointed!!

A tuk-tuk driver and the guide (I think his name is Taea?) picked us up from our hotel at about 8.30am ... then it was all walking, walking and walking!

First, we headed to get our ANGKOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL (<--- so difficult to spell!) PASS, we bought a ONE DAY PASS at USD 20.00 per person, all passes bears the carrier pictures, so no hanky panky!! THREE DAYS PASS - USD 40.00 and SEVEN DAYS PASS - USD 60.00.

First stop of our tour was Angkor Wat itself. The sights of Angkor Wat is simply breathtaking, surrounded by a moet and exterior walls. Constructed in early to mid 12th century by Suryavarman II, it is Hinduism based. "Angkor" literally means "Capital City" while "Wat" carries the meaning of a temple. OK - that's all I can remember .... :) You can refer to the "Siam Reap Angkor Visitors Guide" for more details! (remember to get a free copy from the hotel, very useful!)

We didn't really get good pictures of Angkor Wat as the backlighting obscures the view... buildings look very dark in most of our pictures! (Try visiting after 2.00pm to get good photos....)

Sights of Angkor Wat

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NOT TO MISS.....

Bullet Holes on Angkor Wat's Walls

Smiling Aspara, with teeth - one and only in Angkor Wat

Next .... Angkor Thom ....

Tonle Sap Lake, Siem Reap - Day 1 (Friday, 11-Jul-2008)

We had lunch at Angkor Star, food was NOT GOOD! Stay away if you can! It cost us USD9.50 for two, consists of one fried rice, one club sandwich and a small bottle of mineral water. I was quite disappointed with the quality of the food!

Hmmm...strange, it looks quite delicious on this photo...

We booked a half-day tour with "Villa Siem Reap" http://www.thevillasiemreap.com/ to visit and experience Tonle Sap Lake, guided tour ((cost us USD 15 per person (new price : USD 17.50)) on our very first day in Siem Reap. We need to get our butts moving or otherwise, we would end up sleeping and eating in the hotel room. Oh ya, our hotel room no. is 504 ...

We had a nice air-conditioned van from Villa Siem Reap picked us up from the hotel at about 1.05pm, it was a group of seven, including us... (a south american family from Malaysia, a british expat lady, currently teaching in Cambodia and us, two cheapskate Malaysians!)

First stop of the tour was at a temple, can't really recall the name (sorry!) but it does not appear to be a tourist attraction as there were no buses to be seen?!? According to the guide, the ancient temple was built before Angkor Wat, thus older than Angkor Wat .... It is located in a village, we met many local children, gave them sweets and photographed them. They are oh so cute! Not the cunning ones, like the one I'm about to tell you .... the children in Tonle Sap, avoid them! (unless if you have lots of USD to spare!)

Local Children at the Temple

Sights of the temple

We then proceed to Tonle Sap lake ... looking at the living condition on Tonle Sap (no electricity, loads of car battery for power, a small hut for a whole family of 4, drinking, washing out of the lake...) ... I felt lucky and blessed ...

Sights of Tonle Sap Lake

As promised, the cunning children of Tonle Sap lake! As our boat was approaching the "Tonle Sap Lake Center", two children appeared in a bucket, with pythons and started smiling to us, we, being rather amazed, snapped pictures and then, they started saying "one US Dollar" - yikes, okie, the King gave one of them, "one US Dollar" while another member of our group gave the other kid "one US Dollar" ... before you know it, the younger one started demanding another "one US Dollar" and was crying, wailing his lungs out! They pratically "stalked" us throught our visit to the "Tonle Sap Lake Center" .... we were frightened.... of the python! :) So, our advices are, quietly snap pictures, stay close to the guide and give no money!

The Famous "One US Dollar" Children of Tonle Sap! Beware!