Belated travelogue

Okay, so my bad completely. I forgot to update you, my loyal readers, that almost two whole months ago, I took a spectacular vacation with MJ to Siem Reap, one of Cambodia's most famous cities. For whatever reason, I was feeling weirdly superstitious to update my blog until both the Cambodia and the Singapore trip were successfully completed, so I have been procrastinating this blog entry ever since!

In any case, here is our fabulous weekend getaway:

The goodness started before we even left the country, and it was disguised in what could have ended up in minor badness. As we checked in at the Vietnam Airlines counter, we found out that our flight (tickets purchased 2 months prior) was overbooked. The best that they could offer us would be a seat on the next flight and a $50 cash voucher. Ehhhhhhhh.... not exactly what we had in mind when we were hoping to make it into Siem Reap in time for an early dinner. After arguing and wheedling and pleading to get on our original flight, we were told, "Okay- we'll see if there are seats for you in business class."

Wait- really?

Really. Free upgrade on our original flight. No complaints there!

It was only four in the afternoon, but we still received a high-class airplane meal, served on porcelain dishes with our own personal tableclothes. Look how sophisticated MJ looks!

Note the complimentary red wine. Don't mind if I do! It was particularly gratifying to look back through the segregating curtain into economy class and see them unwrapping cellophane snack-packs!

We arrived in Siem Reap to some initial reactions of "Oh my gosh, this city is fantastic!" Not particularly hungry after our plane dinner, we decided to walk around the Night Market to get a feel for the city.

The city was spectacular- totally peaceful, tourist-friendly, and much more laid-back than the hustle-and-bustle of Hanoi. Definitely a great place for a getaway. However, before we knew it we were politely accosted by a sidewalk salesman who somehow convinced us to try out one of the infamous fishy foot spas! Yes, the kind where you put your feet into a vat of water filled with hungry fish, and they nibble at your dead skin until your feet turn baby smooth.

For the price of $2, we would receive a complimentary glass of beer and the opportunity to dunk our feet for as long as we would like. Considering that MJ and I were both terrified and a bit repulsed at the idea of participating in this, the complimentary beer was definitely a necessity to calm our jangled nerves. What a deal!

About to take the big plunge!

It may have been one of the strangest sensations of my life to have fish sucking on and biting my toes.

For whatever reason, MJ's feet must have been particularly tasty because all the fish flocked to her every time she would dip her feet in!

We woke up early the next morning to begin our much-awaited tour of the famous ancient temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm.

We began at Ta Prohm which ended up being my favorite temple of the day.

I think I loved Angkor Thom so much because it reminded me of one of my favorite childhood memories of playing at the "Castle Park" in Carlisle, Massachusetts- an incredible wooden play structure modeled after a medieval castle, that was perfect for climbing and hiding in lots of nooks and crannies.

Next was Ta Prohm which I had been looking forward to the most out of all the temples. Ta Prohm was used as the set for the Tomb Raider movie, and is also famous for being taken over by climbing jungle trees. In pictures I had seen online, the temple is literally being swallowed up by trees.

To be honest, I was disappointed with Ta Prohm, which was surprising, only because I expected to be as obsessed with it as I had been when I saw pictures online. But in reality, the temple is in a state of pretty bad disrepair and is only starting to be restored now. As you can see in the third picture, the temple is littered with rock piles that are now being numbered and put back together like a giant three-dimensional puzzle. Pretty cool that we have the technology to do that, but for current visitors, it was a bit disappointing.

Hot, sweaty, and tired, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch to get out of the heat. I ordered amok, which is Cambodia's national dish, one that I could definitely get used to eating every day if I had to! It was a delicious, flavorful curry soup with leafy greens, lemongrass, coconut milk, ginger, and other intense Southeast Asian flavors. Oh my gosh, I loved it.

After lunch, it was back to the temple trail. We had saved the (ostensible) best for last and were ready to see Angkor Wat, Cambodia's prized jewel of temples.

I'd rather a guarantee, thank you very much.

Angkor Wat was beautiful and magnificent and grand, but it was much more "open" than Angkor Thom. I loved the mysterious air in Angkor Thom, how there were all these secret passageways and hidden rooms. In comparison, Angkor Wat had a lot of open courtyards and long, straight corridors which made it seem very functional and utilitarian, as opposed to the magical quality within Angkor Thom. No rights or wrongs, just preferences.

Also, I should note here that as soon as we arrived in Siem Reap, my camera had magically broken with no warning or explanation. Luckily, Vietnam and Senegal have conditioned me to not react too extremely when stuff like this happens, and I (to my credit, in my personal opinion!) remained pretty unfazed, what with my possible iPhone camera to use as backup! Thus, the sparse and somewhat grainy photos I took with my iPhone- above.

Our second full day in Siem Reap had us wandering a bit off the beaten trail for some further out temples from the standard ones surrounding Angkor Wat.

First, we visited Kbal Spean, a "temple" on top of a mountain (which we climbed to access). The temple was actually an archeological site atop a riverbed. It had been intricately carved by hermit monks who had been commissioned by the King of Cambodia in 1000 or 1100 AD! Those are some old carvings we're talking about here! The carvings were used to anoint the water that flowed over them, so there was a really cool and spiritual vibe in the air when we visited!

MJ anoints herself with holy water!

After thouroughly anointing ourselves under the blessed waterfall, we hiked back down the mountain and met our wacky tuk-tuk driver who took us to our final destination: Banteay Srei.

I think this was probably my favorite site that we visited in all of Cambodia. It was a temple that was so intricately and elaborately decorated, and built completely out of pinkish redrock- a beautiful site to behold!

Notice the elephants!!

As I mentioned, this site was spectacular. It's significantly smaller than any of the other temple complexes we visited, but I loved it for its miniature aspect.

Wow- I'm so embarrassed that this blog entry took so long (almost two months late!), but it's been on my "backlogged blog entries to-do list" for all of those two months, so I'm happy to cross one item off this to-do list!

Coming up next: the rest of Singapore, Phu Quoc, and some food-in-Hanoi posts. We'll see if I get them all completed before I leave NEXT WEEK, but that's the goal.