Our eldest daughter Kimi has been away for over a week, backpacking through parts of Southeast Asia with her friends after availing of huge airline fare discounts as early as last year. This is her first letter to us after repeated emails requesting updates. I have to hand it to Kimi's generation--they're more fearless in exploring new places. I was just so damn happy to get out of my parents' house now and then for a trip to Baguio in my youth.
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Hi Nanay! Hi Tatay! Sorry it's only now that I've gotten around to emailing you.
Our days have been long since last week! We left Ho Chi Minh by bus Friday midnight and slept throughout the trip. An immigration officer woke us up at around 6 am when we were about to cross the border. He collected our passports and $1 from each of us. We just stayed in the bus and waited, then another officer came back with our passports already stamped with Vietnam departure and Cambodia arrival.
We arrived in Phnom Penh at around 12 noon, then asked a tuktuk driver to take us to a hotel near the city center. We went to the Russian market for a bit of shopping, then to the Toul Sleng museum. The genocide museum was depressing. We didn't go to the Killing Fields since it's a bit far from the city center. We also went to the night market for more shopping. I got Tatay the Buddha head, but it's made of wood, not made of iron or ceramic because those materials are heavy to pack.
Next morning, we did a short walking tour of some of the city landmarks like the Independence monument, Royal Palace and National Museum. We took the 11:30 am bus to Siem Reap. We arrived there at 5 pm. A tuktuk from the lodge we checked in picked us up at the station. We left our bags in our room and headed straight to Angkor Wat to catch the sunset.
Monday early morning, we left the hotel at 5 am to catch the sunrise at Angkor. It was magnificent, with the temple's reflection on the pond! We got the two-day pass, which was $40, then hired a tour guide and tuktuk driver to take us around. I got a bit sunburned from a whole day of walking around the temples. We caught the sunset on top of a hill in one of the temples. You can even take an elephant ride all the way up, but it was a bit expensive. There were a lot of tourists, mostly Asians and Europeans.
Today, we will bike from our hotel all the way to Angkor! We still have a couple of temples to visit, since our tour yesterday only covered the major temples like Angkor, Bantay Shrei, Bantay Kdei, Tah Prohm, and Bayon. My favorite so far is Tah Prohm, with the temples looking like 're they being eaten alive by the trees. From our hotel to Angkor, it's around 6 kms.
I guess it's safe to ride a bike here since there's not much vehicles and motorcycles, unlike in Vietnam. Hopefully, we'll get there in one piece, ha ha! We'll just keep to the right side of the road and the bike lane.
Tomorrow (Wednesday), we take the 8 am bus to Bangkok. We arrive around 4 pm. Will keep you posted once we cross the border. I've been away for almost a week now! And I've been to 2 countries already and 3 cities. I like it here in Siem Reap because it's very tourist-friendly, and the city center is also small enough to bike around in.
Please send my birthday greetings to Lola Mommy. I will buy her sampaloc in Bangkok. I miss you all!
Photo shows Kimi (first biker) with her friends Marye Panganiban and JC Salvador
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