Cambodia - Siam Reap Day 1

Best thing to do when you don't have mood to revise. Blog about my summer trip! I've divided the entry for Cambodia into a few parts as we've done a good job covering so many things in a single day. This is why following tours are so effective. It is advisable to follow tour to undeveloped South East Asian countries for your own safety.

Woke up around 3.00am in the morning to make it to KL Central at 4.15am to catch the RM9 bus service to Low Cost Carrier Terminal. Finally, we took off at 8am and reached Siam Reap at 9.30am (local time - they are 1 hour earlier compared to Malaysia)

Finally, my photo with AirAsia's plane. I was told off for helping my friends to take a group photo on our previous trip to Sabah and Sarawak last time.

We met out tour guide and was sent to our hotel to check-in.

4 star hotel in Siam Reap. I have no complaints about the place. It was lovely, good service and of course, good food for buffet breakfast as well.

Our tour guide picked us up around 10am and we headed off to our first destinate: Tonle Sap Lake. It is South East Asia's largest fresh water lake. I used to hate Geography a lot and at that moment, I was thinking, I should have visited Cambodia when I was in secondary school. How easy and interesting will it make Geography then.

So, basically, a small group of population lives in boat houses. Even the schools, churches, shops were afloat. The lake's water cannot be consumed but can be used for taking a bath, washing, etc.

There was a boat turned into a crocodile and fish farm. There were also souvenirs on sale there.

View from atop the crocodile farm. Siam Reap's flag is so unique in that it has the symbol of Angkor Wat on it.

Floating sundry shop. There were smaller boats carrying groceries for sale stopping by every boat house to sell things.

There were fishing nets installed to catch fish as well. Here, the fishermen are getting the trapped fish out of the net.

Lunch was at a Chinese restaurant.

What can I say, it was a filling meal with 10 dishes and I've only shown a part of it.

Next we were told that the tour operator has arranged a complimentary full body massage for all of us. It was my first time having a full body massage and don't ever invite or give me any free vouchers for full body massages ever again.

For those who has never had a full body massage, you might want to continue reading this paragraph. First, they wash your feet with soap and water. After that, they'll ask you to change into a comfortable T-shirt and long pants. Then, the torture begins. I was practically squirming as it was really ticklish and at times, painful. The worse part was, I wanted to laugh so badly but everyone else were so quiet. All the masseurs were very skillful and professional but I'm sorry, I seriously cannot appreciate it. After an hour long of torture, you can change back into your clothes and then they'll serve you hot tea. Phew, I was glad that was over.

Next, we visited one of the memorial monuments which contained the skulls of victims brutally killed during the Poi Pot rule. There are so many of these monuments all around Cambodia to remind the present of the cruel past they had.

Very sad place

Next, we went to a Gem stone outlet. We were taught how to grade the Rubies, Sapphires, etc. It was very expensive so, I'll decide next time after I've earned enough to be able to afford them.

I thought that the pink ones looked unique but they were among the cheapest here.

Finally, we made our way to Kingdom Angkor. We had to get out photos taken to make our passes.

Took a photo of the map, just in case I get lost.

That day, we had to make our way up Bakheng Hill to watch the sunset at 6pm. Get ready. It's not a piece of cake to go up this hill.

The steps were made very narrow on purpose as it was deemed unpolite to show your back towards the Gods in the temple in the past. Therefore, it forces you to climb sideways. The temple wasn't that high and I think it took me about 15 minutes, including the time taking photos on the way.

It was worth it going up all the way as the view on the mountain top was lovely.

While waiting for sunset, we walked around snapping photos.

Poor lion statue, it has been damaged by the weather and time.

One of the pillars on the corner of the hill.

Another view

Hiding in the shade, wondering what's for dinner.

This was what we were waiting for!

One of the loveliest sunsets I've seen so far!

Oh yes, you can even pay 25 US dollars to ride the elephant from the starting point to the foot of the mountain. Sadly, elephants can't climb to the peak of Bakheng Hill.

That is me after climbing down. Very tired by then.

We made our way down the hill early before everyone starts rushing down. It was getting dark really quickly by then. As M and I were early, we had a look around the foot of the hill.

Wonder what type of building this entrance is suppose to lead to?

For our dinner, we were having it together with a cultural show. I was really happy to know that it was buffet style as well.

First plate. It was an assortment of different types of food.

Second bowl: I think it was Japanese style soup noodles with seafood, other meat, vegetables and tofu. I really liked the soup as it is the best I've tasted.

3rd helping: I had expected it to sweet but it was savory. I would have had another few more if I wasn't that full by then.

Cultural show. I thought that the dances were very similar to the Thai dances. I guess it's because Cambodia and Thailand are neighbors.

Next entry will be very interesting as we'll be visiting a few temples in Kingdom Angkor.

