It's Never Too Hot For Angkor Wat

Tired as we are, we had no choice but to wake up at 3:30 AM as we got ready to leave KL. After checking out of our guesthouse (and failing to leave a fat tip for Kuya bc of a mix up =.=), we hailed 2 cabs to take us to the Sky Bus Terminal at KL Sentral. If you booked flights via AirAsia, the Sky Bus is probably the cheapest and fastest way to get to the airport. Plus you can conveniently avail it through their website right after booking your flights.

We got to KLIA's LCC Terminal around 4:30 AM and went straight to the check-in counters. LCCT reminds me a lot of NAIA's Domestic Terminal - chaotic but only bigger. After check-in, we had breakfast at the nearby Café Espresso before boarding the plane. And good thing, we did! The distance from the boarding area to the plane was definitely the longest I had to walk in my entire traveling life. Whew! Mala-Revenge of the Mummy.

The flight was only an hour long - parang MNL-KBO lang. Upon landing at Siem Reap International Airport around 7:50 AM, we were greeted by traditional-looking buildings which showcases Cambodia's culture and architecture. Cool! I suggest all other international airports follow suit.

As we exited the airport building (after going through immigration of course, but not customs because it was nowhere to be found o_O), we easily spotted our host. He was the one with a huge smile on his face and a sign that says "Mr. Karl Mopia and friends." He was obviously a very happy (naturally happy, I hope, but more on that later!) and friendly person. He even gave us bits of trivia about everything we passed by. And if that isn't cool enough for you, he's a huge Manny Pacquiao fan! He was gushing as he talked about him and even asked if Manny currently lives in the Philippines. Haha How amusing!

I absolutely had no idea about our itinerary since Karly was our organizer (a first!) for the Cambodia leg of our SEA trip. We were supposed to stay at a different place but our host took us to No Problem Inn instead which is owned by his sister. It's alright by me since I'm not picky when it comes to accommodation. As long as there's a bed and a clean bathroom, I'm good. And free wi-fi is always a plus! After settling in our rooms and changing into more appropriate clothing (our host insisted on it), we were off to see the Angkor temples - yes, not just the famous Angkor Wat. Trivia: Angkor Wat translates to "Temple City" or "City of Temples." So better prepare yourself (especially your feet) to explore not just one but a lot of temples.

We bought our tickets at the gate which is quite far (definitely not walking distance) from the main temple entrance. You can choose from 1-day, 3-day, or 7-day passes. We settled for the 1-day pass which costs $20 each. Yes, it's in USD. Fun fact: No need to look for money changers in Cambodia since USD is widely accepted. It might even be more frequently used than their local currency, Riel. Tickets are obviously non-transferable because your face is printed on it like an ID so make sure to be camera-ready when you buy them!

Angkor Wat!

We managed to convince our chauffeur/guide to stop for a quick breakfast before going to Angkor Wat. Sorry, but Filipinos will always be Filipinos which means food is always a priority! Haha And I'm glad we did because the intense heat will absolutely drain your energy. Now I've been warned about the abundance of street children that roam the Angkor Wat vicinity. But still, I was a bit shocked to see/hear them say, "Give me one dollar." Yes, even beggars prefer USD over Riel and I thought beggars can't be choosers! There was even this one girl who gave me a letter with a flower drawn on it. She kept repeating, "You come back for me, okay?" as she urges me to buy one of her overpriced postcards. I literally didn't know what to do as I've had my fair share of bad experiences with our local street children so imagine my horror upon seeing foreign street children. I can't help but think there's also a syndicate behind them as that's the only logical explanation I can think of why these kids are so darn pushy begging for money. So of course, I didn't give them any. Believe me, you're not helping by giving street children money. Food maybe, but definitely not money.

Obligatory tourist poses

After breakfast, we were ready to traverse the ancient brick road leading to Angkor Wat. The temple was under construction that time but even the unsightly scaffolding wasn't able to taint the grandeur of Angkor Wat. It's so surreal standing in front of it.

Sisters

As you walk inside the complex, you'll be amazed at all the different temples you'll see even before you reach the main temple. Obviously, we stopped for a couple of photo ops.

It's the heat, I tell ya!

The heat was so intense, it'll make you do crazy things! Like these weird yoga/kung fu poses we're doing for no apparent reason. I don't know what got into us.

Hat? Check! Fan? Check! Water? Check! Welcome to the Ahjumma Club.

