What happenned from July 13-23? This gonna be a Looooooong story....
Mauritius, Maldives, Miami, Caribbean, and Texas were among the choices of our 15 days vacation. Dom was contemplating on a long trip since he might be filming in Beirut for 3 days and if so, I could follow him and we would take a break somewhere else after Beirut. Lucky us, he declined the shoot since my 2 weeks vacation was so precious too waste. When we were in Bangers, we saw the news of the bombings. Shocked. Kinda relieved that he rejected the offer to Beirut.
Anyway, in the end, we carried on with our first decision, Cambodia. Flights were full on every airline we could get hold of. No direct ones out of Dubai, had to go via Doha on Qatar. We realised, it was a terrible choice. Never Qatar Airways again. Anyway, took us almost 24hrs to get to Siem Reap after multi delays plus transit time.
At Siem Reap airport, I was spotted miles in the visa queue by the customs officer. Everyone turned to look at me when he asked aloud,"You! Singapore passport?" "Yes," I replied. "No need visa. You very lucky." I saved USD 20 on the visa. Dom was left envying my passport. Haha. An hour later, Dom managed to get his visa and passed through customs.
We had 2 signboards flashing Dom's name. apparently, the hotel we had sent enquiry, assumed that we are staying with them. Pity the guy. Flight was delayed for 5 hrs. Imagine he waited at the airport for nothing. We told him his hotel made a mistake by not confirming with us. We only sent a general enquiry. This shows how easy to get a hotel in Siem Reap.
Mysteres d'Angkor is run by a French called, Phillipe. It's a small resort with double stories 4-rooms villas. dark wood, 4-poster bed, white sheets, red towels, simple ethnic bathroom - no tub. It feels cool to be able to shower and wet the floor of your toilet again. No tv. So for 3 days, we forgot the existence of television and radio. We filled the day with touristy stuffs and read our books before bedtime. The resort serves home made bagutte and jams. Best mango jam I've ever tasted. Very kampong the resort. To get to the resort, we had to pass through the gates of a Buddhist monastery, graveyard and shrines. Everyone sleeps early and wakes up early there. We are the only couple I guess who stayed out late and woke up late morning.
Now, in Cambodia, USD is used. Local currency riels are quoted only for the locals when purchasing things. No worries, they have USD for return change. Riels are given in change when there are cents involved coz their lowest USD denomination is USD1. You can rent a tuk-tuk by day rate. Eg. From 9am-5pm, it's USD 12. The driver will take you from 1 place to another. You have to make an agreement about the price before you get on the tuk-tuk. Food in restaurant cost between USD1.50-4. Drinks on the streets are very expensive considering coke cost USD1 a can. So it helps to carry around some local currency for such purchases. Language, French is spoken by the older generation of Cambodians due to the French occupation long long time ago. The younger generation speaks English. Don;t be surprised when you see kids following you around. They are not asking for money but they just want you to talk to them so as to improve their English. Cambodians are generally humble and quiet. So raising your voice at them becaoz of service unsatisfactory will not get you anywhere instead will get u into unnecessary trouble. So best thing is to chill and relax.
They have a place called the Old Market Street where all the restaurants, bars, souveniours, bookstore and pharmacy is located. This stretch of old shophouses are barricaded at night so that beggars and tuk2 are being kept out and tourists are allowed to eat in peace. Cambodian dishes are mildly spicy and tastes a bit like Thai and Vietnamese food due to the influence of thier neighbouring countries.
Not much souveniours to buy. Just simple t-shirts with drawings of Angkor Wat or other temples. Magnets, not much variety. No shopping for those who only goes holiday only for shopping. Cambodia is a place to relax and explore nature and marvel at the splendour of the temples.
