Siem Reap, Cambodia
18 January 2008
After our eggs or pancakes American breakfast, we continued our journey to the ancient world of Angkor Temples. Next stop is the Angkor Thom Complex, which is located north of Angkor Wat. It is some 10 sq km in extent and was built by Angkor’s greatest king, Jayavarman VII (r1181 – 219). It may have supported a population of one million people in the surrounding region. We started out with the city centre, which is the Bayon (No. 31 on the Map).
The Bayon is my favorite temple cos of its unique decoration. It has a colections of 216 humongous faces of avalokitesvara; which surprise surprise, bear a passing resemblance to the great king Jayavarman VII himself. Hey… a dude who knows how to leave a legacy… what’s not to love! Hail to the narcissist y’all!
Amazing bas-reliefs (even though it wasn’t as extensive as Angkor Wat, but hey… it still took a lot of effort to craft all ‘em stones y’all) incorporating more than 11,000 figures that depicts everyday life in 12th century Cambodia.
Ok ’nuff of ‘em artistic shots… here are my fav pics:
Hanoman strutting his style: “This is why… This is Why… This is Why Am HAWT!”
My emo’est shot EVER!
Who’s going to be Cambodia’s Next Top Relic Hunter? Is it Melly the farting princess, whose “silent and deadly fart” is capable of killing a nation? Or will it be Viatch the Sex warrior – seen in the picture with her two loyal sex minions?! Stay tuned for the battle of the century!
Aiitteeee let’s move on to the next temple at Angkor Thom – Baphuon (No. 18 on the map). I heart the catwalk – it’s 200m elevated walkway made of sandstone.
Mel had one of her MANY bimbo moments here. We were reading the info board on Baphuon when she triumphantly laughed at one of the info and said: “hehehe… they didn’t know when the temple was built so they put XX century here!” and we all looked at her… “It’s TWENTIETH century Mel!”, and she was like… “oh…” ROFL!!! I heart traveling with Mel!
After Baphuon, we visited Phimeanakas... I didn’t go up cos I was exhausted so I just lay low and waited for the rest to come back.
It was around noon and it was really really HAWT! Luckily we took the path that were sheltered by trees. We were on our way to see Preah Palilay that has huge tree comin out of it. I heart the trees there… they are humongous and in silver color… they have character!
We followed the pathway towards the east and found ourselves at the bottom of the Leper King Terrace (No. 37 on the map). It is a 7m-high platform and was built in the 12th century. It is said that the Leper King Terrace housed the royal crematorium.
Just south of the Terrace of the Leper King, lies 350m-long Terrace of Elephants (No. 36 on the map) that was used as a giant viewing stand for public ceremonies and served asa a base for the king’s grand audience hall. It reminds me of Singapore’s Marina Bay being used for viewing NDP!
Another Mel’s infamous bimbo moment occurred here as well! hehehe… We were walking and Mel’s dilapidated shoes finally gave up on her… She said “Eh… where’s my shoe sol! How come suddenly my foot felt so hot one!” In loving memories of Mel’s dilapidated tennis shoes… May it rest in peace!
FINALLY IT’S LUNCH TIME! We went back to the city and ended our trip to Angkor Temples for the day. We didn’t want to eat there cos the hawker foods are the same price as restaurant foods outside the temples and it’s mainly consist of instant noodles.
We went back to the Alley and had our lunch at Khmer Kitchen Restaurant where we wanted to have our dinner the other night. It’s cheaper than the “Traditional Khmer Food Restaurant” but the Amok was not as nice. We also tried baked shrimps with pumpkin and it’s really nice! Totally Recommended! As always, food pics are with Mr Lee. I will upload them once I got the pics from him=)
I’ve found my soul mate!!! The Bayon beer! It’s not as light as Lao beer and not as bitter as Angkor beer. It’s JUST NICE!!! HEART IT! A must try y’all!
We went to the New Market to do a lil’ shopping. Unfortunately unlike Thailand, it doesn’t really have a lot of variety of souvenirs… mainly scarfs, artifacts, gems stones, shirts and t-shirts.
And at night we continue to indulge ourselves in gluttony=) We tried out the roadside food, which was very cheap and fully loaded in MSG! hahaha We had a variety of soupy and fried rice noodles and maggie mee.
Nope… we didn’t stop there… we moved on to a Pizza place cos we wanted to try Cambodia’s special pizza. The joint is called “Ecstatic Pizza”; the name itself is self-explanatory. And you will be greeted by an extremely Ecstatic waiter who laughed non-stop, and that dearie, is a really good sign! We had the meltdown- four cheese pizza babeehhh with da special herbs, and I ain’t talkin abt Oregano K! I recommend you to have more than 3 large pizzas to feel really really ecstatic though! and DON’T FORGET THE BEER!!! I tried Crown Beer this time around.. not bad… but Bayon is still my first love!
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Poor mel lost her shoe! its too funny.