Cambodia is the 5th Asian country I've visited and the fourth in South East Asia. The main purpose of the visit was to get away from Singapore during the long weekend for the celebration of the country's 45th birthday and of course to capture the scenery of the famous Angkor Wat.
We took Airasia flight from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia to Siem Reap in the morning of August 7th. It was a 2 hour trip. On our way to the hotel, I began to observe the people and the city; people talk like thais, Cambodia is a third-world country, and the place is much more like a common province in the Philippines. Angkor Wat might be the only reason why someone would spend dollars for a 3rd world country. That was my first impression.
We stayed in Hotel Lin Ratanak, 3star hotel situated 20 minutes away from the airport. After we secured our room and settled our things, we began touring the city of Siem Reap. First stop is the Tonlé Sap ("Tonlé" meaning "Large Fresh Water River," but more commonly translated as "Great Lake"). The floating village became an attraction for tourist, not really worth the prize of $12. The village is a reflection of how poor Cambodia is, I hate how children would swim near our boat and ask for dollars, some women use their babies to gain sympathy and some aged 7-10 hold a snake with them just to attract tourists' attention. It was for me a desperate measure.
We then headed to "the killing fields" where a collection of skulls from the war are being displayed in a giant glass container, which according to my research are the skulls of the warriors during the war with Siam, former name of Thailand. It was a short stop over, just fewphotos and a visit to a small shop then we hopped in our vans and proceeded to Angkor Wat to buy our visa for the next day. We had a buffet for dinner with a cultural Cambodian dance in the background. After dinner, the night was spent by the ladies shopping at night market while the boys treated themselves for a massage. Did I mention that we were 19?
The whole day of the second day was spent inside the Angkor Wat. It was huge, historical and religious. What pissed me thou were those Chinese who were so ignorant because they disrespected the temple by taking photos and touching the boobs of those carvings at the walls. Idiots! Pictures below will best describe Angkor Wat.
The people. The people of Cambodia are just like some Filipinos. They tend to take advantage of the tourist as much as possible. Take for example a flute which would be offered initially for a dollar each, then they would insist and would give it to you for 2 for a dollar and the bargaining would never end until they offer it for 5 for a dollar. The most stupid mistake a tourist can do is to buy a thing without haggling and once you buy something, vendors would flock around you. Cambodians are mixture of Malay and Chinese, most of them look like a typical Vietnamese. They speak so soft and these people also smile a lot.
The food. Cambodian food is very Asian. Not so much difference from the Philippines. One of the best that I've tried was their green mango and how they did the salt and spicy thingy which came with the mango. I also like the "amok" dish. A fish, or chicken or pork cooked with coconut milk and presented and served at a coconut shell. They are not good in cooking sweets and desserts.
Siem Reap might be famous to tourist but it's NOT one of those places that I would say " I’ll definitely go back" - bads ordenes
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