Entrance fee for Angkor Wat is USD 20 for 1 day, USD 40 for 3-day pass and USD 60 for a week's pass. There are 5 temples surrounding the Angkor Wat. So u need a tuk-tuk and a guide (USD 25 a day) to get you around. We have only a day for Angkor so we took the tuk-tuk and the guide. The Bayon is the temple with many faces. You will see loads of statues with 4 faces. The Ta Prohm is the temple of trees. You cannot see it from far because it's covered by huge tree roots. It's the most cooling temple. So much shade. And the tree roots do resembles some faces and creatures. The Angkor Wat is absolutely stunning. Amazing. You wonder how they built such a temple in those days where no machinery or cement was created. The Cambodians then couldn't decide whether they should have staircase or ladder for their temples. The steps are soo steep. I realised I have vertigo. I climbed up without looking down. Coz when I reached the top, I realised how steep the steps were and my knees went week. I had to stay away from the edge. The Angkor has a moat surrounding it which doesn't dry up nor flood at all. The lush greenery surrounding the temple is so calming that we spent the entire day in Angkor Wat till it's closing time.
Tired, now me save draft first. To be continued....
The next day, we took a trip to Tonle Sap, a lake/river which conects Siem reap and Phnom Penh. There are floating villages on the sides of the river. It's a surprise to see that the community is self sufficient-floating Catholic church, schools, hospital, police station, food stalls and convenient stores. We saw a barge pulling a floating shophouse. The river was vovered with hyacinth that our boat's motor often got stuck with. BY the way, the boat trip costs USD 15 per person. When we finally entered the open lake, I saw someting bobbing up and down the water. Realised it was a boy about 6yrs old rowing against the waves ina small basin with a mini oar. Yes, a basin. From where we were, he didn't seem to be getting anywhere but all we knew was, he's definitely faraway from shore. I was very worried for the kid that I was trying to convince the boat driver to pick the boy up and send him home. But of course, he just smiled and head us back to shore, without the boy. We were told, the local kids are often seen rowing after tourists' boats to beg for money.
To exit Cambodia through the airport, pax has to pay an exit fee of USD 25. So, all I can say is that I can now strike off Cambodia from my list of places I need to visit. Next stop would be..hmmm...still undecided.
To cut story short, we ended up spending a week venturing Bangkok and Hua Hin (west of BKK). Dom turned 36 on July 19. And yes, I was the worst gf a man can have coz not only I didn't manage to get him a gift, I'd also lost the diamond ring he gave me. But all was forgiven. Treat him to Blue Elephant that he has been craving since the last time we went there, And a nite out at the most beautiful open air Sky Bar at Meritus State Tower (we stayed off the edges since we both has vertigo, heh).
All in all, we had a another fabulous trip together.
Anyway, in the end, we carried on with our first decision, Cambodia. Flights were full on every airline we could get hold of. No direct ones out of Dubai, had to go via Doha on Qatar. We realised, it was a terrible choice. Never Qatar Airways again. Anyway, took us almost 24hrs to get to Siem Reap after multi delays plus transit time.
At Siem Reap airport, I was spotted miles in the visa queue by the customs officer. Everyone turned to look at me when he asked aloud,"You! Singapore passport?" "Yes," I replied. "No need visa. You very lucky." I saved USD 20 on the visa. Dom was left envying my passport. Haha. An hour later, Dom managed to get his visa and passed through customs.
We had 2 signboards flashing Dom's name. apparently, the hotel we had sent enquiry, assumed that we are staying with them. Pity the guy. Flight was delayed for 5 hrs. Imagine he waited at the airport for nothing. We told him his hotel made a mistake by not confirming with us. We only sent a general enquiry. This shows how easy to get a hotel in Siem Reap.
Mysteres d'Angkor is run by a French called, Phillipe. It's a small resort with double stories 4-rooms villas. dark wood, 4-poster bed, white sheets, red towels, simple ethnic bathroom - no tub. It feels cool to be able to shower and wet the floor of your toilet again. No tv. So for 3 days, we forgot the existence of television and radio. We filled the day with touristy stuffs and read our books before bedtime. The resort serves home made bagutte and jams. Best mango jam I've ever tasted. Very kampong the resort. To get to the resort, we had to pass through the gates of a Buddhist monastery, graveyard and shrines. Everyone sleeps early and wakes up early there. We are the only couple I guess who stayed out late and woke up late morning.
