Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Lunch and Tonle Sap

Since we finished early with the temple ruins, we had lunch at 11+am. Then again, considering we started our day at 5am (waking up at 4+am), it was not that early to have a hearty meal. Lunch was at Angkor Flower, a restaurant with aircon serving Khmer food. It was probably a tourist restaurant as the food would be considered pricey at around US$5 per dish. Across the restaurant was a river which the guide said was the King's swimming pool. Huge one.

I felt a bit strange to dine there and our guide and driver were left to their own devices (or settled their own meals). What is the protocol when you hire a guide and driver for the day? Do you also invite them to join in or would they feel awkward too? In the end we decided to just leave it and just go along with wherever the guide wanted to take us. We figured he would be earning some commission from bringing tourists to the various places. But most of the places he took us were not the typical tourist traps but more of finding beauty in the way of life and craftsmanship.

Our guide recommended the Amok (fish and chicken) which was my all time favorite food in Siem Reap. It was a light curry, similar to Thai green curry but a bit sweeter and cooked in coconut. This came served in a coconut which made presentation pretty. We also ordered seafood tom yam soup and fried rice. The tom yam soup was so-so and the fried rice was decent.

After lunch, we decided to visit Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, and home to a floating village. The homes were built on bamboo or something as they would float and go with the levels of the tides. These were different from the usual kelongs (houses on stilts) which were more common in Thailand and Malaysia. It was interesting to see the people travel across the lake in a small canoe. Every time the boat (ours and others) cruised by, I feared for the villagers paddling in the canoe as their craft would bob about in the wake of the waves.

There was even a floating church in the middle of the lake and school and a restaurant/market which was obviously for tourists. There was a mini exhibition there explaining the existence of the floating village and how the tides affect the lake and the different types of fishing cages and nets were available to the fishermen. There were also crocodiles being kept though I was not sure what were their purposes.

Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Elephant and Leper King Terraces, Ta Prohm

After so many temples which seemed to look alike after a while, I was more than ready to just stop and rest for the day. We got to Elephant Terrace and the Leper King Terrace where the renmants of the carvings remained.  It was very dusty in Siem Reap and the soil was orangey-red. Interesting. We also saw elephants which were available for visitors to ride on to explore the ruins. I guessed elephants were still an important part of life in Cambodia.

We could probably have gone on to more temples like Bakheng where you could get an aerial view of the ruins (we didn't know that until the next day) but we were just so tired that we told our fantastic guide we just wanted to go to Ta Prohm and be done with the temples. We had already decided beforehand that it would be quite impossible to do everything and the two "must visit" places were Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm so we just focused on those.

At Ta Prohm (of Tomb Raider fame), we saw more tourists and Cambodian children and ladies trying to sell souvenirs and things to tourists. While I felt for them, it could get a bit annoying as you could hardly walk a step without them blocking your path.

It was quite humbling to see the ruins being engulfed by some trees and knowing these have been around for centuries and that life goes on. Time will pass and soon everything will be history.

Can you spot the apsara dancer hidden within the roots of the tree in the bottom left picture? The guide pointed that out to us and I used the zoom function to capture the image. Otherwise most would have missed it.

Day 2 of Siem Reap (24 Feb 2012) - Baphuon and Phimeanakas

Still on Day 2 of the Siem Reap exploration of the temple ruins. After Bayon, we moved across to visit Baphuon with another steep climb to the top. There was a structure which looked like a "sleeping Buddha" at the top.

We walked past trees so old they wrapped or were part of the ruins. The remains of the Royal Palace in Phimeanakas which was a laterite and sandstone pyramid temple where the king used to worship. The grounds were extensive and the ancient pools were huge.