On the Road Again....

Brace yourself!! There will be a lot of photos in this one.
I am finally getting around to posting our trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, a few ago. (yes, yes. I know) This has been on our list of  "things to see" while here in SIN. Hubby finally found a time slot that worked for his job, and we headed north-east on the 2 hr journey (flight of course). Unbeknownst to him, but not me, was that this week would be Cambodian New Year!! I expected crowds and  was actually surprised that we could get a room at all.
Our hotel came recommended by another who had stayed here. It was amazing!! I can not praise it enough. The service was fab (better than in Singapore),  food excellent, but what was my favorite things was that the hotel is run by a NGO and supports the local village. We were not in SR itself, but a small village just outside of the bustle of the second largest city in Cambodia. and believe me, during NY, this must have been a blessing. The Sojourn Hotel is a tranquil oasis, nestled down a dirt road 10 minutes from the city centre. Traveling to town is easy as they will call you a tuk tuk (a small motorcycle which pulls a trailer for you to sit in ), or in our case, we had a driver assigned to us for three days to take us wherever we wanted to go. But honestly, we didn't want to go anywhere!! The grounds were so lovely and we just chose to sit and relax (hubby needed it).

Welcome food

Welcome Drinks!!

dining area - breakfast included.

pool, with swim up bar

portion on morning buffet, fresh fruit, breads and more

side garden, so great to wander through

outdoor shower in our villa

our villa room

spouting lion at the pool

We, along with most of Cambodia, (and I truly mean this as it is customary for families to visit Angkor Wat- the lasting symbol of the country)  were at the temple complex. The new year festival lasts officially three days, but it seems to stretch into a full five day week. I did not realize that Angkor Wat is a huge relgious complex, built over the centuries, and not one temple as I had thought. It honestly takes days to see them all. I believe there are 40 something temples in all. With the crowds, we only saw two, but they were amazing within themselves. (perhaps this means another trip back?!)

one of the gateway walls

me & "Mr". Lim (he's my sons age...)

portion of Angkor Wat. we're coming in front the side

you can see where the wall details never got finished. workers were called away to battle before they ever got done.

Most walls are carved  with detail of amazing skills. I had to wonder about the artisans.

just another hallways!! So amazing.

now there is a "no touch" rule. You can see the oils from decades of touching

one of the many libraries on the left. Notice the wooden stairs over the steep stones ones. Yes, we did climb these!

steepness again, but completely beautiful

perhaps this shot gives you the best idea of size and proportion. Notice the man  on the landing

active Buddhist ceremony since it was a holiday. smells good

details of ladies. very chummy.

Did I mention the crowds??? No we did not bother with this queue.

Angkor Wat is the largest temple. Our guide, Mr Lim (a local villager who is trained in  temple history) gave us a guided and informative tour. He said he was amending it to work around all the people and hit the high lights. So we saw the main temple and Bayon temple. This one was commissioned by a ruler who liked to put his face into the design....

Sand sculptures built by the monks (Lim said that, but I think it may have been done FOR them)

Neat snake head fencing around the temples. These are everywhere. They are a security talisman.

Elephant wall at Bayon

walking toward the Bayon temple

more honoring the Buddha. Notice the local ones are thin, not chubby.

doorways in a hall.

wall decor everywhere. Still wondering about the artists... these carried a more Indian style motif

Faces everwhere. at least they are happy!!

Got some monks enjoying the day.

each turret is four sided with a face. Gee, what an ego.

A wonderful day at the temples, but very exhausting! The next day we headed into the town to see the local sites. We wanted to go early to avoid the crowds we knew would wander in late afternoon. Both hubby and I had watched a cooking show on Cambodia before we left. I knew we HAD to purchase some kampot peppers and locally made fish sauce. (we have been using fish sauce since being in Singapore, but the Cambodian one is different). Being the holiday, half of the stalls in the Old Market were closed, but I still found a number of vendors who had what we wanted. Some were over priced when they say us. But in true fashion, wander deeper into the warren, and you will get a better deal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

street scene across from the Old Market

Time to wander around and get one of those famous us$8 massages.  Crickets...... Ok, the one place we picked was rubbish!! Back to the hotel then for a fabulous 1 hr at their spa. While not  cheap, cheap, it was still a value at us$28 for the hour. But before we go, we treated our driver  to a local lunch. I'm not sure he was terribly impressed. He tried to take us to more of a western style palce. But we wanted to eat where the locals do - always a better plan!  I loved it that a 10 year old child took our order. Mom was in the kitchen, dad was on  front of house, and the two older kids were running dishes and pulling pints ($.50 a beer!) 

 

The youngest child was just wandering around with a wad of local currency, and sometimes popped his head into the drinks fridge to cool off. So cute!!

on Pub Street

oh YUM!!  Lok Lak, fish soup, beef salad (spicy)

 Day 3 - cooking class at the hotel. Awesome. We live for this stuff. It was so much fun, and we gained the recipes. I have made two of the dishes since being back. Awesome!!

starting the Amok stew. Snake fish in the shot

ya bet I'm tired!! But it was so fun!!

Mango salad components.

Where we will dine on our hard work.

We each ate our own creations.  Green Mango salad!!! Yum

Me made rice balls. I rock!!

Wow. What a trip!! I so recommend going to Siem Reap, and even staying at the Sojourn. Even if you don't, it's such a wonderful country and the people are so great. I think they might even speak better English than in Singapore....

 

  

These last shots were taken just outside the hotel in the village, We went for a short walk the morning we left. We wanted to see how the locals lived.