Siem Reap International Airport
The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap took about 2 hours. After the plane landed we walked down onto the tarmac and walked into the airport building. The building looked like a country resort very unlike the modern building of other international airports.
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| Tamac of Siem Reap International Airport |
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| Queuing at Immigration Counters |
What a way to spoilt the image of a country, by greedy corrupted officer!!
Happy Angkor Tour
The instant we walked past the custom we could already see our guide as he was holding a big card with my name printed on it. Our guide's name was Jimmy and though our conversation I found out that he and the van driver came early to the airport, two hours ahead of our arrival time. I was puzzled as they were fully aware of our expected time of arrival so why the need to come to the airport so early. His reply was that there might be some unforseeable situation that cause us to reach Siem Reap early. I did not understand the rationale of his reasoning because usually it would be a flight delay rather than early arrival. Even if it was an early arrival it would just be 10 to 20 minutes earlier and not two hours earlier. Well, I felt they were being overly considerate but I should not be complaining.
To make sure that we did not have any misunderstanding on our temple visit, I requested Jimmy to run through the itinerary of the day. In my email to his company I had requested for four temples, they were Angkor Wat, Ta Phrom, Angkor Thom and Bakheng for sunset. Jimmy named the first three and another four place but left our Bakheng so I told him I wanted Bakheng to be included. Though he said there might not be enough time, I insisted he included Bakheng and he agreed. He had also included a after dinner Aspara Dance Performance which I told him I had informed his company that we did not want to attend. So with our destinations for the day settled we were ready to set off.
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| Temples: Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, Phnom Bakheng & Our Hotel: Angkor D'Tresor Resort |
Traveller Sim Data Card
I had done my research on getting a traveller sim card in Siem Reap that would give us 24/7 internet access for just three days. After reading many reviews online about various tourists experience with Siem Reap data SIM card I felt that SMART telco traveller sim card would be a good fit for us. It costed US$5 for 1.5GB valid for 40 days on 2G/3G/4G LTE. 1.5GB which was more than sufficient for our usage. The traveller SIM came with free 10min and free 10sms which were not relevant to us as our focus was on the data plan. Best of all SMART had a booth at the airport just outside the main door.
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| Spare handphone as router |
I had brought along a spare phone to be used as a mobile wireless router for us four. The idea was to get it installed with the traveller sim card and turn on its hotspot feature. The four of us would then connect our own mobile devices (phones and tablets) to the spare phone using tethering.
When we walked out of the Airport main door I could already see a few booths on the right side of the door. I zoomed in to the SMART booth. One of its female staff was super efficient, in less than 5 minutes after I told her I wanted a US$5 traveller SIM card, she took my passport, filled up the registration form, installed the sim card into my spare phone, activated the card, connected to internet and collected the payment from me. Wow that was real quick.
In the past I had used the same spare phone as a mobile wireless router so all our other mobile devices already had the spare phone hotspot SSID setup in them. So the moment I activated the hotspot feature all our mobile devices were connected to internet. So quick and convenient.
Temple Ticket
Our first destination was Angkor Wat but first we needed to get our tickets. Jimmy explained that we had to carefully keep the ticket which would have a photo of our face as we would have to produce it at all the temple entrances. He said that the security guards were very diligent in their checks, so if the face of the ticket holder did not match the photo on the ticket, entry to the temple would be denied. He cautioned us about the non-waterproof ink that was used to print the photo and emphasized that we had to keep our ticket dry all the time.
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| Entrance Ticket |
At the ticketing booth there were many people but the queue progressed quite fast. One by one we had to be photographed before being issued a ticket.
The tickets came in one-day, three-day and seven-day entry types. Printed on the ticket was my face and the date of entry and date of expiry. We bought the three-day entry ticket as we intended to return the next day for the sun rise scene. On our tickets the date of entry was the date of purchase and the date of expiry was seven days later. Which meant that beside the date of purchase I could have two other days of entry to be done with a week.
I read somewhere on the internet that if you were to buy the ticket near to the closing time of the day, you would be able to get into the temple on the date of purchase and again the next day. As for the seven day entry ticket the expiry date of the ticket would be a month. The cost of the tickets were US$20, US$40 and US$60 for the three types of tickets.
After getting the tickets, Jimmy directed the driver to drive to the East entrance of Angkor Wat. He told us that East entrance was less crowded. At the entrance there were quite a number of security guards checking the tickets. After validating my face and photo the guard punched a hole on the reverse side of the ticket on the number that represented the day of the month and let me entered the temple gate.
