a Cambodia Trip.
August 11, 2007
A little bit lag with my pictures, but I shall clear the Cambodia trip first!
Phnom Penh, or Cambodia in general is a place where everybody thinks of creative solutions with the simplest of materials to everyday’s problems.
Vanishing trades of old time Singapore can still be found in Phnom Penh, like this roadside barber.
The roads are wider and bigger than Vietnam, but the main transport is still by motorbikes. The roads are also filled with old toyota corollas that are refitted with airbags.
And like Vietnam, French influence in Cambodia’s architecture remains.
I thought this sign was a bit ironic in Cambodia where money and power talk.
Not a weird sight to see monks holding handphones in Cambodia, a country where the average factory worker earns 45USD a month.
Queuing for tickets to the Royal Palace under the scorching sun.
Part of the Royal Palace decorated with Gargoyles at the guardians of the temple.
A french house dedicated to the Cambodian King by Napoleon.
Along Sissowath Quay. The place gets filled up in the evenings with lovers and families coming out for picnics.
A very kind family by the Quay who offered me some of their food and kindly allow me to take this picture of them.
One part of the quay was decorated with the flags of all the countries in the world, in alphabetical order. 
Singapore’s flag was just located right in front of FCC (Foreign’s Correspondent Club) in Phnom Penh, which was our favourite hang-out.
A child soldier.
FCC is the Starbucks of Cambodia. It is a place where you go to find comfort in familiarity. Foreign journalists that covered the civil war used to fill up this place to file their stories and also to grab some drinks and comfort food.
Mekong Express. The cheap and good bus that we took to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh. Budget travel rendered us unable to take an airplane. But it was a terrific experience.
NGOs are everywhere in Cambodia, for the better or worse.
While capitalism is rapidly catching up in the country.
We had damn good food there. Mostly Khmer food with the odd Vietnamese dishes.
Teaching you how to use chopsticks… The instructions were bad…
The Old Market in Siem Reap was filled with live eels and catfishes in the most unhygienic environment that I’ve came across in my life. Mosquitoes freely feast on the produce…
Countless of shops selling very beautiful paintings of the temples of Angkor and also daily depictions of Cambodia life..
Cambodian children by the sidewalk of the Old Market doing their Chinese homework…
Volleyball is one of the favourite games of the local residents.
The temple of Bayon, second in popularity to Angkor Wat.
Tourists pay good money to relive the experience of the early French explorers who travelled to the temples of Angkor by elephants.
There was a guy sitting by one of the ‘windows’. I thought it was very emo…
Independent restoration projects by the French, Japanese, Germans, Indians and Koreans are ubiquitous at Angkor Wat.
A restored project by UNESCO sponsored by Japan.
This is the only angle where you can see the three stone heads at the same time. The human likeness of the Buddha face is due to the Jaya King VII dedicating the temple to his father; and had the sculptures of Buddha done to his father’s likeness.
A Cambodian Picasso.
The Elephant Terrace.
This used to be a library. One of the many libraries that dotted the area leading to Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat. Under heavy restoration work…
It was a hot and steeped climb to the top shrine of Angkor Wat.
Adrian, Elroy, Zihao and Me.
The guys threw a surprise bday celebration for me at FCC Siem Reap. Everybody participated spontaneously… It felt really special to celebrate my birthday in another country.
Preah Kean. One of the less visited, but highly preserved temples. Made of pink sandstone. I think the artisans then were incredible to hammer out such lifelike bas relief.
Visited the landmine museum… It was a sobering affair.
Poker cards of landmines that teach you to recognise what type and which country they’re from.
Some of the defused landmines on display.
Cambodia is still covered with many landmines, with many more new casualties each day.
Ta Prohm is a temple hidden deep in the jungle. The place is left nearly the same as when the first French explorers discovered them.
Entrance to Ta Prohm. The place is very atmospheric… You can hear the jungles slowly reclaiming the space that is once theirs.
a pretty Cambodian girl who I believe should be in school studying rather then selling bracelets…
A soon to collapse library inside Ta Prohm.
The battle between man and nature is amazing.
On top of the highest temple in Angkor. You get the view of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and almost all the other buildings.
Everybody is up there trying to catch a glimpse of the sunset.
and a daring camera man who defied tourism police orders…
The clouds blocked out most of the sun, but it was very very windy up there. I love the tranquility of the atmosphere.
And I met Chun Yang up there. What a small world.
Although we didn’t get to see the full sunset, it was not a wasted trip. I finished two postcards up there! One for Jie, another one for Jianhui.
Went to the Cambodia Cultural Center. Apparently, Cambodia blame the UN for most of its ills…
Training to be Apsara dancers.
Young girls who aspire to be great Apsara dancers at the cultural centre. Not all will make the cut.
A segment of the Apsara dance.
A traditional Khmer wedding.
Kim, our tour guide in Siem Reap.
UK, our friendly driver. Cambodians speak quite much better English than their Vietnamese counterparts.
Fried cockroaches and grasshoppers… I was too grossed out to try any.
Beautiful skies in Phnom Penh.
The Russian Market in Phnom Penh. You can buy original Adidas or Nike Dri-Fit there for 4USD.
On the Tuk Tuk to the airport with all our luggage!
With Mr Tang, our friendly and honest Tuk Tuk driver. Adrian loves him.
Me trying to upload the pictures from all of our cameras onto my computer, while playing bridge at the same moment to kill time. Our Silkair flight was delayed by an hour and fifteen minutes.
*There are other side stories to this journey which included encounters with headless frogs and first-hand account on the lack of order in Cambodia. If you are interested, ask me!
August 12, 2007 at 1:56 am
hey dear
yes i’ve received ur postcard! such a pleasant surprise (= i’m glad u had an eventful trip filled with good company & new experiences
tokyo is crazy hot & humid at the moment. hit a high of 36deg today. i was walking around in a yukata, and joined by a crowd of hundreds of thousands in watching the tokyo bay fireworks. hopefully you can catch it some day too.
sleepy.
love.