Backpacking to Cambodia_Part II - Place of Interest

Mission this time: Cambodia (25th - 31st July 2007)
Phnom Penh - Seam Reap - Sihanoukville (South of Cambodia)

- Phnom Penh -
Chris, Shuh Min and I had arrived Phnom Penh International Airport slightly earlier. I'm glad that AirAsia doing great job this time. Here, you don't really need to worry on the safety issue. It's quite safe. And, the only thing required in here is ... US Dollar. I guess this place also known as "liquor heaven". Beer, wine, cigarette, ... are very cheap over here. Can you imagine a can of Asahi cost only USD0.45. Wow!! Happy :D


US Dollar ... Can you guess the total amount of this stack of cash?


It's no longer in the market between Coke or Pepsi here. It's all about Beer ...


I personally don't really enjoy the life in Phnom Penh compare with Seam Reap & Sihanoukville because this place is too crowded and it's full of busy night life. Due to tight schedule, i only manage to overnight 1 day before travelled north to Seam Reap.


PP Independent Monument located right in the middle of the city


Phnom Penh Independent Monument


- Seam Reap, Tonle Sap Lake -
Tonle Sap Lake is the largest Fresh water lake in South East Asia. After 4.5 hours bus travelling to Seam Reap, we managed to get ourself tour guide which can speak fluent in Chinese with quite reasonable rate. After discussed with the guide on our planned itinerary, my friends and I decided to visit Tonle Sap Lake for our very first Sunset in Cambodia. This place is very special. You can see Cambodians' floating house are sitting on the left side of the lake; and, Vietnamese are on the right.


Floating house in Tonle Sap Lake


Place to buy souvenir, coconut drink and also enjoy sunset on Tonle Sap Lake


On our way back after sunset - picture of Chris and Tour guide


Sunset in Tonle Sap Lake


- Angkor Wat Temple, Seam Reap -
Whiu ... Finally, I arrived Angkor Wat - one of the world heritage of 2007 World 7 Wonders.
The view in Angkor Wat temple was magnificient. Can't believe i spent almost 2.5 hours in this building. It was so HUGE! Enjoy the photo below i took with my babe. :D


Angkor Wat Temple Reflection from the lake


Carving on the wall is so deep and clear.



Corridor that full of Wall Carving, it's magnificient!


Stone Carving on the window


I wonder how much time they spent for this carving? It's so details


Chris, Shuh Min and me on the top floor of Angkor Wat Temple


Cambodian praying moment in Angkor Wat Temple


- Ta Promh Temple, Seam Reap -
This is another famous temple after Angkor Wat. One of the scene for movie "Tomb Raider: The cradle of life" was took also taken from Ta Promh Temple. Ta Promh is an unforgettable temple due to its massive tree spread around the temple. Some of it was growth on top on the building itself.


I still looks very short even i step on the root of this tree ... It's really Massive!


The beauty between man-made and mother of nature's creation.


Young lady, Old tree and Beautiful ruins in Ta Promh.


The tree of life - Tomb Raider


Part of stone carving in the ruins.


- Bayon temple, Seam Reap -
Bayon temple is located inside Angkor Thom - a mighty Khmer empire City dated back to the 12th century. Bayon is very unique due to the design and layout of the temple. No wall surrounded the terrain, and the style is more to buddhist. There will be 4 face sitted on top of every tower in Bayon. I loved Bayon so much!


Local little Cambodian boy resting in Bayon.


Face carved in Bayon temple.



Bayon Temple


Buddha statue sitted in front of Bayon Temple main entrance.

"Same same, but different", this slogan is very popular in Cambodia. Wherever you go, you will hear it, especially when you are bargain price with local Cambodian. Haha! I asked them on the meaning of this sentence and the source of this slogan. But, no one knows about it. Well, who cares?? Same same, but different, right? Hahah ...

Backpacking in Cambodia is very adventurous because you won't know when you wil step on a mine. Well, afterall, I'm back alive. LOL! :D

CShotz --<<@>>-- 16 Sept 07 --<<@>>-- CShotz

Backpacking to Cambodia_Part I - Local Cuisine

Wow, I just can't wait to share with you on some of nice, but weird, Cambodia Cuisine. Majority of their food is good, fantastic and yummy, but some times you will shout "Eeee......".


1. French Bread with Minced Port cooked with coconut sauce & Vietnam Coffee
Comment: Oh gosh...Just can't wait to take another bit. So far, this is the best breakfast i ever had.





2. BBQ Snake ...
Comment: Eee.... Taste salty and Snakey. I only manage to take a bit. That's it!




3. Pork Noodle with Vietnam Coffee
Comment: Almost similar taste with MY style Pork noodle ... Not bad.






4. Amok Fish (Coconut curry with fish meat)
Comment: Amok is a famous local cuisine in Cambodia. They cooked it with coconut, peanut, some local spice, ... It served with pork meat also. But i prefer fish since i have "Luc-Lac" already.




