it was an early start as we had to leave for siem reap later before noon. anyway, it was difficult not to get an early start here when the streets were already bustling with activities from 6a.m. onwards.
we decided to head to the silver pagoda and royal palace after breakfast.
the entrance fee was USD6.25 for both. unfortunately the royal palace was only opened at 2p.m. that day!! we were there at 8.30a.m.! we felt so cheated! you could not buy entrance ticket only for one place. so we talked the ticket administrator into changing the date of the ticket to the day we would return from siemreap for our visit to the royal palace. he obliged. but then, on the 5th day we were supposed to go to royal palace, we reached phnom penh late in the evening and the palace was already closed. sigh. to forget the disappointment, i said to myself, well i had been to the more majestic royal palace in bangkok, surely that was better than this. hahaahha..sour grapes.
silver pagoda. named after the silver tiles which floored the building. no photography allowed inside, so no silver tiles. inside was more like a shrine with many buddha statues and the more famous one is the one in the centre made of emerald.
mural depicting the epic of ramayana.
one of the three shrines surrounding silver pagoda.
an equastrian statue of king norodom in the compound.
overall, this is a very serene and calming place. the chiming of the bells atop the building added to this effect.
after this visit, we had a not-so-short visit to the central market for the newcomers of the group. they were so caught up with bargaining for bags, fridge magnets and t-shirts. thus our journey to siemreap only started at noon after lunch in phnom penh.
the road to siemreap was well paved but quite narrow at some parts and there was no white divider in the middle for most parts. so your vehicle can go whichever side you want and you can overtake to your heart's delight. found on the road: horse-drawn carts, motorcycles, vans, cars, and big lorries. animals are quite a common sight as well. herds of cows and stray dogs.
we reached our hotel at nightfall. the journey took us about 5 hours.
crossing mekong river to go out from phnom penh. this bridge was built by the japanese and is called japanese friendship bridge.
vast paddy fields paving the journey.
flooded paddy fields. this is not a river. since it is the monsoon season, the fields were flooded and everything was lush.
the tar road to siemreap.
cows, many of them.
after we checked in,we went for our dinner. got the driver to drop us at a petrol station and we walked around searching for food.
found a small restaurant and the waitress could speak fluent mandarin. she studied chinese at school. so we got down to ordering. it was not anything posh, just like your typical nasi kandar shop kind of setting.
we had this bread as our appetiser. it is found everywhere in cambodia, by road sides especially. we dared not buy from the road side stalls as they were openly sold being exposed to all the vehicle smoke and dust, so we tried this in the restaurant. i dunno what it is called. they spread minced pork, two slices of cold meat, and pickled vegetables as the filling. the bread was really crispy. yummy. USD1 a piece. the above was tapau back to the hotel. hehehe...not full enough. not mine though.
this was what i ordered for dinner. khmer style seafood fried rice. USD2. the rest ordered pork fried rice USD1.50. haha...mine was a bigger plate and had more seafood and meat and vegetables. this was a more value for money compared to theirs. i loved it.
oh, i have to mention this. someone ordered mixed fruit juice...and i tell you, they really mix all the fruits in it to blend the concoction. you get a mixture of pineapple, apple,orange, mango and the king of the fruit- durian!!! hahaha, they did not expect the durian to be part of the deal. some liked it, some did not. their durians were not local. thai durian was cheaper compared to their local ones because there were more thais.
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