Greetings from Cambodia! We touched down at Siem Reap, which literally means "Siam Defeated". The name commemorates a Khmer victory over the neighboring kingdom of Thailand.
In case you are clueless where Cambodia is, it's right in the middle of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
Cambodia is the English transliteration from the French Cambodge, while Kampuchea is the direct transliteration from the Khmer.
We put up at Le Meridien Hotel at a very special discounted rate, thanks to my sis.
The place is really grand, felt like a king in there.
High ceiling, immaculate service, and most importantly - air-conditioned!
We got booked on the highest floor. Yeah!
The room was spacious, and I love the wooden flooring. There was also a window on the left side of the bed which has a view of the bathroom. Hehe.
One of the fine examples of Khmer art was placed right next to the tv set.
After resting for a bit, we went out to take a stroll around the hotel surroundings.
As Cambodia was a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953, the Khmer learnt how to make really good baguettes.
This lady was selling some shellfish, which had been baking under the hot sun for hours.
In Australia or Singapore, all seafood will have to be placed on a bed of ice.
I was not keen at all to try.
There were hardly any ground laid with cement, so when a car whizzes past, I could taste sand in my mouth.
We stopped over for a drink after walking for a while. Didn't know Cambodia brew their own beer.
Nice. It was pretty smooth and light tasting.
The local way of sanitizing cutlery.
We ordered something local to share, a noodle soup kind of dish. Tasted pretty good.
The fried garlic on top gave the soup a very nice fragrance.
We walked back to the hotel after that and our tut tut was there waiting for us.
It was our first time riding on one, and it was quite cool actually.
We were on the way to the city to do some shopping. And eating again, of course.
We noticed some riders topping up their fuel tank with Jerry cans of petrol. The most basic form of petrol kiosk that we've ever seen.
Cambodia's car are left hand drive , which is a revelation to me. The stranger thing is that there are also right hand drive cars on the road.
And a lot of them have no number plates. They are rumoured to be stolen cars from Thailand. Who know?
Fancy some roast chicken by the road side? No thanks.
We had lunch at Khmer Kitchen, a restaurant highly recommended by guide books.
I had Amok Fish, of which the curry was steamed instead of being boiled. Really tasty, man.
Eliss had Babar, rice porridge with chicken, carrots in a savoury broth.
We went back to the hotel and I wanted to go have a dip in the pool. Just look how beautiful it is!
This was the first time that I didn't cringe when I jumped into the water, as it was warm. The weather here was much warmer than Singapore, but less humid.
They grew a lot of water lilies by the side of the pool. I love the pearls of water that reflect light on the leaves.
They also folded the petals neatly, which added a lot of class to the decor.
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