8am

leaving at 7.30 am after our breakfast from the Red Piano Restaurant, we reached Srah Srang by remorque-motor at about 8am. being one of the first tourists to reach the site, we had the luxury of strolling around and taking pictures along the way without other tourists blocking our view. Srah Srang is a small baray opposite the east entrance of Banetay Kdei. decorated with naga balustrades and guardian lions, it is a very picturesque quiet spot, perfect for a quiet rest by the lake. we took quite a few pictures over here since the hordes of tourists weren't here yet and the sun hasn't gotten all warm and sticky on us. once away from the baray and next to the stalls beside, the locals once again chases after you to get some of their stuff, with one of the teens cheekily calling,"sir! come back! can i love you?"

noon
it wasn't after much haggling before we decided to take the boat trip through Siem Reap River. the people in charge were quite insistant on their $20 price at first, saying it's a government agency with fixed prices and that we were going to have one whole boat to ourselves. it was only after we threatened to leave that we were given the price of $14. we further bargained it down to $12 each, $2 above our original budget and the people grudgingly complied. so much for government agency fixed price! i hate being ripped off. if they really needed $20 for the whole trip, i would have given it. but the thing is, the price was jacked up seeing that we are tourists. before we left for the dock we saw 4 caucasians leaving instead of taking up the offer. i presume they were given a much higher price than us.

2pm
going through the river was quite a different experience from the past few days. we were guided to our motor boat and before we even realised what was going on, we were cruising leisurely along the river. along the sides there were all these boat houses with people living offshore. there's even a school for the kids above water, with students playing soccer and sorts. people paddled on small sampans beside us, trying to sell us fruits and baskets, self woven and self grown. halfway through, we were even "hijacked" by a sampan which went right beside us. a little girl on the sampan just jumped right up to our boat and, carrying a small basket of canned drinks, proceeded to sell them to us. she was a very very beautiful girl of maybe 7 and i wonder, how many such girls are still around leading such tough lives? we went up a souvenier/cafe boat where we shopped around a little but came back with nothing.

7.15am

meeting our driver at 7am, we arrived at the Angkor Archaeological Park ticket office about 15minutes later. the ladies working there were all smiles and told us all about the 1day, 3days and 1week passes as if they were asking for us to sign up for credit cards. i do not understand why there were like 5 ladies attending to one customer but anyway all of them were very friendly. after we opted for the 1week pass, we started to hand our pictures over as every source had told us about but the ladies simply said "no need photo." they proceeded to take our $60 and told us to look at the same weird looking round camera sticking out of the table as the customs had in the airport. suddenly, one of the ladies exclaimed to me from my left, "SAY CHEEE-EE".. and that was it, it's done. we waited about 5minutes before we could colelct our passes. i looked weird in the picture, with a smile resembling a smirk. i couldn't help but burst into peals of laughter after taking that photo.

Words can not describe Angkor...

11am
we finally reached kbal spean with a heavy heart, but we wouldn't let it ruin the trip. we had to hike a long way up, about 45 minutes up the hill, and this is definitely the longest and most richly rewarding mountain hike throughout the trip.(come to think of it, this is the ONLY mountain hike, since the others were all ruin hikes). right at the top was a waterfall and when we trecked a little higher up, we started seeing these sculptures/ carvings along the running stream and most importantly, what we've gone up to see, the river of a thousand lingas. it was amazing looking at all these lingas under the water, how the people have thought of carving them under the water. we were told that during monsoon season, the water was alot higher and it was even more amazing looking at the carvings all the way under the clear river. btu this was good enough, i'm contented seeing it as it is.

12pm
it took us another 25 minutes or so to go down the slope, faster this time since we were going downhill, and we chatted abit with our driver. he had asked us if we needed him to come along for the hike and we asked if he wanted to, to which he agreed to join us. i'm so glad he did, he was quite curious about us as we were about him (he always thought singapore was a part of malaysia!) and he told us how he decided to leave his village to work in town with a smattering of french/ german/ italian/ japanese/ english/ chinese. mostly consisting only of hi and goodbye. (ha!) At the bottom of the hill was a foodhouse which we ordered coconut juice from. a girl came over to sell us scarves (whom we didn't buy from, there's so many of them!) and we left with a stomach full of juice but empty from food.

12.30pm
our driver introduced us to this place for a quick lunch before our visit to Banteay Samre. the food was good and the experience actually felt quite weird to say the least. halfway through eating, this puppy came in from the back door and started scavenging for food. then came this larger dog and following it a couple of chickens. i even saw a young naked kid holding onto the collar of the dog, hitting it playfully while they walked across the road together. the whole place felt so much like a farm that we ended up sitting there for an hour looking at the puppy and the people there.

