20.09.2008 | 吳哥悠遊(1)

班機MH762於早上11時10分飛往柬埔寨, 喺金邊短暫停留之後, 中午時分抵達目的地暹粒(Siem Reap).. 到步之後即刻入住旅店The Villa Siem Reap, 稍作小休之後, 就向旅店職員了解當地環境好去處, 於是我哋一行五人就此展開呢個為期四日嘅吳哥之旅喇..

由旅店步行10分鐘左右就可以抵達市中心, 不過人生路不熟, 行到半路竟然覺得好lost, 於是就同街邊一位篤篤車司機(其實係其中一位向我哋招攬嘅司機)講掂數, 以US$8包佢一個下晝, 接送去舊街市(Old Market)同埋去吳哥窟(Angkor Wat)附近嘅巴肯山(Bakheng Hill)睇日落..

市中心地帶以舊街市為中心, 裡頭各式各樣貨品服務應有盡有, 當地人嘅衣食文化盡入眼帘, 較令我哋呢五個大鄉里嘆為觀止嘅係疑是蛇肉嘅條狀物體(結果查證其實係魚嚟啫), 同埋一列嘅街市美髮攤位同車衣攤位, 的確係好平民好懷舊, 不過有染髮有離子燙, 都幾摩登架.. :)

喺舊街市溜踏片刻至傍晚時分, 會合司機李奇(Rithy)出發前往巴肯山睇日落.. 上巴肯山需要入門票, 包括在吳哥窟嘅入門票裡頭, 每日下午五時之後賣票, 門票係第二日生效不過可以免費睇日落, 大嗱嗱US$20通行證算係咁啦.. 由山腳步行上山大概30分鐘, 身水身汗抵達山頂一個寺廟, 原來已經擠滿等待日落嘅遊客, 真係人潮洶湧囉.. 不過當時多雲, 見唔晒成個咸蛋黃, 有點遺憾..

入夜後再返回市中心晚膳, 柬埔寨菜其實都冇咩特別, 可能受泰越文化影響, 所以夾喺中間唔特出.. 食完之後就行路去附近嘅夜市(Night Market), 呢個夜市係專售賣手工藝品嘅, 要買咩手信, 呢個地方係最適合不過喇, 但係當然要先考量自己嘅殺價能力啦.. 其實我覺得柬埔寨人真係獅子擘大口, 見你係遊客就可以喪失理智咁開天價, 當我哋遊客係傻架??

~~暹粒四日遊之第一日..
flight MH762 took off at 11:10am towards Cambodia, stopped over at Phnom Penh for an hour, and finally we were there in Siem Reap in the afternoon.. upon arrival, we we transferred to our hotel The Villa Siem Reap, after check-in and a little rest, we seeked advices from the hotel staffs about the where-about around the area, soon after that, the group of 5 set of our 4D3N Siem Reap trip from there..

it's a 10min walk from hotel to the city centre, however being new to this town, we got lost half way en route, hence we just gotta hire a tuk-tuk driver to send us to places we wished to go for the second half of the day.. we got a deal with Rithy (one of the tuk-tuk touts) with US$8 for bringing us to the Old Market as well as seeing sunset at Bakheng Hill nearby Angkor Wat..

the city center area is developed with the Old Market as heart, one can just find any goods and services he named in the market.. what made 5 of us astonished were the snake look-alike objects hanging high at the meat stalls (only to found out they were just fish in the end), the market-style beauty salon and seamstress stalls.. they are really down-to-earth and retro, but one can get hair dying and rebonding there, which somehow make the stalls kind of up to the trendy fashion beat.. :)

after spending some time in the market, we were off to Bakheng Hill with Rithy the driver.. entrance pass is required for the spot and it is included in the entrance pass for Angkor Wat.. purchasing the pass after 5pm entitles you to have the ticket effective the next day but still earn a free entry for the sunset viewing at Bakheng Hill, US$20 for a 1-day pass, well they should have this flexibility to please the patrons, agree? walking up brings you to a monestry ruin on the top of the hill and takes you a good 30 (sweaty) minutes, we arrived there and found out that the place was already flooded with tourists waiting for the sunset.. too bad it was cloudy that evening, could not see the perfect sunset though, a waste..

after sunset we went back to the city center area for dinner, frankly Cambodian food is not unique enough as her counterpart Thailand and Vietnam, perhaps assimilating both her neighbours that make the Cambodian food nothing about signature.. after dinner, we headed to the Night Market nearby, a place built up specially for selling handicrafts to tourists, the best place to get some souvenirs back if you need some, however be good in bargaining is the ultimate weapon.. i sometimes think the cambodians are a little too much, they will just set the price so heavenly as long as they know you are a tourist, but just don't forget we tourists are no dumb either..

~~ end of day 1 of 4 in Siem Reap..