Now, in Cambodia, USD is used. Local currency riels are quoted only for the locals when purchasing things. No worries, they have USD for return change. Riels are given in change when there are cents involved coz their lowest USD denomination is USD1. You can rent a tuk-tuk by day rate. Eg. From 9am-5pm, it's USD 12. The driver will take you from 1 place to another. You have to make an agreement about the price before you get on the tuk-tuk. Food in restaurant cost between USD1.50-4. Drinks on the streets are very expensive considering coke cost USD1 a can. So it helps to carry around some local currency for such purchases. Language, French is spoken by the older generation of Cambodians due to the French occupation long long time ago. The younger generation speaks English. Don;t be surprised when you see kids following you around. They are not asking for money but they just want you to talk to them so as to improve their English. Cambodians are generally humble and quiet. So raising your voice at them becaoz of service unsatisfactory will not get you anywhere instead will get u into unnecessary trouble. So best thing is to chill and relax.
They have a place called the Old Market Street where all the restaurants, bars, souveniours, bookstore and pharmacy is located. This stretch of old shophouses are barricaded at night so that beggars and tuk2 are being kept out and tourists are allowed to eat in peace. Cambodian dishes are mildly spicy and tastes a bit like Thai and Vietnamese food due to the influence of thier neighbouring countries.
Not much souveniours to buy. Just simple t-shirts with drawings of Angkor Wat or other temples. Magnets, not much variety. No shopping for those who only goes holiday only for shopping. Cambodia is a place to relax and explore nature and marvel at the splendour of the temples.
Entrance fee for Angkor Wat is USD 20 for 1 day, USD 40 for 3-day pass and USD 60 for a week's pass. There are 5 temples surrounding the Angkor Wat. So u need a tuk-tuk and a guide (USD 25 a day) to get you around. We have only a day for Angkor so we took the tuk-tuk and the guide. The Bayon is the temple with many faces. You will see loads of statues with 4 faces. The Ta Prohm is the temple of trees. You cannot see it from far because it's covered by huge tree roots. It's the most cooling temple. So much shade. And the tree roots do resembles some faces and creatures. The Angkor Wat is absolutely stunning. Amazing. You wonder how they built such a temple in those days where no machinery or cement was created. The Cambodians then couldn't decide whether they should have staircase or ladder for their temples. The steps are soo steep. I realised I have vertigo. I climbed up without looking down. Coz when I reached the top, I realised how steep the steps were and my knees went week. I had to stay away from the edge. The Angkor has a moat surrounding it which doesn't dry up nor flood at all. The lush greenery surrounding the temple is so calming that we spent the entire day in Angkor Wat till it's closing time.
Tired, now me save draft first. To be continued....
The next day, we took a trip to Tonle Sap, a lake/river which conects Siem reap and Phnom Penh. There are floating villages on the sides of the river. It's a surprise to see that the community is self sufficient-floating Catholic church, schools, hospital, police station, food stalls and convenient stores. We saw a barge pulling a floating shophouse. The river was vovered with hyacinth that our boat's motor often got stuck with. BY the way, the boat trip costs USD 15 per person. When we finally entered the open lake, I saw someting bobbing up and down the water. Realised it was a boy about 6yrs old rowing against the waves ina small basin with a mini oar. Yes, a basin. From where we were, he didn't seem to be getting anywhere but all we knew was, he's definitely faraway from shore. I was very worried for the kid that I was trying to convince the boat driver to pick the boy up and send him home. But of course, he just smiled and head us back to shore, without the boy. We were told, the local kids are often seen rowing after tourists' boats to beg for money.
To exit Cambodia through the airport, pax has to pay an exit fee of USD 25. So, all I can say is that I can now strike off Cambodia from my list of places I need to visit. Next stop would be..hmmm...still undecided.
To cut story short, we ended up spending a week venturing Bangkok and Hua Hin (west of BKK). Dom turned 36 on July 19. And yes, I was the worst gf a man can have coz not only I didn't manage to get him a gift, I'd also lost the diamond ring he gave me. But all was forgiven. Treat him to Blue Elephant that he has been craving since the last time we went there, And a nite out at the most beautiful open air Sky Bar at Meritus State Tower (we stayed off the edges since we both has vertigo, heh).
All in all, we had a another fabulous trip together.
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