Kelantan: Kota Bahru

Finally, I have the mood to blog about my first visit to Kota Bahru. The realization of this trip was all thanks to ML who offered shelter to me for 2 nights just before she left for Johor Bahru to start her teaching course.

Before I start, let me warn you beforehand that there will be a lot of pictures of food.

I took the AirAsia flight to Kota Bahru, the capital city of Kelantan. It was really a last minute decision to go visit ML that week right after finishing my electives. ML was a really good hostess. Not forgetting to mention that her parents fed and watered me extremely well too. I reached Kota Bahru in the afternoon. So, our first stop was to find something to eat.

Pulut Tapai - It's really different from the ice kacang we normally have. There's crushed ice, pink sago, cendol, evaporated milk, brown sugar and some other ingredients which I couldn't figure out what they were. It was very refreshing and most suitable to cool down in that afternoon's hot weather. Cost: RM 2

ML's father offered me my first mooncake in 2 years while we visited his shop that evening. Nowadays, all these sweet desserts have the option of less sugar. I used to dislike mooncakes as they were too sweet but nowadays, they're all right.

ML's parents treated me to dinner that night. It was a shop along the road.

ML and I. It is really different to see women being in-charge of business and running the shop without any help from men. That's how Kelantan is like, according to ML. The women are very capable and they run the business.

That's the ayam percik which we ordered for dinner. It's chicken skewered with bamboo stick and cooked over charcoal. Then, think sauce made from coconut milk is poured over it. (I'm getting hungry typing this now)

Sambal daging. It's glutinous rice with sweet meat floss as its filling wrapped in banana leaf. Very interesting combination.

Other types of kuih or desserts

That's how they serve ayam percik with nasi kerabu (rice with bean sprouts, spring onion, and crackers)

Nasi dagang for breakfast with ML and her dad. There's fish, beef, and chicken gizzard served with rice dyed in brown. I don't mind having this for breakfast everyday but it's impossible over here.

We went around the town that morning. First stop was at the port:

The bridge is called the Royal bridge. Don't ask me why. The water looked really yellow.

Next, we went around the town taking photos.

Town area

Kelantan is famous for its arts and craft. We visited a craft centre specialised in weaving.

Imagine weaving a piece of cloth with specific patterns. How do they even remember the formula for it?

Soon, it was time for brunch. I called it brunch as I was still really full from the heavy breakfast and it wasn't time for lunch yet.

Wan tan mee. Noodles in dark souce with vegetables and char siew (sliced roasted pork). I felt that the standard in Kuala Lumpur is better.

After ML's dad went to work, she drove me around town visiting museums on Batik, crafts and Kelantan's royal family.

Some of the museums were formerly palaces. It is interesting to find out that different designs on clothes represented different social class back in the old days.

The famous market - Pasar Siti Khadijah

View from 3rd floor

You can only see women in the traditional Malay outfit selling vegetables and meat.

Another view of the market. I do find it interesting.

After all that walking and driving around in hot sun, we decided to cool down at the only shopping complex in Kota Bahru. We had some cold drink at a cafe. I ordered Mango Passion. It's basically mango smoothie topped with pink sago.

Dinner time with ML and her parents. This time, it was Thai cuisine. Kelantan has a border with Thailand. Therefore, there is a strong Thai influence in its cooking. The restaurant which we went to was really hard to find. It was fine till we went off the main road into a housing estate. Slowly, the number of houses decresed till zero and I saw only trees. Then I saw wooden houses again and finally, we arrived at the restaurant which was formerly a wooden house.

Lemon chicken. It's chicken coated with flour and deep fried before slicing it into strips and topped with sweet and sour lemon sauce.

Tom Yam. As you can see from this picture the huge looking chilli sticking out. It was really spicy. However, it was so delicious at the same time that all of us finished it even thought we were sweating profusely.

Stir fried vegetables. There were sweet corn, cauliflower, black fungus, carrots, chinese cabbage, prawns and chicken in oyster sauce.

Finally, it was eel stir fried in coconut milk, onions and beans. Maybe with some curry powder as well. It was my first time eating eel and one thing I can say is, it does taste different and be careful of the bone in the middle.

On my last day, ML's father brought us to visit Southeast Asia's largest sleeping Buddha. It was about half and hour drive away from Kota Bahru.

The Sleeping Buddha statue was actually outdoors but under a roof. It was really big. Even bigger than another sleeping Buddha status in Penang.

Views around the temple.

I guess even monks have to work for a living. I just find it wierd seeing them cutting grass with the grass cutter in their orange outfit.

I'm seriously hungry right now after writing about all these food. Point to note: don't blog about food when on a diet.

