Finally awake

Epic trip to an end. It took 15hrs to fly back from HK to TO. I made it back to Ang and Eric's place at 2pm and tried to stay awake. Took a nap (more like entered a coma!) for 2hrs before dinner time at mom and dad's place. Eric took a picture of me comatose.

Unpacked everything now and just have a bit to organize. Where to next now?

HK time

What a great day. Had dim sum this morning with my yee ma, yee chueng, di bui gar, 3 bui gar + family and 4 bui gar + wife. It was really nice to see everyone again. It's been almost 6 years since I've seen them last. I can't believe how big the kids are now! Time really goes by fast. Of course I forgot to take a group photo during dim sum because I was too busy eating the food. Here are a couple shots at my di bui gar's place before they all took off.

Met up Miranda and Cindy (classmates from radiation therapy program) for afternoon tea at Peninsula. The line up was so long! We didn't end up waiting because they said it would be 2 hours in line. We ended up going to the Heritage for afternoon tea. I don't think it compares to the Peninsula though. It was only alright. The savory foods were good, but the sweets were different from what I'm used to. Walked around the mall a bit and took a walk down star walkway on the harbourfront. It was great catching up with the two of them.

After meeting with my friends I went for dinner with yee ma, yee chueng, di bui gar and 2 bui gar +family. It was awesome to chat with them and get to know them better. Really cool that I was able to meet up with all my bui gars today =)

Anyways, I'll have to get up early to catch my flight back to TO tomorrow. Time to sleep now.

Relaxing day in Siem Reap

Nice day today. Ended up having breakfast (free), lunch and dinner in the hotel restaurant. They actually make pretty tasty food. The Cambodian dishes have lots of flavor. I spent part of the morning re-packing my bags today to try to get more room in them. Then we walked out to the old market. It's where they sell lots of souvenirs, food and clothing. Ended up buying a book, lime leaf tea, jackfruit chips and dried galangal. Galangal is a very spicy ginger that we used in Thailand to cook tom yum soup. I'm going to try making thai food when I get back.

Tomorrow we leave for Phnom Penh. It's a 5 hour minibus ride and we leave our hotel at 8:20am. So at least we have time for a nice breakfast here before heading out. I'm thinking when we get to Phnom Penh I won't want to be dragging all my luggage around so we might hail a tuk tuk and head straight to the airport. My flight to Hong Kong is at 7pm. Can't wait to see yee ma, yee chueng and di bui gar.

I'm going to be spending one day in HK. I plan to meet up with 2 of my old radiation therapy classmates for high tea at Peninsula and some shopping (there's still room in my bag so I can still fit more stuff). Hopefully, dim sum and dinner with yee ma, yee chueng and bui gar too. Then I head back home on Sunday. Excited to come home. Miss you Ang and also miss the kids and everyone else =P

Bugs!!

The bugs here are enormous. So different from what we normally see. So colourful! The first picture's a bit harder to see. It's a black bug with red spots on it. Susan kept calling it a ladybug but it's way bigger than a ladybug (at least twice the size).


Here's another one we saw. It's even bigger and it's turquoise and shiny! It was at least 3cms long!


The last bug we saw was awesome! It's about the same size as the turquoise one but look it killed a huge spider and it's dragging it away. The bug's actually a shimmering gold colour, but the camera makes it look brown. We watched it drag the dead spider from the floor up the stone walls. Pretty crazy! I think it was finding a good spot to relax and eat.

All templed out

I woke up at 4:30am today to go see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Our hotel was nice enough to pack us breakfast to go so that we could eat it at the temples. So we hired a tuk tuk driver for the day. He showed up at our hotel at 5:00am to pick us up. He drives us to the temples we want to see and waits at pre-arranged spot so that he's there when we finish seeing the temples.

Susan and I on the tuk tuk.


The sunrise at Angkor Wat was beautiful. We found a spot to sit and watch the sunrise while we ate breakfast. The moon was still visible behind us while the sky was turning pink from the rising sun in front of us.


Took a stroll through the Angkor Wat ruins:


Next we saw Ankor Thom
There was the Bayon:


Baphuon:




Phimeanakas:


Terrace of the Leper King:


Terrace of the Elephants: We didn't even know we were here (it's one of the places I wanted to see). I thought the elephants looked like people peering over the wall with their bums facing me, but then I was wait what are those 2 things sticking out on the sides? Finally realized they were elephants.


Then we went to Preah Khan and hiked through the jungle area to see a old buddist monastary.


Next we saw Thommanom and Ta Nei.



There are a lot of kids trying to sell stuff to us when we're at these places. And this little Cambodian girl was playing on the stones.


Next we went to Ta Keo.


This one was pretty awesome. Look at how steep those stairs were and so narrow! Crazy! But we made it to the top and back down (the harder part).


Saw Chau Say Thevada and then went to Ta Prohm.



After Ta Prohm we saw Pre Rup which had awesome views of the Cambodian countryside.




Next we went to Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang. Then to Prasat Kravan. After these temples we went back to our hotel for an hour and a half to shower and rest a bit before heading out at 4:30pm to see the sunset from the top of the temple Phnom Bakheng.


The day ended at 6:30pm at our hotel. Paid the tuk tuk driver for bringing us around for the day and had some hotel food. It was actually really good. Tomorrow will be a day to relax. Can't wait to sleep in a bit.

Need sleep

So I couldn't sleep earlier though I'm super tired. Will have to try to get to sleep soon. We have another early day tomorrow. Going to wake up at 4:30am to get to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise. I'm quite looking forward to it. We've hired a tuk tuk for the entire day tomorrow to bring us around different temples. I'm still can't believe my epic trip is coming so close to it's end. Though I'm really looking forward to seeing family and friends again =) Miss you guys!

So all we did for the rest of the day was find a place to eat. Had a Cambodian dish which was a coconut steamed fish with rice and morning glory (vege). It tasted really good. I really liked it. Then we went for a foot massage. Not as good as the massages in Thailand. Though I will still have to try a Khmer traditional massage before I leave.

Bye bye Lebua

So we left our hotel in Bangkok early this morning. I miss it already. It's the best hotel I've ever stayed in.

I'm in Siem Reap, Cambodia now. What a long, long journey to get here. First it was a 4hr minibus ride, then we transferred to another minibus, then we walked 500m to the cambodian border (with my 2 super heavy bags), then a shuttle bus to take a 2hr taxi ride and from the taxi we transferred to a tuk tuk. I'm not sure why we changed over so many times, but I'm glad to finally be in the hotel. It's pretty good here. It's clean and the people are really friendly. It's definitely not Lebua at State Tower, but it's pretty awesome for $9/person/night. Just going to rest for the remainder of the day. Maybe go to the market or get a massage in our hotel.

Only 5 more days and I'll be home! Where has the time gone?!