I don't know why but traveling seems to give me more energy than I usually have. It takes a long time and a whole lot of convincing to get me to call it a day while touring. But there are 2 things that make me weak and irritable: hunger and extreme heat. After just two hours in Cambodia, I was ready to pack up. It was that hot! The ahjumma friends in the above photo think so too. I bet you can't spot me there easily. Haha

At the sacred temple.

But again, I have a never say die attitude so after a short break, I was ready to see the rest of Angkor Wat. Now, if you want to go to every part of the temple complex, make sure to wear appropriate temple clothing. Wrapping a pashmina over shorts or a mini skirt won't get you into the sacred temple. That said, Nee-chan had to stay behind while we went ahead to explore. The steps leading up to the temple was quite a challenge though as they were a bit too steep. My size 7 feet can't even fit fully into a single step.

Look at those intricate designs!

There were other tourist groups around and we couldn't help but listen in to their guide's mini discussions. But even without the help of a tour guide, I bet you'll still be able to appreciate the beauty of Angkor Wat. I know we did.

Love the ruins.

Every inch of the complex makes for a great photo op. Amazing how these ruins survived time. I can't help but admire the intricate drawings on the walls. I guess ancient Khmer people had an eye for detail as well.

We're beat!

After exploring Angkor Wat, this is how we looked. Totally beat and totally sunburned! But then, we had to cross the same brick road we walked on to get to the temple. It was definitely more pleasant the first time than the second time. My feet were aching like hell. I could feel the unevenness of the rocks in every step. Tip: Make sure to wear proper foot wear because you'll do a lot of walking. Trust me, ballet flats do not count as walking shoes.

Cooling off.

It was so hot, we just wanted to go somewhere with air-conditioning. I know, how touristy! But since we could use a little bathroom break too, we headed to the nearest cafe. We ordered glasses of cold lemonade and as an extra service, they gave us cool towels with some menthol ointment in it (Tiger Balm or Vicks maybe?). I think it's supposed to be for the hands but we've been out in the sun for too long, we couldn't help but put them on our faces/foreheads/heads afterwards to cool off. It was sure effective!

Beautiful Angkot Wat.

During our merienda, we started to worry about Daddy who will be coming from Thailand. We agreed to meet at the Angkor Wat entrance (which is totally vague because the temple is huge) at 12:00 NN. We had no means of contacting him but I doubt he'll make it there in time so we decided to wait a bit more before looking for him. Around 1:00 PM, we decided to leave the cafe and move on to the next temple if we still can't find Daddy.

Looking for Daddy.

While crossing the street back to Angkor Wat, we were talking about how silly it was of Daddy to come to Cambodia on his own when suddenly, a motorcycle passed by and guess who we saw? It was Daddy riding on the back of the motorcycle!! Haha If that's not a modern-day miracle, I don't know what is. Amazing.

At Bayon.

It turns out, Daddy was sensible enough to just rent a motorbike as he got to the border instead of waiting for the bus which would've taken forever. Now that our party's complete, we went to our next stop: Angkor Thom. Now, Angkor Thom is another temple complex which means "The Great City." If the name's familiar to you, it can only mean two things: either you're a history buff or you've seen Tomb Raider.

Temple Run!

I love Angkor Thom's stone hallways - very Temple Run-ish if I may say. We couldn't help but take a couple of Temple Run-themed photos as the game was really popular that time. Even Daddy was all game for it. Haha

Getting our warrior faces on!

We first went to Prasat Bayon which is a temple filled with smiling stone faces. I couldn't help but smile a little every time I see one. We even posed like them. Pretty awesome how these were preserved as their facial features were still intact.

Who says elephants are irrelephant?

We then had lunch at the tents nearby which reminded me of our local carinderia, only we paid our meals in THB. Yes, they accept Thailand Baht too. After lunch, we went for a little walk and headed to the Terrace of the Elephants to take some photos.

Temple Run 2!

Stone paths are quite abundant in Angkor Thom so we just had to take a couple more Temple Run-themed photos. What a way to burn calories, eh?

Angkor Hot!

And since it was noon, it was bound to get hotter. A straw hat wasn't enough so I used my pashmina to shield me from the sun. Since my cousins didn't have hats, I shared it with them and even Nee-chan while Karly wrapped Nee-chan's pashmina around his head to keep cool. Only Daddy was immune (or should I say numb?) to the heat which was not really surprising. I think he's immune to any weather condition. Haha

The Tomb Raider Temple

And then we moved to the main temple where some scenes of Tomb Raider were filmed. I think it was the gate that became the most associated with the movie. To get to the temple, we had to walk through a line of tall trees. Massive amounts of numbered bricks were piled on the sides of the dirt road. We learned that this is how they preserve and restore the temples. They number the bricks so they'll know where to put them back after refurbishing them.

