White-chan in Siem Reap - Oh the magnificent Angkor Wat!

Day 1: Bayon - Baphuon - Leper King Terrace - Elephant Terrace - Ang Kor Wat

Angkor Wat. This is the reason why we are in Siem Reap. There may be so many great temples in Angkor, but this is THE temple. That's why this temple is on Cambodia's flag.

Angkor Wat was also another Hindu-converted-to-Buddhist temple, at first dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, then Buddhist. This is a Temple Mountain, where the towers represent Mount Meru that holy Hindu/Buddhist mountain where the gods live, and the moat represent the ocean.















There is this special Apsara in Angkor Wat that is different from the rest... you can see them very obviously leh! I'm talking about her teeth! Her teeth!





The bas-reliefs in Angkor Wat are really something! The whole temple is surrounded by these bas-reliefs showing battle of some Hindu gods, King Suryavarman II (he is the one who built Angkor Wat) and his army, their version of 18-levels of hell, and that famous story - Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The craving are so detailed and 3D, they even have background and foreground wor! Power sia!

White-chan in Siem Reap - Leper King and Elephant terraces

Day 1: Bayon - Baphuon - Leper King Terrace - Elephant Terrace - Ang Kor Wat

The Baphuon is another big temple in Angkor Thom. It is a mid-11th century temple mountain originally built as the state temple of Udayadityavarman II dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. Then it was converted to a Buddhist temple, which is why they then built a statue of reclining Buddha on the other side of the temple. Of course by now, that reclining Buddha is almost invisible...

If you look at below photo very very carefully and very very focused, maybe you can still see the Buddha?









Near the Baphuon temple was where the Royal palace used to be, but because they built the palace in wood instead of stones like the temples, of course you don't see the palace any more lah! The only thing left is the big Royal swimming pool that used to be frequent by the King's many concubines, but now only filled with weeds...





Traveling further into Angkor Thom, we reached two famous terraces. The Elephant Terrace where the king used to sit to watch... elephant racing!



And then there is the Leper King Terrace. No lah, the king didn't have Leper lah, but because the Hindu god statue's fingers already disappeared by the time they discovered it, these smart alecs thought maybe the king got Leper lor! Some more this is not even the king's statue! It's their Hindu king of justice like our Chinese's Hell King to judge us after we die lah!



Below the Leper King statue is a series of bas-reliefs on the winding walls, machiam like a little maze below. It is said that this maze is meant for those people who passed away (choy!) and after they walked in the maze they'll become so blur they'll forget about their previous life. Even more efficient than our Chinese's Meng Po soup!

White-chan in Siem Reap - All the faces in Bayon

Day 1: Bayon - Baphuon - Leper King Terrace - Elephant Terrace - Ang Kor Wat



Bayon is the most famous temple in Angkor Thom, that huge temple complex with 37 towers (used to be 54 lor!), each with 4 stone faces facing the 4 directions. This Buddhist temple was built by King Jayavarman VII between the 12-13th century, so yes, it is very very old! Some experts said those 216 big faces are supposed to be Buddha's face, and some said they are the King's face since he thought he was a god-king, but it's their words vs. their words, so you decide yourself.













But actually I find the outer gallery of the temple more interesting, with bas-reliefs showing history (of course of the King winning his number X battle) and daily life of the Angkorian Khmer, like merchants selling stuff in the market. After all these years, the cravings are still clear and detailed, power sia!







In all Angkor temples, you can find lots of Apsaras on the bas-reliefs. According to some Hindu and Buddhist mythology, they are actually spirits of clouds and waters, created during the churning of the sea by the gods and demons.

You can find Apsara dances all over Siem Reap, and of course I'm referring to human female dancers lah! But what is also interesting is the different styles of craving of Apsaras in the different temples in Angkor.

White-chan at Siem Reap - Not-very-Budget airline and Really-Budget hotel

It takes less than 2 hours to fly from Singapore to Siem Reap, so it makes sense to take a budget airline flight that costs less than SGD300. Those kind that cannot choose seat, cannot check-in online, cannot check-in luggage, no free food and drinks one.

But for some reason, even though it was only an one-hour plus flight, we did get thirsty, but White-chan pointed out that one can of Coke is SGD4! HAR?!? If this is not robbing in bright day light, I don't know what is!

And those horrific airplane food are selling at SGD10! Yes, we bought one Japanese curry rice and it really tasted like budget airline food! DOTZ...



On the other hand, our budget hotel (actually it was a guest house lah) was really worth it. USD24 for a twin room included breakfast and even a tuk-tuk to pick us up from the airport! Super good deal lor!

We really like the Tenai Guest House because it is like 5 minutes walk to the Night Market and a few minutes more to Pub Street where we have all our dinner. The service is friendly and the room is bigger than our previous two hundreds over dollars Hong Kong hotel! But of course at this price, no bath tub lah! Oh, got free Wifi also wor!

White-chan in Paris - Long Q at Eiffel Tower!

Eiffel Tower. Supposed to be the most romantic place in Paris, some says the world.



Okay, if you look at it from far, really like very kam dong and you can take pictures that look really like they're from some old school romance movies lah...



But once you get there, siao liao. The queue to buy ticket is super long lor! And the queue to take the lift up, even longer! So much for romantic! And plus the fact that it was winter and it was raining, of course we give up going up the tower lah! So here it is... just pictures of the Eiffel Tower BASE...





When night falls, the Eiffel Tower is all lighted up and gives you another kind of feeling, like it's party time! The best place to take picture of it is across the river at Passy.



But don't say I didn't say hor! There is NO FIREWORKS at the Eiffel Tower at New Year Eve countdown one hor!

White-chan in Paris - that atas palace called Versailles

You really need to pay a visit to the Versailles to understand why the French Revolution happened and why Louis XVI kena his head chopped off. That palace is really super duper grand lor! Can imagine his grandfather Louis XIV telling his officers: "Yah I know the people can't pay more tax because they don't even have enough to put food on their tables, but then I need to renovate this one more room wor, so no choice lah!"!

Anyway, now that these Louis kings have all ashes to ashes, the French of course will make use of this atas palace to make money out of the tourists lah! EUR15 per head lor!









The Hall of Mirrors is supposed to be one of the most famous rooms in the Versailles, but too bad those lazy French did not bother to keep the mirrors and windows clean, so... oh well...





The rooms in the Versailles are named after the Roman gods like Apollo and Venus, all with super glam chandelier, dark colored wall carpet (yes, not a typo, these wallpaper actually looks more like carpets) and gold plated doors... after awhile, it got kinda boring actually...

Instead, we find the Hall of the Battles more interesting, where it houses paintings relating all important battles in the history of France. Not bad for a quick history lesson!



After we had enough of all the gold plated walls, doors and decos, White-chan suggested we take a break at the garden. The garden is actually pretty neat and very well maintained, but a pity a lot of the vases and stuff were covered up in the winter, and the fountain was not switched on...