Siem Reap Diary (Day 3)

We woke up early on our third day in Siem Reap. The agenda of the morning was to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. None of us really wanted to see Angkor Wat up close at that time, so we decided to just stay outside the temple itself and see its silhouette as the sun rose behind it.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat is one of the must-dos for tourists. When we arrived there that morning, tourists were quickly trickling in. Indeed, the hype is living up to the stunning spectacle of watching the sun illuminate the sky, framing the main towers of the temple in a backdrop of orange in various hues. This whole scene is reflected on the moat surrounding the temple. It definitely was a perfect start of our day.

After breakfast with Fuchsiaboy, we walked around the empty streets of Siem Reap, dropping by the market and the thrift shop. Finally, we ended up in the river-side, where we found these animal sculptures decorating the riverbank. Give us sculptures honey and we will work them!

America's Next Top Model, anyone? This definitely is the best photo this week and will be displayed at the Top Model house as digital art. Buwahahahaha.

And the requisite jumping shot while pouting mid-air... for my dear publique.

Fuchsiaboy kindly showed us the beautiful Foreign Correspondents Club Angkor. Doesn't the interior (humongous ceiling fans, stuffed chairs and wide windows) instantly remind you of colonial times?

We also dropped by a temple with a crowd of merit-makers as it was the Khmer New Year.

Our next stop was the historic Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor for some cocktails.

Later in the afternoon, we had the fantastic privilege of seeing Angkor Wat up close. Loven was scheduled to cover a huge event in Angkor, which involved lighting up the temple in a grand show of lights and laser. Loven was doing an ocular inspection and he was SUPER kind enough to allow us to tag along.

Definitely not a lot of people have seen Angkor Wat lit that way. They have certainly done similar set-ups before but they were rare and watching these shows are usually very expensive. Also, we heard that that was the last time UNESCO is allowing a light and laser show to be held at Angkor Wat (for some reason I'm not completely certain of).

That night we went, the production team was still setting up, so we did not see how the show we would eventually look like (the show is taking place on the 19th). Nonetheless, we had a preview of the stunning effects, albeit partially of course. I'm really grateful to Loven for that rare opportunity.

If you noticed, we started the day watching the sun rise behind Angkor and we saw it later that day during sunset! Nice, no?

In the afternoon, Miss Betty, arrived from Phnom Penh and who also happens to be a blogger (see Betty in Me). Betty is the new BFF of Fuchsiaboy (I'm the former BFF... but you know how things can change, chai mai?). More on the WAR between Betty and Kawadjan in the next post...

Later that evening, Loven had another food-tasting session at ArtDeli and there was a relatively bigger crowd this time. We had mini pizzas, pastas, and Beer Lao (my favorite!). From ArtDeli, we moved to Linga, Siem Reap's prominent gay bar, for some cocktails. Suddenly a power black out enveloped Siem Reap in darkness... but then the drinking continued of course.