15-18.01.2009
Small family trip to Siem Reap. Guess everyone's knowledge on Geography and History has gone a little rusty, so here I shall present a little background about Kampuchea(called by the French) or Cambodia(by the English) or "Jian Bu Zhai"(by the Chinese).
Its capital city is Phnom Penh. Remember Tonle Sap? Yeah, the biggest lake in SEA, located at Cambodia. Actually in Khmer(Cambodian language), Tonle means lake, so to those PMR markers, if the student accidentally missed out Tonle, just spare them all right, because to have Tonle Sap Lake would only mean Lake Sap Lake, no apparent meaning. Remember Sungai Mekong? Yeah, it goes across it. Remember where Candi Borobudur is located? Nope, not at Cambodia, it's at Indonesia, haha. Angkor Wat is located at Cambodia, one of the finalists of the Wonders of the World.
From Malaysia to Cambodia, it takes roughly 2 hours. Time at Cambodia is GMT +7, meaning slower by one hour from Malaysian time. Cambodians are mostly Buddhist, speak Khmer language. Most of them can speak English, it's like their second language. Currency... you can have some Riel, not really encouraged to get them unless you can finish using them at the end of the trip. They are happy with USD(which has more value). If they happen to sell you things in Riel, and you got mixed up with its currency, to make it easier, just divide by 1000, then it will be the price in Ringgit Malaysia.
They are really friendly people there, so just built some rapport, then bargain(but of course not bargain till they can't really earn nuts from it). Normally, you shouldn't get things from the first stall, as that is the place where they set real sky high. What to get there? Scarves, wooden/ marble carvings, T-shirts on Cambodia, and lots of rubies, amethysts, sapphires, topaz, aquamarine etc. Remember while buying gem stones, it is crucial to ask them to test whether it is genuine. A trivia on gem stones: genuine gem stones if got heated up by high temperature (above 1000 Celsius), it will not melt, will not change colour nor shape. After letting it cool for a moment, it will look just as before. Yet of course, you wouldn't want the salesperson to burn one by one so that you know that it's authentic, so just ask them to test it using a diamond detector will do. Warning: Even proper jewellery stall has artificial gem stones, so beware.
All right, more on my trips now... We went for 4 days 3 nights. Started of with a visit to Tonle Sap!!! During the journey from our hotels to Tonle Sap, we saw an egg vendor beside our van, so asked him to stop so we can get some eggs.
It's flavoured eggs!!! Pepper flavour, guess it's a new recipe for us Malaysians. They crack a small hole, pour out the egg, separate the yolk with the egg white, mix the egg with pepper and probably with some other ingredients which I'm not sure, then pour it back into the shell and cook it. Taste delicious... Total awesomeness!
Below the eggs, the cage look alike thing is actually a heater. Saw some green or yellow thing oozing out from the eggs? Green means it only has egg white with the ingredients, yellow means there's additional yolk in it.
On our way to Tonle Sap, the houses all look like this. The higher it is from the ground the better, as they have yet to have good drainage system, it is common there to have flash flood.
For this, they don't have foundation beneath, it's floating on the water itself, which is why the area is also called the floating market.
Awhile later stopped at a (floating) souvenir shop. They rare crocodiles, for skin, food etc.
Only fed once a week with fresh water fish. Claimed to have better quality skin and meat if fed this way, instead of feeding with chicken. Trivia: Crocodile has no tongue.
One thing about people at Cambodia, most people still use logs or charcoal to cook their meals.
Seen this before? They are Vietnamese,who are also leaving on the water, were asked by their parents to sit in a tub and row their way to beg for money. Kinda pain sight to see.
We went back for lunch. Famous food would be Amok, which means steam. There's chicken amok, beef, fish, coconut. Coconut amok would not mean they cook with coconut flesh or dry coconut, they put the dish into the coconut and steam it together.
Family pic at the stairs, nicely decorated. Clearly I'm the cameraman =]
Coming up: Cultural performance and the remaining days at Siem Reap!
p/s: Skipping HK trip and life at Utar at the moment, due to high demand!