Angkor Wat
We passed the 2nd level and came to the base of the five towers. The towers were massive gigantic structures sitting on layers and layers of steps. It was hard to imagine how one could go up to the towers.
Jimmy told us that there was a quota as to the number of people allowed on the third level at any one time. He said that once we were up there to stay for about 20 minutes and then coming down.
We stayed up on the third level for more than 30 minutes before going down the steep steps to meet Jimmy who was sitting under the shades talking to other guides. I noticed that all the guides regardless of which tour agencies they came from wore the same uniform (orange top and black pants).
In the morning, Jimmy brought us into Angkor Wat compound through the east entrance which was less crowded and was good for photography. By about noon we were done with Angkor Wat and Jimmy walked us toward the west entrance which was the actual main entrance of Angkor Wat. At the west side in front of the temple was two huge ponds, Jimmy told us that the banks of these ponds would be the best locations to take great sunrise photoshots of Angkor Wat in the morning.
The driver of our van was already waiting outside the west entrance when we exited the entrance, he handed to each of us an ice-cold face towel and a bottle of ice cold water. I felt so good to wipe away the grim on my face and the chilled towel felt good on my neck and arms. It was about 12.30pm and the place was hot but we felt so contented and comfortable sitting in the van under the full blast of cold aircon as we drank the ice-cold bottled water. Apparently chilled towels and bottled water were part of the complete package for the rental of an AirCon van. An expense that was well worth the value!
Jimmy told us it was these trees that had made Ta Prohm famous and I definitely agreed.
Ta Nei was small temple and its state of ruin was very bad. There were wooden props everywhere holding up the doorways. Jimmy lead us through into the temple for a quick round. I guessed the best time to visit Ta Nie would be either very early in the morning or late in the evening as I felt that the dim light would gave this isolated temple a mysterious and eerily atmosphere.
Angkor Thom
There was a center tower which was also the highest one, near the top it had four faces each facing a direction (north, south, east and west). Immediately below were more faces facing outward in a circle. Around the tall central tower were shorter towers about 37 of them as according to Jimmy and each had four faces.
Interesting each gigantic face looked like it was mediating. The eyes looked shut and there was a slight upward curve to the mouth. The faces were all similar with no distinction to each of them.
Phnom Bakheng
The roof top was lighted with candle lights around a dining table set for four. Tola, our personal waiter for the evening breezed to and fro between the kitchen and the roof top to serve us the dishes. We had two western meals and two Khmer meals. Each meal was a six course dinner.
As Tola served us our food he would explain how each Khmer dish was prepared, his explanation help us to appreciate the food as we savoured the various the herbs and ingredients that went into them.
This was the first time I managed to spring a surprise on my husband. He knew that we were having a birthday dinner but he did not expect a cake as we were out of town and it would not be easy for me to get a cake for him. He had no idea that before we left for Siem Reap I had preplanned with Keo, the hotel manager, to get him a birthday cake.
Angkor Wat means Capital Temple, it was built by a Khmer King in the early 12th century as a Hindu temple but gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century.
The temple looked very majestic. The structure looked very intricate and very complex. It must have taken a lot of craftmen many years to build the temple. The entire complex is rectanglar in shape. Outside the outer wall is a moat. Within the wall are three rectangular structures stacked one on top of the other, each progressively smaller than the other. On the third level stands five towers.
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| Angkor Wat Temple Layout |
The temple looked very majestic. The structure looked very intricate and very complex. It must have taken a lot of craftmen many years to build the temple. The entire complex is rectanglar in shape. Outside the outer wall is a moat. Within the wall are three rectangular structures stacked one on top of the other, each progressively smaller than the other. On the third level stands five towers.
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| Angkor Wat |
The first two levels looked were like covered walkway with many columns holding up the roof. Between the 1st and 2nd level was a huge ground of green grass.
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| Grass patch separating the 1st level and 2nd level |
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| Five Towers of Angkor Wat (as seen from 2nd level) |
As we round a corner we saw two sets of steep wooden steps leading up and down to the main entrance of the third level where the five towers sat. There was a long queue of tourists leading right up the base of the steps going upward.
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| Coming down the stairs from the towers |
Though the queue was long, it moved very fast. When I reached the start of the queue a guard sitting under a huge umbrella gave me an entry tag before allowing me up the stair. I guessed once all the tags were given out it would mean that the quota was reached. The tags would not be running out soon as the number of people coming down and returning the tags were as many as those going up.
