I woke up flustered thinking that we were late and our friends waiting downstairs because it was already quite bright when my eyelids opened. Lo and behold, it was only around 7am. In Cambodia, sun rises at 6am. We casually washed and dressed for our second-day of visit in the capital of the kingdom. When we get downstairs, our friends hadn’t arrived. That’s when we checked email as Internet was available for guests use.

In the evening we plan to go to Siem Reap, the place where the majestic Angkor Wat sits. So we went first to the bus station to get our tickets for bus that departs at 2.00pm (RM20 each).  As usual the streets were filled with life and crowded. There were stalls nearby selling breads and we bought some for breakfast. They were quite delicious (cost about RM2.50 each). They tasted like French bread, crunchy and a bit hard but the filling of pork floss and slight spread of mayonnaise made all the difference. I ate while riding pillion on the bike on the way to the Royal Palace (entrance RM25 each). The Royal Palace is recommended to visit if you were in Phnom Penh. The architectures were amazing and golden. Chieat, another friend, joined us today. Pictures are allowed in most places, only restricted in areas where there are a lot of precious gems and sacred. That place is quite huge, complete with pagodas, spacious gardens, replicas, statues and relics. To make it more interesting, get the locals to explain things around. The entrance charge for the locals are very much lesser, if not mistaken it was only 5000 Riel (RM 1). I guess it’s a very good way to promote foreign tourism. A lot of things to see and take picture, very nice there.. go see it!

The weather was hot, but not so humid as compared to Malaysia, so we don’t sweat as much too. One can observe that the city lacks of trees. Friends told us that’s what contributed to the hot weather. The previous government did not care much about this and resulted in many mature precious trees being cut down for various purposes including furniture making and firewood. The road was busy and honking was a normal thing and not perceived as rude, rather much like a warning or indication of “I’m coming, watch out!”.  Next destination was the national museum. The architecture wonder was also seen in the building especially the roof. The only picture we were allowed to take was the outside and the entrance with the statue that looked like hippogriff. Inside, pictures were prohibited. A friendly reminder for travellers who do not have much to spare or in other words, stingy – whenever a staff offer you a string of jasmine flowers, refrain from taking it no matter how fragrant or good fortune it may bring because once taken she will point to a bowl just 3meters away where you’ll need to put some money and also place the flower into a container. See.. you pay but you’ll be asked to return the good-luck sweet-smelling jasmine. The museum housed many artefacts, statues of Buddha and Lord Krishna akin. They were taken from the Angkor ruins where they had fallen or destroyed in war. Unfortunately most of them were either without their limbs or head or both because they were dismembered (since the whole statue weighs like an elephant) and sold, for they are also valuable. Museum has lesser things to see as compared to the Royal Palace, and sadly pictures weren’t allowed. It only took about half an hour to walk around. If you hadn’t much time you can skip this part, especially if you’re visiting the Angkor Wat because almost everything is brought from the ancient civilization.

On the way out, there were some university architectural students sitting by the side and sketching the building. We had the opportunity to talked to them a while and took a picture for remembrance. Sweet! For lunch, Chieat brought us to a shop where he usually patronizes. Each person is given a dish and was allowed to eat as much rice as we want. There were seven of us, so there were seven dishes and we shared all of them and all were delicious. In general, Cambodian food looks simple, but they are tasty and reasonably priced. Cambodian plants a lot of rice. On the plane entering into this country, one can see millions of acres of paddy field, practically covering the whole earth. Chieat said his first year in UTP was a nightmare as the food was all too spicy (not to mention oily). Cambodian food is hardly cooked together with chilli. If you want spicy, you can always add the chilli sauce provided on the table. We ate to our hearts content and at the end, banana-sago dessert was served. The meal cost about RM6 per person. Absolutely satisfying.

After meal, we still had some time before departing to Siem Reap. Therefore, we were showed the university where Chieat, Raingsei and Putty studied before entering UTP. It wasn’t as sophisticated and grand like our own universities back home but there were plenty of trees and ponds where students sat on the grass and study, catch a forty wink and chatted. Students were required to wear certain uniform unlike the casual wear in UTP. The lecture rooms weren’t air conditioned and use black boards and chalks. Perhaps there were, but looking at the surrounding, their classrooms looked just like secondary (and primary) school classrooms in Malaysia. However, one can see the content, happy faces of proud universities students. Studying in university cost around $400 per year. That’s considered cheap for us but not for them. Some worked part time to support their education. That’s how resilient and strong they are and these are the reasons I admire the Cambodian and for their hopes in the future despite their country fell into the worst tragedy of human history, only decades ago. If you had time, go visit the genocide museum. I’m glad the new generation does not need to go through the cruelty. This country is slowly rebuilding and I wish them well.