5. Fish Omelet, Cold vegetable, Luc-Lac, Steamed Shrimp
Comment: I love the fresh cold vegetable (green crunchy tomatoes & cucumber) which served together with the Omelet. There was fish meat inside the omelete. Can't you imagine, my friend and I finished the whole plate of shrimp. Hehe! :D




6. Luc-Lac (Local style Fried Beef)
Comment: Besides Amok, this is another dish recommended by Xx. I think this is a must try dish because she seldom giving good comment on Beef related dish. "This one ... Ho Jiak" I shouted to my friends. The waitress teached us to eat it with the spicy salt (2nd small plate in front of the rice). It tastes even fantastic!



I personally really impressed with their cooking style, they can make a simple thing into an unpredictable, unexpected taste ... :D I heard that I can get nicer food in Vietnam. I'm looking forward on my next trip to Vietnam...

CShotz --<<@>>-- 12 Sep 07 --<<@>>-- CShotz

Poor Doggie ...

Recently i heard that there was a weird competition in some country called "Stray Dog Catching contest", which organized by government department. The only condition stated is for them to bring the dog back alive. But it doesn't say in what condition. Let's put it in another word, they are indirectly encourage would-be dog cathers to physically harm the dogs prior to taking them to the council. That's INHUMAN!!

I'm a dog lover, and i understand that dog has feeling, just like what we had. Picture below shows everything!! Sop...sop... poor doggie.

Please love your dog, and do not torture them ...
Some times, Understand their feeling, care for them ...
They know you are treating them good,
They know you are the one who bath them always,
They know you are the one they need to protect,
They do know ...

CShotz --<<@>>-- 12 Sep 07 --<<@>>-- CShotz

My story continued ...

It has been a while i didn't make any posting here since last day of December 2006. Some times, i'm quite lazy to write, i prefer to share photo instead of write. In the first half of 2007, there's plenty of new thing i experienced. Wow!!

• >> Mar07 : Bought New DSLR Camera - Canon 400D
• >> Apr07 : My 1st Business trip to Taiwan
• >> May07 : Climb up Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah (4000m+)
• >> Jun07 : Business trip to Taiwan again
• >> Jul07 : Backpacking to Seam Reap, Cambodia for 10 days
• >> Aug07 : ..Biggest achievement in my life with Xx
• >> Sept07: Yeah, Xx and I travel to Taiwan!!
  

I'm glad with what i had achieve so far. Guess what, my camera has become a part of my life. Soon, i will post some nice photos i snapped during my travel. Wherever i go, i will bring it and show you what i saw....what i feel. =D

CShotz --<<@>>-- 11 Sep 07 --<<@>>-- CShotz

Movie to share in the end of 2006 .. Sinking of Japan

Sinking Of Japan " Nippon Chinbotsu "











I get a chance to watch this movie before it was officially shown in cinema. Actually i should say, "read" the movie instead of using "watch" as i don't understand Japanese language much. Anyhow, i still enjoy it. At first, i don't expecting much on this movie. Well, i was wrong.

This movie's storyline is getting from a famous novel by Sakyo Komatsu in year 1973. I was impressed with his imagination. He imagined that Japan will be literally sinked result from the collision of 2 tectonic plates causes the one supporting archipelago pulling down to earth. Due to that, Japan will face Volcano, Earthquake, Tsunami (Tidal Wave), Landslide, and other disaster.

I'm glad and happy with the quality of the movie. It gave me a totally different feel compare with Hollywood's movie. US produced disaster movie - more on emphasizing hero / heroin, love story, stunt and action. On the other hand, this movie - more on the caused of disaster and lesser love story.

The best thing about this movie is, i get a step closer to know about Japan's geography e.g. Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagoya and Hokkaido. And, this is the first time i watched Japanese Movie and my girl friend didn't fall asleep. Haha...

I learned that you will never know what will happenned to you and yours tomorrow. Until it arrive, it will be too late for you to do what you have not done. So, just do what you wished to do now, or share your happiness to others once you have a chance to do so. It will make your life better and you will not regret if the day is arrived.

Last but not least, i think this is the best movie in this last month and last day of year 2006. Hope you will enjoy this movie very much like me too.

CShotz --<<@>>-- 31 Dec 06 --<<@>>-- CShotz

Back to Jungle ... Serendah

Sekeping Serendah Retreat ... A place to free yourself from the rapid lifestyle in city and to clear your mind. I'm doubt that you will ask "Anything special there?". Can you imagine that you are shower in open-air style toilet, surrounded by trees, insects, closer to the natural environment? This is the place i'm looking for and i would like to thanks to my girl friend for introducing this wonderful place to me.