1.30pm
before entering the temple, about 6 girls happily skipped towards us, asking us to buy things from them. this happens at almost every temple, but here, it's different. it's funny because, they look totally happy. we were later told that it was their school holiday that day, and they were using the time to sell items to make some extra cash to buy books. about 6 of them surrounded me, and they introduced themselves, asking me to buy some things from them, be it scarves or silver figures or paper fishes. they looked like they were having fun, jostling with each other and running about. i managed to make 2 of them agree fro a picture if i bought something from them. funny thing was, they tried to sneak away playfully but when i saw them they just froze and smiled! before we left the place, i saw all of them running about across the road laughing, and there was a sense of peace. this is how life should be like. i will never forget those girls.

1.30pm
banteay samre looked pretty much like a quiet Angkor Wat, and i quite liked the feel of it. constructed around the same time as angkor wat, it has the same distinct carvings and architecture as it, albeit quieter and less touristy. throughout our hour or so there we only saw two tourists other than us. that was how quiet the whole place was. the kids selling souveniers aren't allowed into the place so we were pretty much left to ourselves to take pictures and take in the surroundings. not as breathtaking as angkor wat though, the banteay samre to me felt more like an angkor wat site b, or something of that sort. but i liked the fact that it stayed quiet all the way throughout the visit and we weren't disturbed one bit by anyone around us.

4pm
on the way back to the guesthouse we decided to visit the mine museum which we had heard so much about. it was kind of impromptu but along the way. paying USD$1, we were treated with a wide range of defused mines and ordinance. there, posters and banners on the harmful effects and history of mines were put up to educate on the effects of landmines. in the front yard is a small mock up of unexploded ordinance (defused in the set up) left lying about which one should report to the authority if he sees them. set up and created by Akira, this exhibition aims to teach and inform the people about defusing landmine and bombs left over from the past. very educational and depressing at the same time, it left quite an impact on the effects of using landmines. we stayed around for an hour or so before leaving again for the guesthouse. the thought that it's the last day today is certainly very depressing.

7pm
after coming back from the mine museum we were walking around aching for a massage when we came across the Blue 7. Opting for a 30 minute foot message after looking through the flyer that was handed out (almost every 20 steps will bring you to a massage parlour and you would most probably have collected more than 5 on your way back to the hotel), we were led into the hallway filled with a dozen armchairs where we were instructed to take a seat. two ladies came and gave our feet a brief cleaning before exerting their strengh on our feet. i would say the massage was quite acceptable and not as painful as we had feared it to be. my friend though, thought it was pretty ticklish and that not enough force was exerted. at USD$3 it was value for money and worth the visit. furthermore, it was recently mentioned in the weekend australian, so there's really no harm in giving it a try.

8pm
on our last night in siem reap, we decided to eat something we didn't dare to for fear we would get a stomachache the next day. the food stalls next to The Touch. at USD$1 0r 4000r per plate, we got to have one of the most wonderful meals in siem reap, the closest you can get to what cambodians eat without getting a stomachache with your delicate stomaches. hygiene queries aside, the stalls were almost full of tourists that day, all out for a quick and cheap meal and a mug of angkor beer. i ordered a mama instant noodle with vege, topped with a mug of angkor beer, which pretty much tasted like tiger beer come to think of it. how i was surprised by the incredible amount of vegetables that was cooked with the instant noodles. sheer delight that you can't get from USD$4 per plate restaurants. this has to be one of the best meals i've had in the whole trip.

5pm
after the river ride, we were asked for tips and were guided back to shore. we passed all our loose change over and, i believe it was either too little or it wasn't in US dollars, his face kind of darkened and he didn't smile as much anymore. but being on a budget, we couldn't really give that much, considering we haven't even paid for our guesthouse. we were leaving on the remorque-motor when this kid ran up to us, carrying plates with our pictures stuck to them as souvenirs. wow! they must have taken our photos before we left for the boat trip! the things people think of. we kindly said no and the kid just walked off with a smile, tearing our pictures out and taking another 2 pictures out of his pockets. he was trying to sell it to us for $10 each. it must have cost them less than a dollar, and as much as i would like to help the kid, i'm quite skeptical on whether even 1/10th of the money will go to the boy. anyway, off to phnom krom.

6pm
walking up phnom krom took us almost 30 minutes. it was reaching sunset and we wanted to catch a good one on top of the hill. it was funny that halfway through, we were getting into a shelter to take some photos of the view when two aussies who were leaving told us 'you turn' with a smile. seems like the whole place's becoming so touristic that you meet tourists almost everywhere on this trip, and i mean it, everywhere. tour groups with hordes of people, it's scary when you see some of them touch and rub against the carvings. it's like they don't mean a thing. on the top of the hill were these three towers dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, which were all in pretty bad condition. there the sunset we were so hoping to get disappeared behind the dark looming clouds but still, we were richly awarded with the very spectacular view of the tonle sap lake. it was breathtaking, and i was so glad i took the trip up.