The view from the third level was spectacular. The sky was so blue it contrasted brilliantly with the white clouds, surrounding the temple was a massive forest and its deep natural green colour emphasized the brown-grey age old structures of the temple beautifully.
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| Photo taken from 3rd level of Temple |
The third level consisted of four open air square courtyards forming a larger square. At the each corner of the larger square stood a tower and the fifth tower stood at the centre of the larger square. The towers were linked by covered walkway overlooking the open courtyard.
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| Open courtyard |
Jimmy took us back to the first level but this time to the gallery areas where we sawa long wall full of craving. The craving depicted historical victorious war events of the Khmer dynasty. Jimmy tried his best to explain the story that each set carving was telling, I tried by best to be attentive since my hubby and children shown no interest in the stories at all.
It was already close to noon and we had been in the Angkor Wat for close to three hours. I was worried if we would have enough time in the day to explore the other temples. Jimmy assured me that only at Angkor Wat we needed more time to explore, as for the other temples there were much smaller and could be explored in a short time.
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| Gallery of Angkor Wat |
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| View of Angkor Wat taken from the West Side |
The west entrance was indeed much more grander than the east entrance, it had a long wide walkway that started from temple complex all the way to the moat. As I walked along this walkway, I frequently turned around to look at the temple complex behind me, I could not stop myself from picturing how the scene would look like during the hey days of this empire. How the king and his entourages would approach the temple from this walkway, would the king be walking, or would he be sitting on a sedan chair carried by mascular bearers or would he be riding a horse driven chariot.
This Khmer empire that built such a wonder of a Temple must indeed be a rich, power, advance and great society.
AirCon Van ComfortThis Khmer empire that built such a wonder of a Temple must indeed be a rich, power, advance and great society.
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| West Entrance (Main Entrance) |
The driver of our van was already waiting outside the west entrance when we exited the entrance, he handed to each of us an ice-cold face towel and a bottle of ice cold water. I felt so good to wipe away the grim on my face and the chilled towel felt good on my neck and arms. It was about 12.30pm and the place was hot but we felt so contented and comfortable sitting in the van under the full blast of cold aircon as we drank the ice-cold bottled water. Apparently chilled towels and bottled water were part of the complete package for the rental of an AirCon van. An expense that was well worth the value!
Ta Prohm Temple
Ta Prohm was the second temple of the day. This is another 12th century temple which was a a Buddhist Temple dedicated to the mother of King Jayavarman VII.
Its dilapidated state of ruin was also where its beauty shone. It was amazing to see the powerful force of nature encroaching onto man-made structures and would have totally buried the temple if Ta Prohm had not been discovered and preserved for tourists.
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| Ta Prohm |
Many of the corridors in Ta Prohm were impassible, blocked by piles of fallen craved stones. We were not sure how safe and stable the structures were so we followed Jimmy very closely, walking where he walked.
It was pretty amazing to see these gigantic trees growing on top of the roof of the temple and their roots snaking around the temple structure penetrating into cavities gripping onto the temple walls.
It was pretty amazing to see these gigantic trees growing on top of the roof of the temple and their roots snaking around the temple structure penetrating into cavities gripping onto the temple walls.
Jimmy told us it was these trees that had made Ta Prohm famous and I definitely agreed.
Ta Prohm was the movie site of Lara Croft - Tomb Raider.
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| A root engulfed statue |
Lunch at a local Restaurant
We had our lunch at a local restaurant, we ate curry chicken, stirred fried vegetable and rice. The taste was very similar to that of Thai cooking. Our meal costed about US$25 which I felt was a bit on the high side considering that the meal was rather simple and we were eating in a local restaurant with no air-conditioning, but this was expected as these were restaurants serving tourists.
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| Lunch |
Ta Nie Temple
After lunch, Jimmy brought us to a temple called Ta Nie Temple. To get to the temple the van had to drive over a stretch of some unsealed road which made the ride quite bumpy and uncomfortable. We arrived at a deserted clearing and saw a temple ruin in front. Beside us there was no other people around. I had no idea why was Ta Nie Temple being included in our itinerary and what was its significant. In my research for temples of Angor, I did not remembered Ta Nie Temple being mentioned. Jimmy said something about wanting us to visit an authentic ruin and not one that had been somewhat restored so as to welcome visitors.
