Cambodia - Part 2

Awal-awal pagi bangun bertolak ke the temple area. Dekat main entrance, we all bought tickets for one day tour at USD20. If you want to hire a guide or transport to go around the temple area, ramai yang dah standy kat main entrance for a fee. We decided not too sebab we got a couple of Angkor Visitor Guide Book which you can get at any hotel or guesthouse and I also bought a book called Angkor Wat Forever by Thierry Diwo with photographs and information about the temples and the wall carvings. We spent a lot of time kat the most popular temple, Angkor Wat believed to bebuilt by Suryavarman II. It a huge complex and took between 25 - 30 yaers to complete. Ada banyak wall carvings depicting kisah-kisah their kings and gods. It was like a treasure hunt for us sebab we were referring to the book looking for prominent wall carvings and bas-reliefs highlighted in the book. Kat Angkor Wat ada 12 sancuatry towers. Tangga nak panjat towers tu memang very steep, I think about 80 degrees. Memang gayatlah rasanya nak panjat, we were contemplating about it tapi kalau tak naik, rugi. Masa naik tu tak berani nak tengok bawah.

Sebelum proceed to other temples, we had lunch at a French cafe right kat depan Angkor Wat. I bukalah bekalan serunding and asked for plain rice. We covered most of the 'must see' temples like Phnom Bakeng, Angkor Thom, Bayon, The Rolous Group, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King among a few. On our way back, stopped kat Phnom Bakeng to watch the sunset. Nak ke Phnom Bakeng pun challenging jugak sebab kena panjat a steep hill dulu lepas tu kena panjat stairs kat Phnom Bakeng to get to the top of the temple. Menggigil jugak kepala lutut. Sampai kat atas, you can see the whole temple area. Memang cantik sebab nampak temples di celah-celah hutan. Actually, kat Angkor Wat pun boleh tengok sunset from one of the towers.

After 2 nites kat Siem Reap and jenuh dah shopping kat Old Market, we returned to Phnom Penh on the morning flight. Sebelum tu, breakfast kat bar di Red Piano, hired a motordups to go to the airport. On the way to the airport realized camcorder tertinggal kat hotel. Nak patah balik tak sempat. Nasib baik Stef ada business card Red Piano. Terus call owner Red Piano, a French guy and he got his staff to get the camcorder and sent it to the airport. I was worried that the staff might not be able to make it to the airport on time but when we arrived at the airport, we actually missed our flight to Siem Reap. We may have got the time mixed up and took our own sweet time to get to the airport. Masing-masing panik tapi nasib baik boleh take the next flight without any extra cost. What a blessing in disguise. Sempat jugak staff Red Piano tu reached the airport to pass me the camcorder.

Sampai kat Phnom Penh, we stayed at rumah Stef's friend, Hui Ling a Malaysian who is married to a Cambodian. Dia bawaklah we all pergi Russian Market and tolong we all tawar menawar barang-barang kat sana. I bought silk cloth, wood carvings including a lazy chair. We all also pekena coffee kat one of the stalls. Memang kao! Malam tu, dia bawak round kat bandar Phnom Penh and had dinner kat a French restaurant belonging to their friend. Hui Ling and her husband gave her insights on Cambodia. Kesian jugak dengar sebab actually susah jugak kehidupan orang-orang kat Cambodia. The basic things like electric and water memang expensive sampai USD200 per month. Yang lain-lain tu tak eloklah I nak cerita tapi bila dengar cerita-cerita macam ni rasa bertuahnya jadi penduduk Malaysia.