Due to "Deeparaya" celebration in Malaysia, it took me almost 3 hours to reach here due to traffic in north-south highway terribily jam. In fact, if travel from Kuala Lumpur, i think it can be shorten to 30-40 minutes. To reach here, i would need to passby Malay residencial area and it will lead you to 2 Orang Asli villages then Voala....i'm here!

^ Path to my sheds & pool...


^ Shed that surrounded by tree


^ Mud Shed ... smaller room which can fit up to 4 person


^ Glass Shed


There are 2 types of sheds : Glass Shed & Mud Shed. I chose Glass Shed as it looks a lot more nicer and highly recommended if you are going in group. The first and only reaction i reached the shed is "wow...Wow...WOW..." What a great design !! I didn't know that there are such wonderful & beautiful open-air shed. It looks like a transperant container within a jungle and you can see almost everything outside the shed, on the other word, there is nothing can be hide. The trees is watching you...always.



^ Place to BBQ


^ Kitchen ... Place to do show your cooking skill


^ It's bed time ..............................


^ Nothing can be hide, including bathroom


Another attraction in Sekeping is the swimming pool. This is a Chlorine-Free pool where the water was directed from waterfall and it was flow into this pool after filtered by the basic pool filtering mechanism. I just can't wait to jump into this pool again. I tried it early in the morning, the water isn't cool and it was very clean and green. I can even heard the nature ochestra played by insects with their very special "instrument". Perhaps, this can be describe as the pool of heaven.

Although There are not much activities around this area but i still enjoy here. And i think this is a good place for me to slow down my step and pay more attention with the things surrounded. I can even notice the tiny ant under my feet. Wow...what a good observation i have !!



^ Path to heaven ............................


^ Yeah, Chlorine-free swimming pool


^ Clean, cold waterfall nearby


Ding, ding, ding ... It's dinner time!! Start the fire, prepare all raw foods and let's burn. Well, my friends and i had brought satay chicken, lamb, marinated chicken wings, marinated prawn, frankfurther (hotdog), Fishball, Prawn ball, sweet patatoes, garlic bread, sweet corns, Otak-Otak ...

^ Food, Food, FOOD ..........

^ Hungry? Grab one.

I'm very much enjoy this trip as it make me feel very peaceful. This is a place where I will come again eventhough it is not that cheap. Hope, in near future, i have another chance to come back to this heaven again.

CShotz --<<@>>-- 21 Oct 06 --<<@>>-- CShotz

Middle Eastern Cruisine : Al-Diafah Restoran

Never thought that I can find such six star and unique middle eastern restoran in Sri Petaling, named - Al-Diafah Restoran.

This place is enormous. At the entrance, you can find a lot of huge mirrors on the wall and imported pot & cups in the cabinet along the ladder while walked up to the 1st floor. It was a raining days out there but the restoran itself is quite warm. May be i'm too hungry ... It's time to hunt for some food.

As we sat down, the waiters are getting busy to serve us with weird taste Arabic coffee. It taste like water mixed with minyak angin cap kapak plus a bit bitter. They serve it with sweet dates too. Well, never try never know.

Al Diafah's menu is very user friendly as there are a lot of sample photos of each item in menu i.e. Mendy Chicken Al Diafah Rice, Mendy Lamb Al Diafah Rice, Mandy Chicken Mendy Rice, Al Diafah Salad, Falafel, Tomato cuttle fish soup, etc. I'd ordered BBQ Chicken Al Diafah Rice together with my favourite Tomato cuttle fish soup.

Basically, there are 2 kind of rice served with lamb or chicken : Mendy Rice and Al-Diafah Rice. Al-Diafah rice is kind of yellowish oil rice which is cooked with carrot and raisin and fried onion as topping. Mendy rice, on the other hand, is taste like smoke rice and the colour is whiter. Hah!

But i would say the Falafel is a very special dish which i still don't know the proper way to enjoy this cruisine. This dish is serves with 3 bread (like Roti Nan), french fries, brown cookie-looks-a-like dish and with it's sauce. A bit weird huh ... cookies and bread together. hahah!!

Wonder any special dessert there? No worries. Danny, friend of mine, ordered cream of caramel with 4 slices of green apple as topping. The taste of the caramel is sweet and smooth texture together with sour crispy green apple's slice. Taste funny !! But that's make it special.

I wonder why they didn't serve the lamb and chicken rice with vegetables. Due to the dish itself is very dry, i would suggest them to serve the rice with some vegetables to balance it up. Haha ... may be that's the way how middle east people served.

Hmm .... Overall, I think this is the best arabic restoran around PJ area (may be KL) as u can't find any better middle eastern restoran with these special dish ... especially the lamb.

Adios.

CShotz --<<@>>-- 26 Oct 06 --<<@>>-- CShotz