Okay now don't tell me you don't know Cambodia. Don't even tell me you don't know what Cambodia is. This country has been mentioned in Hollywood movies a couple of times. First, in the "Men In Black" where Agent Jay was about to de-memorise a couple from whom Agent Jay and Kay retrieved an old video. He said, "Ok. First, get some contact lenses, cause those joints look like they could pick up cable. Second, take her to Cambodia, get her a lobster dinner. Pay more than a dollar. Third, the second y'all get back from Cambodia, move your bum ass outta your mom's house. Boy, you like forty years old." Then in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". The temple was set in Siem Reap, the same city where Angkor Wat is. You should be ashamed of yourself if you don't know where Cambodia is.

Dance performance in a restaurant

Having re-visited Siem Reap after my last visit in 2004, I found Siem Reap, Cambodia, developed so fast. As I arrived at the airport, I could see changes had been made. Back in 2004, the road at the airport was still gravel. Back then, as cars passed by, the dust could soon fill up your lungs. Now, things have changed. The road has been covered with asphalt. Another changes I noticed were the traffic. At night time, back then, the streets were pretty much quiet. But, as I have re-visited the town, they have been quite busy. More and more cars, motorbikes and tuk-tuks drove by. Many hotels and restaurants had been built. The tourist town, I guess, have been visited by more and more tourists making it a very busy and crowded town.

The tuktuk guy who took us to the old market

Besides Thailand, I found Cambodia, especially Siem Reap, to be exotic. Being close to Thailand, it takes less than an hour to get to Siem Reap from Bangkok. So, it's not so surprising that the airlines from Siem Reap to Bangkok are quite busy transporting tourists, especially from Europe. I am guessing, they may have thought, hey while we're in Thailand, why not visit Cambodia? Everything costs cheap.

By cheap, I mean very cheap. By the way, you don't need to change your bank note from US Dollar if you visit Siem Reap. Most, if not all, people here do trade with US Dollar. They do have local currency, Riel, but I never came across a store/ shop that did trade in Riel. The same applies to Laos. I seem to forget to mention this in my article about Laos. You don't need to change your US Dollar bank note.

The night market

As a consequence to that, the cheapest price you get for everything is USD 1. And you must be good at bargaining in the markets. There are a couple of places where to go if you want to buy some souvenirs: the Old Market and the Night Market. These are the places where we went to to buy some souvenirs for friends and family.

In the Night Market, the first place we voyaged to hunt down some cheap souvenirs, I managed to buy some scarf for USD 2, and a couple of wooden cat figurines for USD 5. The seller, at first, put a price of USD 4 for one cat figurine. So, you can imagine the process of bargain I had to go through for achieving that kind of price for the figurine. I guess she finally let go of the cat figurine with that kind of price because my travel buddy also bought some more fabrics from her as well.

If you happen to visit Night Market, just note that they say it opens until 12 o'clock at night. So, no need to rush to go there. Just take tuktuk, bargain at least until USD 3, and go there. To go back, there are tuktuks standing by near the Market.

The old market

If the Night Market could not satisfy your passion for more exotic stuff, you can roll to the Old Market. Contrary to the Night Market, the shops there closes at about 7 in the evening. I didn't get to buy anything here, as I was not into shopping having spent some money at the Night Market. But, the same tips apply if you go to the Old Market: take tuktuk to go there and do bargain if you want to buy things if you care so much with how much money left in your pocket.

Things you could buy for souvenirs

The travel won't be complete if you don't visit Angkor Wat, the famous temple. In the afternoon, it closes at 6 o'clock. Worry not. If you are willing to leave your comfortable bed early in the morning and willing to catch beautiful scenery of sunrise in Angkor Wat, get up very early in the morning, like, 5 a.m. and roll to Angkor Wat. Trust me, you won't be alone in that kind of dark. We left the hotel at 5 a.m., and to our surprise, there were buses and people crowding the ticket counters. For a one-day ticket, you need to spend USD 20. There are other types of ticket: three-day pass and one-week pass, each with different price. It's quite expensive, but it's worth the beautiful scenery. You don't have to wonder why Siem Reap develop so fast, considering also that I have to spend USD 22 for applying visa to stay there. But, that was okay.

Some magnificent sceneries captured at Angkor Wat

Another observation I made was the TV programmes. At the hotel I was staying, there was one channel that relayed TV station from my homecountry which I found to be quite surprising. I came to conclusion that many tourists from either my hometown, Indonesia or other neighbouring countries who speak Bahasa, like Malaysia, Brunei and to some extent, Singapore.

So, if exotic places you are looking for, then Siem Reap should be on your list of destinations. Check whether you need visa to stay there. It cost about USD 20. Don't forget to bring passport-size photos of you. If you come from countries whose GDP is high, don't be stingy with your money. This country has gone through tough situation and needs cash to develop. Help local people. Buy their exotic products. Enjoy the sceneries. Enjoy Siem Reap.

MajoSoft

Blogs

• Agus - Ujung Jariku
• Agus Syafii
• Akmal
• JombLoLiCiOus
• LRSCafe
• Mandrake, The - The Blog where this blog comes from
• MyGunadarma - MyBlog@Gunadarma
• Reti - Lady in Red
• SanKee - Sanity Keeper
• Yulie
• mitha - It's raining and i feel so cold...