Cambodia - Part 1

I went to Cambodia in May 2004 together with my 2 female travelling buddies, Stef & Zura for 4 days & 3 nites. We did a lot of surfing on the net, reading Lonelyplanet and asking around from those yang pernah ke sana when planning our trip. Masa tu, MAS had no direct flight to Siem Reap, so we had to fly to Phnom Penh and take a domestic flight to Siem Reap. We all book the tickets pun masa kat MATTA Fair. Stef's friend, a Malaysia married to a Cambodian yang tolong book kan domestic flight tickets. Domestic airlines available were President Airline, Siem Reap Airways & Royal Phnom Penh. Tapi kena check from time to time sebab the domestic airline company ni kadang-kadang boleh tiba-tiba bungkus (bankrupt). Once we reached Phnom Penh airport, we briefly met her, collected the tickets and flew straight to Siem Reap. Kalau tak silap the ticket fare dalam USD50 - USD60. The adventurous alternative to air travel to Siem Reap is by river ferry. The journey will take about 4 - 6 hours (251 km) depending on the season. The best is during wet season (June - November). Dry season low water can mean smaller, less comfortable boats and occasional groundings. The advantages of taking river ferry are you will see all these photogenic sceneries, villages and look at how the locals live. Ticket masa tu costs between USD21 - USD25 and have to be purchased a day in advance. Anyway, when we arrived in Siem Reap, dah ada pick up from the hotel. Tak ingat hotel mana we all duduk tapi we decided to check out after one nite and stayed at The Red Piano. We found out about The Red Piano from a friend after we have made our booking at the former hotel before we left Malaysia. The distance from the airport to Siem Reap town is only 7 km. Kalau takde pick up van pun, you can just take the motordups. The room at the first hotel tu memang comfortable and clean. Then, we asked the van driver about taking us to the Old Market to check out guesthouse, Red Piano. We all beria-ria negotiate price. Mula-mula tu dia nak charge us USD20 to take us there including to a restaurant to watch the traditional dance. Bargain punya bargain we decided on USD10. So, we all happily got into the van. But buntut pun tak warm up lagi, we all saw this place terpampang The Red Piano. We were very pleased thinking that we got a good deal. Rupa-rupanya Red Piano and the Old Market were just a walking distance from the hotel. We all looked at each other dengan muka blur. Mula-mula tu, with each other we all sumpah seranahlah van driver tu tapi bila ingatkan face expression masing-masing, tergelak pulak thinking how stupid we were. Sampai kat The Red Piano, we all asked to check out the room. Bila tengok bilik dia, teringat children's story The 3 Bears. Alah, cerita pasal Father Bear, Mother Bear ngan Baby Bear yang ada satu girl masuk rumah the bears and makan sup diorang tu. Warna bedsheet dia oren terang with white, one cupboard. Kebetulan pulak ada 3 katil, itu yang teringat cerita The 3 Bears tu. Anyway, after seeing the room we decided to make reservation to stay there the following nite. Actually the Red Piano ni was where crews movie Tomb Raider stayed while they were filming the movie in Cambodia. Adalah photo Angelina Jolie kat wall di bar kat situ. After that we decided to check out The Old Market. This Old Market is the most tourist-oriented because it has a lot of souvenir stalls offering a wide range of souvenirs from wood carvings, semi-precious stones, silk, silverware, paintings & macam-macam lagi. Apa lagi, we all put our bargaining skills into action. The tip is that kalau penjual tu tak nak lower the price, just walk away. Nanti dia akan panggil you balik and agree to the price you initally asked. But if you go to several stores pun harga yang diorang offer sama, that is the bottomlinelah. Of course the locals will pay much much lower but you are a tourist, so kenalah bayar tourist price. You will also need to consider that the locals ni hidup susah, basic things like electric, water yang most of us Malaysians take for granted memang ridiciliously expensive. Ramai yang could not afford. So, janganlah sampai bargain terlampau rendah sangat.