We booked our coach to Siem Reap through Royal Inn on the first day, and initially the coach company would have a shuttle bus to fetch us. However, due to the public holidays, the shuttle service was cancelled. (They claimed it's due to heavy traffic, but the traffic was fine in the morning). Nvm! We took Tuk Tuks to Paramount Angkor's bus terminal, which was located at the Riverfront area.
On our way to the bus terminal, we got to see the boat racing at the river. 1st Nov (movable dates) marked the first day of Bonn Om Touk water festival in Cambodia, and it would last for three days. There were a lot of dragon-boat look alike boats competing in the Mekong.
I tried to zoom to get a better pic of the boats on a bumpy tuk tuk.--Paramount Angkor Express Bus Terminal--
We took the earliest bus to Siem Reap, which was at 7.30a.m. There were many locals taking the coach as well. Paramount Angkor is one of the companies having luxury coaches to Siem Reap, alongside with Mekong Express & Cambodia Angkor Express. Our 6 hrs coach ride costed $9US per person.--Leaving Phnom Penh--
Got a better view of the boats from the coach.--Kampong Thom--
After a few hours, the coach stopped at Kampong Thom for us to have a quick bite. Basically, Kampong Thom is a small town in between Phnom Penh & Siem Reap. We did not have lunch here as the break was short. So we just walked around the street stalls by the roadside.
Insects again...and the Cambodians loved it.
The restaurant on the ground floor was flooded by tourists.
The bus on the right was Paramount Angkor, while the one in white & orange was Mekong Express. (Mekong's bus was from Japan, while Paramount's was probably from TW.)
This was their 虾饼, and it was delicious. There were so many small prawns in one 虾饼...oh my~ How many had I eaten?--Siem Reap--
Ok, a small problem cropped up after we reached Siem Reap at 1pm plus. I forgot to let Sony (the guest house's owner) know which terminal we were at. I thought all the coaches would dropped us at a common terminal. I was wrong anyway. So, I called him up and he came to pick us up personally, with a few tuk tuks. Hoho! The weather was damn good to us as it started raining. Luckily it was a short drizzle...
--Golden Mango Inn--
This was our "home" for the next three days. Hahaha! The gals loved it becoz' the guest house got this homely feeling. I'm glad that they loved the place coz' this was not the initial place I've picked.
The three storeys guest house. Our triple rooms were on the right hand corner. It's a pity that our rooms were not side by side though. Sony was a nice guy & he briefed us on what we needed to know before we went to our rooms. Their staffs were nice too, and they were like a big family.
Our room~--Lunch @ Neary Khmer Restaurant--
We did not have a proper lunch, so we got our driver to recommend us a restaurant. Obviously they would recommend Khmer food..hehehe! Our guest house was not located in the town centre, so it took a few mins for us to reach the place.
Tomyam Fish Soup. Had a sudden craving for Tomyam soup, and it's quite delicious.
Stirred fried pork with basil leaves. This plate was cleared finished first, and I think I only ate a few pieces of pork. Lolz~
Fried frog legs with some satay-like sauce?
Morning glory was actually our kang-kong. Lolz!
This was "Backed Chicken". Basically it's their kampong chicken la. The sauce was quite special...--On our way to buy temple pass--
Passed by this small river bridge on our way to buy temple pass. There were ppl living by the river.
Found roasted pig~!!
This was the place to buy our temple pass. We bought the three days temple bus for $40 US. We gotta take pictures on the spot and it would be printed on our pass la. Basically, you can now opt for consecutive three days pass or pick any three days. More flexible now~--Roluos Group--
We returned to the Inn to meet up with our guide, Dino. Our itinerary for the day was to visit the temples of Roluos Group. The Roluos Group lies 15km southwest of Siem Reap & includes three temples - Bakong, Preah Ko & Lo Lei. These temples were the remains of Hariharalaya, the first major capital of the Angkorian-era Khmer Empire.
Our first stop, Lo Lei.
