Continuing the Siem Reap Journey
Monday, May 07, 2012
Hello everyone!
I wanted to post alittle more about Siem Reap before I go off to Rompin, Malaysia this weekend for a fishing trip.
I still miss Cambodia and all the awesome memories that this place have given me.
You can still find Siem Reap Part One here :)
-Day 1 -
We left Kampong Phluk and along the way, we saw the village market and decided to stop by to check out the place!
Unlike our local wet markets - this market was still buzzing with activity in the late afternoon and our tour guide Lee says that this is uncommon at all!
People buying groceries like vegetables and fish or even household items.
And yes they place it on the floor or makeshift tables made out of cardboxes.
Went back to our hotel in Pub Street and while the rest of the gang went back to take a shower
(It was am extremely hot day!) - we decided to walk around the area alittle and get a nice cold drink!
And some snacks even though it was almost dinner time! :p
Pub street is an excellent place to walk around and grab a drink.
Soon it was time for DINNER!
It was part of our tour deal, so we just went along with it.
Koulen Restaurant is like a huge tourist place where the buses of tourist come here for the buffet and also to watch the Traditional dance while they eat.
The food wasn't any good but the dance was surprisingly entertaining!
And the guys on our table was going ga-ga over this pretty dancer!
She looked like a fairy in all her lovely costume!
We had earlier told the driver to go off for the night since it was also the eve of the Khmer New Year and we wanted him to go back & celebrate with his family - so we walked to the Night Market ourselves.
We went for this open-air foot massage place that cost around $3 USD an hour (not kidding!!!!)
Went for some ice-cream after massage and saw many young Cambodians dancing on the street so we joined in!!!!
It was hilarious!!!!!!!!!
We didnt know what we were doing at all!
Happy Khmer New Year!
And soon it was back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest.
-Day 2 Siem Reap-
We woke up nice and early, had breakfast and left the hotel.
We were actually on the way to the school - where we would be donating the stuff we brought from Singapore.
- Angkor Thom High School in Bampenh Reach -
This is the newly built school - which is a distance away from the old school becoz they were getting more and more students and the previous one was unable to accommodate so many children so they started building one to integrate both primary school and secondary(/high) school children here.
This kind gentleman on the left (wearing hat) is actually the teacher here who is going to bring us around and explain to us more about the project.
Phil (our friend and is in-charge of the project that we are helping for - also owes the tour agency and he is a British married to a local with two beautiful children) - and he was there to also show us around and explain in detail to us.
The school was a water tank for the students and teachers becoz clean water is scarce in Cambodia and many people get sick each year from drinking contaminated water.
Please dun take tap water for granted! They rarely have proper taps/water pumps in the village becoz it costs too much to have clean water.
We have a dream, too.
This is their one & only computer lab for the students.
I was shocked at how sparse it was! There was barely any equipment there!
Currently they dun have any electricity generator and is depending on solar power (equipment was previously donated) but to run a computer lab takes up too much solar energy so this is not a proper solution in the long run.
They are still using PCs like this.
(And probably have never seen an Ipad/Macbook Pro before.)
Precious instructions on the whiteboard.
Now lets take a look at the library.
The books that they have were kindly donated by various charity groups.
These are two kinds of seashells to count the students (boy & girls separately) who goes to the library.
No computerized systems here - just plain ol' seashells.
p.s Obviously there were more girl students that went to the library! (haha yes we counted!)
Books neatly stacked.
Taking out our donated items for the school
This board shows the number of students in the school. From about 120 students some 9 years ago,- they now have about 700+ students and were thus unable to manage with the old smaller school.
It was time for lunch and we were to go to the Maths teacher's house for a nice homemade meal!
But suddenly... we found a group of people huddled together and talking excitedly.
Guess what?
They were GAMBLING!
Siem Reap's version of MBS.....!
Someone was in hurry to start gambling I guess. :p
Back to the Maths Teacher house!
Playing with the village children~~~!
Most of them have never seen a camera before.
Traditional home-cooked food.
They actually caught one of their chickens to cook this for us!
p.s it was DELICIOUS! Original kampong chicken leh!!!!
The children was soooo cute!
Lets tuck in!
Boo .. !
This little girl is the cutest ever!
She was so giggly and expressive although she couldnt understand a single word we were saying!
Soon we were back on the road - going to the Baray Krochab project.
This plot of land is being developed by our friend Phil to help change lives of the villagers by building proper houses and facilities for them to perhaps grow vegetables and farm animals/learn a trade to sell and earn a living.
For more pictures you can go to BarayKrochab - Make a difference Facebook Page
We also visited a student's house in the village.
She's a high school student and she's 19.
Look what I found! Sooo cute ~ baby piglet!!!!!!!!!!
Here's mummy piggy!!!!!!!
I love this picture! Can u see the little puppy who went so close to the mummy pig?
(Photo by Willy Foo)
Before we left the village, we went to pay a visit to the Village head.
We could also tell that the village head's family was well-off becoz they have their personal water pump and owned a provisional shop.
Buying drinks on a hot day!
The family also sold kerosene by the bottle.
Some sort like a petrol station outside their own house!
Went to a temple where there was remains of the victims from the Khmer Rouge era.
I prayed for them silently and hope they find peace - its really heartbreaking seeing all the skulls and pictures from the torture chambers.
Our driver also told us that his dad, uncle and family was killed by the Khmer Rouge too coz one day he was being whisked away, - only never to return. *cry*
Young monks playing under the shade.
Back at Pub Street and near our hotel.
The gang forced us to try out the FISH SPA!
It was our first time!!!!
(Free drink with every fish spa)
Very scary leh!!!!!!!!!!
Hahahhaha!
I was forcing Jungle Boy to put his legs in the water!!!!!!!!!!
Hungry fishes
We also tried out the whole body massage (which was heaven after a hot tiring day!)
All of us happy and excited!
After the massage - time for DINNER!
Walked by this shop called the "Khmer Queen" and the boys started laughing.
Can u guess why???? :p
Decided to go Le Tigre de Papier
We ordered the Cambodian specialty of Ostrich/Kangaroo/Snake/Crocodile!!!!
Yes really ....!!!!!!
Look at GT's face!
I abit scare scare....
Z looked pretty fearless here! LOL!
Walked back to the hotel after dinner - soaking in the atmosphere.
Crazily crowded!
But we had a nice & fruitful day! :)
Thank you all for dropping by pixies!
I'll be replying tags on Wednesday promise xxxxx
Repairman coming by so I cant go anywhere and have plenty of time, then!
Have a great start to the week
xoxoxoxoxo
elaine73
2 comments
Wow, you had an amazing time I believe! Cambodia is a lovely little gem tucked away. Still undeveloped in some ways and holding that old charm that urbanized cities like singapore have lost.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Cambodia (phnom penh city) for about 5 years, I'm going back to visit and attend my classmates graduation in a few weeks and can't wait to set foot back into the forever relaxed and easy to live country.
The pictures were lovely! I never spent much time in Siem riep but I'm sure it was worth the time spent! :)
Thank u dear! Wow! I would love to drop by PP also in future if we ever go back to Cambodia (which I think we will!!) I love how rustic it is, not as commercialized as say, thailand or even vietnam. The ppl there are friendly too n we had such a blast:)
ReplyDeleteHello there, Pixie! Feel free to leave a comment, thanks! xo