Wandering Around in Siem Reap

I'd been busy lately. Sooo busy that I forgot to do my traditional yearly resolutions post. Screw that. I was busy with my final paper which was on 1st of January 2015.

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Cambodia Trip.
It was an ad hoc, unplanned trip.
It is not even in my list for this year. Well, little did I know, that unplanned trip was the most adventurous I had since I started traveled abroad last few years.

My belangkas (a term I called my bestfriend, Rawiey) called me 2 weeks before I sat my final exam and asked me whether I wanted to join her Cambodia Trip. I checked my account and asked for my mom's permission to go there. I said YES to Rawiey in within half an hour.

KLIA2 with CNY decorations.

I drove myself from home to Sibu Airport and arrived at KLIA2. Then waited for 12 hours for my next flight. My flight to Siem Reap was at 0650 AM and I slept the whole journey during in the flight.
Too tired because I need to settle my conference paper before departed to Siem Reap.
Too tired because I didn't get enough rest a day before. Oh dem.

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When we arrived at Angkor International Airport, it was 20 degree Celcius. Quite cold though. Upon our arriving, there was a man holding Rawiey's name on a placard. He took us to his tuk-tuk and off we go to our hostel.

The journey took us about half an hour and the surrounding was peaceful.
It's quite dusty. I should have known to bring along a face mask before going to Cambodia. Anyway, you can buy it at the nearest shop.

We stayed at Mandalay Inn. It's quite far from the airport but near to the attractions. A pleasant stay, I must say. We felt very welcomed. The staffs are friendly and always greet us with their smiles :) and very helpful too.

Mandalay Inn reception desk

The current price for the Mandalay Inn rooms.

After we had our short rest, we rented a bike each and cycled our way to the Artisan. It had been a long time since I cycled to anywhere. At first, I was in my very best confidence level. After I saw the traffic at the roundabout near to our guesthouse, I was feeling a little scared. Seeing the traffic there made me realized and grateful about the traffic in Malaysia. Maybe I am not used to the traffic there.

After cycling for about less than 10 minutes, we arrived at Artisan. It's free and there's a free ride to the Artisan Silk Farm at 1000 and 1330. We chose the 1330 trip.

At the Artisan, we had our tour guide and being told about the arts created at the centre. Rawiey and I were really mesmerized about the arts they did there. How they meticulously do their artworks from scratch. Cekang! However, what really amused me was when I heard the tour guides know how to speak different languages. (Serious dowh, sekejap dengar yang sorang ni cakap bahasa Korea, pastu nanti terdengar pulak ada yang cakap bahasa Cina and so on. Awesome sia!) Anyway, let's enjoy some of the photos that I took at the Artisan regarding on the arts that the centre did to preserve their (read: Cambodians) identity.

All the arts are locally hand-made.

The easy one. Cewaah...

Statue from woods.

The hardest one; using stone to make the artwork. So detail liao...

Hand for scale.

After we had our tour, don't forget to tip the guide.

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We were hungry and we're cycling around the city to look for any Halal restaurant. We cycled for about 30 minutes and voila, we found a few near the mosque. We went to Muslim Family Kitchen restaurant and the food was delicious. Not bad for a non-Malay cooking. The price for the food was $3 each and the drinks are $1 each. Bear in mind, Cambodia uses USD as their main currency.

Smiling ear-to-ear because we found food!

After we had our lunch, we cycled back to the Artisan Centre and waited for the trip to Silk Farm. The trip went for about half an hour. At the Silk Farm, the tour guide assisted us in the making of the Cambodian Silk. From the silk worm until it become the clothes. Here are some of the photos regarding our trip to the Silk Farm.

No wonder the price for a silk cloth is quite expensive. All of these silks are locally hand-made. If only I brought along extra cash, I would love to buy a shawl for myself. Standard price for a shawl starts from $29.

Don't forget to pick up your visitor pass.

Silk worm.

A worm in its cocoon.

Coloring phase. Even the color uses the flora
existed in their surrounding.

Voila.

Yea, let's wait (for infinity) for my video to see the full phase of the Cambodia silk-making, kalau tak malas laa...

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During night time, we went to Angkor Night Market and bought a few souvenirs for my family. The price was quite expensive and this is the time where you show your haggling skills. I bought only a few as I didn't want to go over budget for this trip.
BTW, the night market just a stone away from Mandalay Inn and right across the Pub Street.

While wandering around at the Night Market, something caught my eyes. If you are a fan of exotic foods, they're selling snake-on-stick at the market. Tak sanggup nak amek gambar. Geli eww eww! So, we decided to buy this ice-cream. It's quite delicious though. $1.5/scoop.

Coconut Ice-cream

Sousdai Cambodia

Day 2: Lost in the Temple
Day 3: Journey to Phnom Penh
Day 4; Deep Depression

Z : Pening tengok traffic kat sana. I was wondering, how they got their license.