Lolei consists of four brick temple towers grouped together on a terrace. Originally, the towers were enclosed by an outer wall access through which was through a gopura, but neither wall nor gopura have survived to the present. Today, the temple is next to a monastery, just as in the 9th century it was next to an ashrama. (credits to Wikipedia)
The temple towers are known for their decorative elements, including their false doors, their carved lintels, and their carved devatas and dvarapalas who flank both real and false doors. Some of the motifs represented in the lintels and other sandstone carvings are the sky-god Indra mounted on the elephant Airavata, serpent-like monsters called makaras, and multi-headed nagas. (credits to Wikipedia)
An ancient Khmer text found on the wall of the "door frame".
Our second stop, Preah Ko.
The sandstones, which were used to build the temples.
Preah Ko consists of six brick towers arranged in two rows of three towers each perched on a sandstone platform. The towers face east, and the front central tower is the tallest. The front central tower is dedicated to Jayavarman II, the founder of the Khmer empire. The tower to the left is dedicated to Prithivindreshvara, King Indravarman's father; the tower to the right to Rudreshvara, his grandfather. The three rear towers are dedicated to the wives of these three men. The central towers all bear images of the Hindu god Shiva. (credits to Wikipedia)
The sacred bull.
The design on this lintel includes warriors mounted on three-headed nāgas, horsemen, and a deity mounted on a kala. (credits to Wikipedia)
Beautiful preserved statues.
We found the symbol of women in one of the towers. We would see more of it in other places too.
Our last stop, Bakong.
There were two moats at Bakong. The inner moat delimits a 400 by 300 meters area, with remains of a laterite wall and four cruciform gopuras, and it is crossed by a wide earthen causeway, flanked by seven-headed nāgas, such as a draft of nāga bridge .
Water lily.
Smaller buildings like this could be found in the enclosure.
The pyramid itself has five levels and its base is 65 by 67 meters. It was reconstructed by Maurice Glaize at the end of the 1930s according to methods of anastylosis. On the top there is a single tower that is much later in provenance, and the architectural style of which is not that of the 9th century foundations of Hariharalaya, but that of the 12th century temple city Angkor Wat. (credits to Wikipedia)
The brick towers surrounding the central pyramid resemble those of the other temples at Hariharalaya, namely Preah Ko and Lolei. (credits to Wikipedia)
View of the site from the top.
It's time for our sunset view. Bakong is not the common place to view sunset, but it's quite a good location with few tourists.
Sun setting down @ 5.20pm.
The sun is coming out from the clouds...
Lovely sunset...
--Buffet Dinner @ Angkor Mondial Restaurant--We had a buffet dinner which was included in our tour package. I wondered how much the meal costed. Sony became our driver as our driver had knocked off from work. Lolz! The guy bothered to intro us their Khmer food at the buffet area. Nice of him~
My food @ round 1. The noodles with the special sauce was delicious. And of course, my fav fish amoks were there.
A performer played a er hu-like instrument on the stage before the actual dance performance.
We met so many Asian tourists in Siem Reap, and an interesting thing to note was the restaurant was full of Asian folks....I wondered why.
Time for our aspara dance performances. Sony got us a super good location!
Basically there were a few dance performances, but it's hard to take good pics of them due to various reasons. Cambodian dancing focused a lot on hand movements, which was rather similar to Thai.
Siem Reap was in a festive mood too, and there were many street stalls along the river area. Saw this stall having shooting balloon game.--Angkor Night Markets--
Sony was back to fetch us at 8.30pm. We decided to visit the Angkor Night Market.
There were two night markets, and we decided to visit this one first.
Lots of shops selling similar stuffs again. This night market did not have concrete walkways for u, so we were walking on small stones. I forgot to take their "doctor fish" spas at the night market area. There were quite a few of them, but we did not try it. Could not trust the fishes..lolz~
After buying souvenirs, we walked over to the other night market which was just next door. There was concrete pavement for us to walk this time round, but I preferred the other night market as the atmosphere was better there.--Back home--
If I'm not wrong, we managed to see fireworks from our guest houses on the 1st night in Siem Reap. Actually E.W or Aunt Jo heard the fireworks first, and we went out to the balcony to watch. I tried to take pics of the fireworks, but you know my digi cam was not good enough. (I recorded the fireworks on video though, but their fireworks were pretty boring in design. Lolz~) Luckily, KH took a good shot upstairs. Lolz! (picture credits to Kee Hui)
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