THE DATE: April 27, 2012
THE TRIP
08:00-08:30 Day 2 of our temple tour and last day in Cambodia. Since yesterday’s tour was abruptly shortened due to my camera’s untimely but temporary death, I made sure that my battery is full and my camera’s memory is empty so we can capture every moment of another fun-filled day in store for us… and a free breakfast is a great way to start our day.
08:30-12:30 Our tuktuk driver was already at the guesthouse and brought us to our first temple. Like all other temples we saw yesterday, except Bayon temple, I forgot the name of most of the temples we saw today.
12:30-14:00 For lunch, our driver brought us to one of the stalls in front of one of the temples. I thought he’s going to bring us to the same restaurant, so I was expecting another expensive meal. The food stall was in the row with other stalls and near the souvenirs/clothes stalls. This time, our driver joined us for lunch and we had a good conversation. Come to think of it, this is the only time we talked to a local. Even in Vietnam, we didn’t get to have a conversation with a local, aside from the usual haggling talks.
14:00-16:00 The next stop is the Angkor Wat Temple. Each wall on the first level has an embossed sculpture of their history. Since we didn’t have a tour guide, I can’t really tell what happened. But for those like us, there’s a brief introduction of what to expect at the beginning of each hallway. We were supposed to go to the second level but I was not allowed because I’m wearing shorts. Divimom opted not to go alone so we hung out at one of the food stalls inside the temple complex. We drank coconut juice at a haggled price of $0.50 each.
16:00-19:00 For our last stop, we went to a mountain, on top of which is a temple where we can view the sunset. There are two options to go to the top. If you’re willing to spend USD $20, you can ride an elephant to go up. If you want to experience hiking a mountain of the temple complex, you may follow the path to the top by walking. I offered Divimom the elephant ride but she said she preferred walking. Well, it IS the cheaper healthier choice 😉
For some reason, after a scorching hot afternoon, the clouds suddenly decided to appear. So Divimom and I, together with more than a hundred tourists, waited.. and waited.. and waited..
..and waited..
..and waited until the temple ‘security’ told us to go down. It was not the sunset any of us expected but at least Divimom had many jump shots at the top.
THE EXPENSES
For consistency’s sake, 1 USD is 4,000 KHR and 1 USD is 43 PHP.
*We availed the 66USD package of Bou Savy Guesthouse. For purposes of computation of expenses, I divided 66 USD into: 12 USD per night for three nights and 15 USD per day tour for two days. I treated the breakfasts and one-time dinner as freebies.