After lunch, Jimmy brought us to a temple called Ta Nie Temple. To get to the temple the van had to drive over a stretch of some unsealed road which made the ride quite bumpy and uncomfortable. We arrived at a deserted clearing and saw a temple ruin in front. Beside us there was no other people around. I had no idea why was Ta Nie Temple being included in our itinerary and what was its significant. In my research for temples of Angor, I did not remembered Ta Nie Temple being mentioned. Jimmy said something about wanting us to visit an authentic ruin and not one that had been somewhat restored so as to welcome visitors.
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| Ta Nei |
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| Fallen walls |
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| Ta Nie Temple |
Angkor Thom was the last capital of the Khmer Empire and was built in the late nineteenth century. It was a fortified city enclosing residences of priest, officials of the palace and military as well as buildings for administering the kingdom. There were no evidence of these residences as they were made of wood and had perished long ago. At the center of Angkor Thom was the temple of Bayon and it is still standing there today.
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| Angkor Thom |
From far Bayon Temple looked like a structure with many towers of intricated carving. It was only when I got near that I realised that the craving were huge gigantic faces.
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| Faces of Bayon Temple |
Interesting each gigantic face looked like it was mediating. The eyes looked shut and there was a slight upward curve to the mouth. The faces were all similar with no distinction to each of them.
Phnom Bakheng
I had seen a lot of beautiful pictures of sunset over Phnom Bakheng and was looking forward to go there just before sunset. Unfortunately it began to rain heavily and we had to abandon our plan to visit Phnom Bakheng. I could see that the rain had turned the roads into one muddy mass and when Jimmy explained that it would be very difficult to walk up the steep path to Phnom Bakheng we could only agree to end our temple visit tour for the day without Phnom Bakheng.
Our Hotel Angkor D'Tresor Resort
The resort was located in the outskirt of Siem Reap and was off the main road. The van had to drive over some narrow bumpy mud roads to get to our hotel. The hotel had a tall concrete wall surrounding it which served two purposes, it provided privacy and security as the only way to get into the hotel was through the main gate.
Once we got past the main gate we could already see the "resortness" of the hotel. Beautiful and exactly the way I had seen it on the internet.
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| Tresor d' Angkor |
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| Inside Angkor D' Tresor |
I picked this hotel for our 3 night stay because it was a small hotel in term of number of rooms but large in terms of space. I had also read many good reviews regarding this hotel and since the prices were reasonable I booked this place.
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| Our Rooms (Double and Twin with connecting door) |
We were guided to a bungalow with two rooms and a private roof top. The rooms had separate entrances but internally they were interconnected by a communicating door.
The rooms were huge and lovely. They were fully aircon and the floors were wood finished. Cosy, modern looking, clean and cool were the adjectives I would use to describe our rooms.
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| Our rooms |
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| Toilets in rooms |
Relaxing swim
The pool was just outside and we could not resist changing into our swimming costumes and jumping into the pool. Wow, it was a salt water pool and the water was warm! It felt so nice as instead of feeling a chill when I jumped into the water I was enveloped by warm soothing water. I felt so relax lying on the half submerged incline pool seat as I let the warm water loosen my stiff muscles. The four of us had not been swimming together for a long time. It was so fun to fool around in the water especially when we got the whole pool to ourselves.
Roof Top Dinner Birthday Dinner
Dinner was a private family affair on the roof top of our bungalow unit.
Dinner was a private family affair on the roof top of our bungalow unit.
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| Private dinner on the roof top of our Units |
The roof top was lighted with candle lights around a dining table set for four. Tola, our personal waiter for the evening breezed to and fro between the kitchen and the roof top to serve us the dishes. We had two western meals and two Khmer meals. Each meal was a six course dinner.
As Tola served us our food he would explain how each Khmer dish was prepared, his explanation help us to appreciate the food as we savoured the various the herbs and ingredients that went into them.
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| Our Dinner |
The finale of the dinner was a surprise birthday cake for my hubby. Tola and two other staff brought the cake to our table singing Happy Birthday song to my hubby.
This was the first time I managed to spring a surprise on my husband. He knew that we were having a birthday dinner but he did not expect a cake as we were out of town and it would not be easy for me to get a cake for him. He had no idea that before we left for Siem Reap I had preplanned with Keo, the hotel manager, to get him a birthday cake.
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| Yat Thong's Birthday Cake |
