Cambodia '08 Part 1

here i go again... well on the 9th of December, my family and i went on vacation... destination : Cambodia...

on the plane..

our plane was next to this one..

airplane food.... =.=

well we decided to trust Air Asia in getting us to the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh... we got delayed at KLIA for about an hour.. we arrived in Phnom Penh at about 5.10pm local time... in case you didnt know, Cambodia is an hour behind Malaysia... got stuck in traffic and it took awhile to reach this restaurant called Khmer Surin... (Khmer = Cambodian language or people) the food was pretty awesome... it was the first time i tasted the famous Cambodian dish, the AMOK Chicken... lol...

view of Cambodia from the plane..

Khmer Surin..

well there wasnt much to see outside the hotel so we had an early rest... and by the way, the hotel name was Mittapheap Hotel... complicated no?

Day 2

woke up pretty late.. not a good way to start your vacation.. had breakfast at the hotel.. the bus took us to Wat Phnom.. it the first temple in the capital city and also where the city started.. we then headed to the Imperial Palace where the King of Cambodia still resides.. the design is similar to the Royal Palace in Bangkok..

Wat Phnom..

Imperial Palace..

there was this Silver Pagoda within the palace grounds and the first thing that went through my mind was a Pagoda made of silver.... well, its not really that.. its actually a place where the King and other people worship the Emerald Buddha (again similar to Bangkok)... the floor, however, has silver tiles weighing 1kg each.. they dont allow photography inside the Pagoda but i managed to snap some under my arms..

National Artifact Museum was the next stop.. the museum displays many statues and artifacts from the Pre-Angkor, Angkor, and Post-Angkor period.. there were LOADS.. but you cant take pictures without official permission... dumb people..

museum..... and dad...

Garuda.... i call it the BirdMan...

Barisan National's secret base?

lunch was at Tonle Bassac.. its a buffet of local food... not bad but could be better.. we stopped by a souvenir shop after lunch... Pailin Souvenirs... Pailin, my favourite Amazing Race Asia contestant, isnt the owner and thank god for that... the shop sucked.. haha..

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, our next location, was one that i never want to visit again... it was a prison during the war in Cambodia and before becoming a prison, it used to be a school... the cruelty of mankind sent chills up my spine and made me thank god i live in the 21st century...

illustrations shows how children were killed....

children imprisoned during the communist regime...

after that enlightening visit, we headed to the Russian Market.. its called a Russian Market because it used to be where the Russians stay during the communist regime... shopping was obviously the thing there..


dinner sucked big time... King Suki Soup = steamboat... heck my family makes better steamboats... dumbass restaurant..

that's all for the first two days...

Day 3 updates
coming soon...