Friends went to pick our luggage and send us off at the bus station. The Cambodians are very on time. So BE WARNED Malaysians. Our bus departed at exactly 2pm and this was not an isolated case; very much applicable to all things. So DO NOT practise the Malaysian culture there. We thank them for all they’ve done for us and bade farewell.

The travel to Siem Reap has improved a lot compared to last time. Only two years ago the road was properly built and it used to take 3 days to go from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap because of land mines. Buses used to follow behind specially designed truck to sniff out land mines. Now it only takes 6 hours, though still a back-aching journey. But it was a cheaper way to travel than to fly. Along the way there were more paddy fields, alternating with small shops, houses, temples and every way of ‘kampung’ lifestyle we had back home.

We arrived long after the sun had set. This time the guesthouse that we booked arranged a tuk tuk to fetch us from the bus station. The room is even more impressive than the one we had back in Phnom Penh, for the same price ($15) because we had a bed each, and the room was quite spacious, clean and the air conditioning was working better too. You have to buy drinking water most of the time as guesthouses do not provide free refill.

We bathed and rested a while before taking a tuk tuk to the night market. To go around Siem Reap area, tuk tuk cost $1 per trip. We had a simple meal but nice nevertheless. You can’t go wrong when it comes to food in Cambodia. Any food stall, no mater how simple it may seem, is able to churn out delicious food. We spent a total of RM23 for dinner. Then we walked across to the night market. The place was clean, well lit and moderately decorated. It was very nice to shop there. This place is frequent by foreigners/tourists so the prices are jacked up for bargaining. The general rule of thumb is to slash the price by 50%. Sometimes you can go up to 75% depending on the items. There are many interesting things to buy such as robes, handbags and various accessories. For instance, handbags are quite special, embroided and sewn silk, so buy if you are at Siem Reap night market. Opening price can go up to $15 but the lowest you could get is $3. Kelvin bargained a lot but did not buy from one particular girl so he got chided “u no good customer”. It was pretty hilarious. You’ll hear a lot of “i gip u good prai”; “only for u sir”; “u handsome, I gip u chip chip, sir”. They are generally good sellers, well behaved and don’t scold you like those in Petaling Street. Even if you were chided like Kelvin, you’ll still get a good laugh. I bought one silk robe on that night for $17 though it could get lower, like $10? It was my first buy there so my bargaining skills were not up to mark yet. Anyway, we left that place slightly past 12am and some stalls were already closing. Kelvin managed to get silk scarf (more like cloths to the rest of us) from a pretty girl named Dali (if I remember correctly). She looked way cuter in reality. Jesse said “ta mei aa” and half way into bargaining, she spoke in mandarin and we was like “ja tau”. From then on we spoke more in Hokkien instead. So we bought from her and the opposite grumpy aunty “beh song” when we left. She overtook us and said we bought it expensive and said she could have given us lower price. Sigh.. poor aunty, she was obviously jealous that we took picture with Dali and not her.

We left the market in jovial mood, still joking about what happened in the night market. Acting macho men, we decided to forgo tuk tuk and walk back to our guesthouse. We weren’t very sure but somehow we managed to string together the places and shops that we saw along the way in and out earlier and manage to get close but still no where to be seen. We always asked people around how to go about King Angkor guesthouse and ended up just wrong. Some point here, some point there and Kelvin almost got bitten by a big-fat-sausage shaped dog. In the end, we were exhausted and decided to call for a tuk tuk. A young driver came up to our ‘rescue’ only to get lost again. He himself doesn’t know the way to the said guesthouse, and after much unplanned midnight sightseeing, he arrived at King Angkor guesthouse of Siem Reap. Our relieve was short-lived as it clearly wasn’t the one we entered earlier. We can tell just by the look of the porch and it was obviously not situated at the main road but the driver insisted it was. Finally after much English-Cambodian and English+Cambodian and sign language debate we finally got it right that our guesthouse was actually named Home Sweet Home!!! One of the King Angkor’s personnel who was earlier in slumber got pissed and scolded us in English, Khmer style. At the end of the day the driver demanded $2. So much for acting macho and wanting to save that $1, we ended up paying an extra $1. Lesson learned and luck was on our side that we remembered the correct name of our guesthouse or outherwise we would have spent the night on the streets. We went upstairs after arranging our trip to Angkor Wat the next day with the house keeper. Exhausted but rested superbly well that night! Home Sweet Home!