Lara who?

Again, it's the heat that makes you do crazy things like transforming into Lara Croft or some weird treasure hunters.

There's a "No rock climbing" sign? Oops, didn't see that one.

Upon seeing this mountainous pile of rocks, we couldn't help but accept the challenge it presented. We climbed the rocks to look around and then took pictures. Only after coming back down did we notice the sign that read "No rock climbing." Oops. We honestly didn't see that one. And there was another tourist who was taking pictures before we climbed the rocks so we assumed it was okay. :(

Ancient trees.

The ruins were so ancient, trees have started to grow around them. Actually, you can tell how ancient these infrastructures are just by looking at the size of these trees enveloping them. Such a wonderful and tragic thing to see.

When the beating of your heart equals the beating of the... walls.

While looking around Angkor Thom, not only were my feet aching from all that walking, but so were my hands! My knuckles especially. Karly told us that there was a special wall in one of the temples in Angkor Thom that answers back when you knock on them. Obviously, we spent the rest of the tour knocking on temple walls. Haha

We finally found it thanks to a tour group we saw that were trying it out. Here's the funny thing: YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOCK ON WALLS!! Basically, you just put your fingers together to form a dome or clench your right fist and strike it (lightly of course) on your chest, close to the heart. If you listen closely, the walls will answer you back. I forgot the exact explanation behind it but it goes something like the sound waves bounce off the walls and produce a slightly delayed echo which sounds like the walls are responding to you. If you do it continuously, it's like the beating of your heart can be heard through the walls. Pretty cool.

One last look at the temple.

We then explored the rest of the temples before finally going back to our van and get rehydrated. By the way, our van rental came with a complimentary cooler full of ice cold bottled water!

We survived!

We're only here in Cambodia for a day and yay, we survived! It's been a long and hot day but it was worth it. We all just wanted to relax a bit so we decided to put off souvenir-shopping until after dinner. For now, it's time to look for the infamous happy pizza! I know there have been actions by the Cambodian government to regulate or even shut down pizza parlors that serve happy pizza but the streets of Siem Reap are still full of pizza parlors whose names range from Happy Pizza to Ecstatic Pizza (which we chose haha).

Where were you while we were getting... happy?

So what makes happy pizza happy or different from other pizza? It has a layer of happy herbs (weed, Marijuana, Mary Jane, whatever you want to call it) sprinkled beneath a layer of mozzarella cheese. You can even choose the level of happy-ness you want - from Mildly Happy to Extremely Happy! We settled for the Mildly Happy level since we just wanted to try it out to see what the hype is all about. We didn't even tell Dad about it. He just thought the name Happy Pizza was silly. Haha [He knows about it now but we just laugh the experience off thus the term Happy Mopia was born.]

Our poor dust-covered sunburned feet.

We went back to our room to eat our merienda (around 4:30 PM) which turned out to be dinner as well. The pizza didn't taste entirely different but you know there's something in it. We didn't get happy right away. All I know was we were watching TV when I felt extremely sleepy. I figured I was just tired from the tour. But then Nee-chan woke me up so we can go souvenir-shopping. I know I stood up but then I found myself walking towards the other side of the bed and then laid down. Apparently, getting extremely sleepy was the effect that happy herb has on me. I wasn't the only one though. Gwenn and Sha were knocked out too. Nee-chan, Daddy and Karly gave up on us and just went souvenir-shopping by themselves. Never have they had more difficulty in computing which souvenir was cheaper than that night. Haha

I may be happy but I was aware of everything that's happening. I spent the rest of the night going from bed to bed sleeping. HAHAHA In hopes of waking myself up, I took a shower but kept the door slightly open in case I collapse or something. I didn't though. But yeah, I just slept through the night while Nee-chan's vision turned everything cartoon-y. At one time, I got scared that we might not wake up in time for our bus ride to Bangkok at 7:00 AM tomorrow so I googled the effects of being happy but then I fell asleep. Again. :)) Aaaaand that concludes the Cambodia leg of our SEA trip. Stay tuned for the Thailand (including crossing the borders, of course) part.


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Traveling party: Gwenn, Karly (organizer), Nee-chan, Sera, and Sha
Travel date: April 9, 2012 [Day 5]
Photo credits: Karl