Hanging on

Dear blog,

Sorry for not writing to you soon. It has been a week since I got back to Liverpool. Goodness, I was planning to get a start on the entry for my holiday at Kelantan and Cambodia but I just haven't got the time yet.

I was planning to get as much rest as possible on the 13 hours flight back to the UK. However, the movies offered on the flight were just too good. I ended up finishing 3 movies. From Indiana Jones, Sex in the City to Kung Fu Panda.

F was the first person to call me on the phone when I just boarded the bus from Manchester airport back to Liverpool. I was really relieved that he offered to pick me up from the bus station even thought it was just a small stretch back to my new accommodation. By that time, I was already worn out and really hungry.

I collected my keys and the minute I opened my door, I went, 'Oh my goodness!' My room was used as the store room for 6 peoples' stuff over the summer. I could only go 2 steps into my room and that was it. Boxes and bags were all over the place, not even sparing my bed. I was wondering how was I going to sleep that night. Luckily, F helped me to move a third of all the things out of my room. I was thinking that as long as I have somewhere to sleep, I could sort them out tomorrow. Then, I went down to China town to have lunch with seniors and new students from IMU who are joining 3rd year. Luckily for the lunch or I would have preferred to die from starvation due to lack of motivation and extreme fatigue to look for food if I was left on my own.

I started hospital the next day. It was a miracle how I could drag myself there so early in the morning. I think it was all thanks to my jetlag. It was really stressful to find out how much harder 4th year would be as compared to other years. If only I know for sure that I'm definitely going to pass 4th year. To make things worse, during my introduction to the psychiatric rotation, I was just given phone numbers after phone numbers to contact and arrange for my own sessions to fulfill the requirements set out in my log book. Very depressing but I was set on trying my best to gain as much as I can from this dire situation. I can say that it was really frustrating trying to contact people and the worst part was, they don't even know that 4th year medical students were supposed to contact them. I think I can diagnose myself with depression considering the mental state that I was in.

Came Tuesday night, I went out for A's birthday dinner. It was great seeing friends whom you rarely meet last year due to all of us being in different rotations and also doing our electives and me going back to Malaysia. I was still suffering from jetlag which I have a feeling will take a long time to cure. I'm still sleeping around 10pm and waking up around 6am. Actually it's not that bad as I felt that I can concentrate on doing some revision before I set off for hospital.

Saturday and Sunday(which is today) was cooking day for me. Saturday, I cooked dinner for E who just reached Liverpool that day. Sunday, M and C, my ex-flat mates from 1st year came over for lunch! It was great seeing them again after such a long time. We do meet up once in a while but nowadays, it is really difficult to catch hold of them. I realized that it'll get more difficult once we all start working to meet up as we'll all be in different parts of the world.

My job as the chef wasn't done. I invited another good friend of mine to come over for dinner as well. Cooked salmon. We had dinner together with my flat mates and I who broke their fast at 8pm. Soon, it'll be Hari Raya or Eid and I'll be looking forward to all the nice food.

As I was typing this entry, there was a short display of fireworks which were really lovely from my window. It suddenly occur to me that the view from my window was of the city center and even stretching to Albert dock. Another thought came upon me. Maybe I haven't noticed the fun lurking behind 4th year.

I hope that next week will be another interesting week. Till then.

Here I am, again...

standing on the ending point,
trying to cling on to every last second,
and yet it flows freely through my fingers.

dreading of the moment to say goodbye,
filing away the memories of the good times,
looking forward to face the new challenges ahead.

steeping out of the comfort zone,
my luggages as my traveling companions,
leaving my beloved country behind,
just before her 51th birthday.

Happy 51th birthday Malaysia! I'll celebrate it while I'm in Liverpool, 7 hours behind your time.

When laziness sets in

I guess when you have tons of things waiting for you to complete, but a dateline which is so far down the line, it's the best time to start lazing around and be lazy!

So, what happened to my Kelantan trip entry? It will have to wait until I'm back into the old rhythm again (which I thought was already very lazy but how would I know that I can be lazier?). I promised myself not to start blogging about Kelantan until I've finished my electives report. So, here, I'm keeping that promise.

A few updates, finally, when I was at the verge of desperation turned despair and hopelessness, my sifu, H, provided me the magic number to contact M as I've lost touch of her since she flew back to Malaysia. I was already giving up on my trip to witness one of the 7 wonders of the world this summer and was planning to hibernate at home collecting dust and growing some mushrooms on my head. Such a pitiful state I was in, coming back to Malaysia after 2 years just to stay at home and feel bored. I do cherish that feeling of boredom but being bored for the next 3 weeks till I got back to intensive studying again? No way.

So, with a big smile on my face now, I'm going to conquer one of the 7 wonders. 6 more to go in future! The only obstacle is this stupid elective report to be completed. When will it be done?