The Siem Reap Tuktuk

The best mode of transportation in Siem Reap and around the temples are the tuktuks. Tuktuks can be found in almost all Asian countries, but each country has its own version. The Cambodian version are scooter-drawn carriages that comfortably sits two to four passengers.

Finding the right tuktuk driver to take you around is essential to having a great experience in Cambodia. If your hotel or guesthouse can't help you find a driver, you can find a lot of them parked in the Pub Street area. Talk to them and try to ask basic questions about touring the temples, so that you'll have an idea if they can speak English. This will ensure that you will understand each other on the 3 days that you'll be together. A tuktuk driver with some tour-guiding experience is a plus.

Here is a rundown of how much a driver usually charges per trip. We regularly give a $5 tip on top of our agreed rate. Not required, but most appreciated.

Airport pickup or drop-off is $5
Temples - Small Circuit is $10
Temples - Big Circuit is $15
Roluos Group - $15
Half a Day in the Temples is $5-7

Here are the two excellent Tuktuk drivers who were with us, including their contact numbers... Please make a backread on our previous posts to see our experiences with them.

Horn Hong - +8551 780 9363
































Sophea Son - +85269006


















i













Goodluck. :)

Sophea Son

A month before our trip to SR, I've been communicating via calls and emails with Horn Hong, our tuktuk driver during our "5 Countries" visit. Unfortunately, he had to cancel on us at the last minute because of a family emergency he had to attend to in the province. We were so disappointed as it was hard to find magic again with the "right" tuktuk driver.

Horn did arrange for us to have a friend of his to be our tuktuk driver. We were picked up from the airport by his friend, but unfortunately he didn't know how to speak English.


















The tuktuk is set up in a way that the driver is seated in front of you. So this implies that all the air that passes through your driver will naturally go to you! This includes all the dust, dirt, and SMELL. This was another unfortunate issue with Horn's friend. Know what I mean? ;)



So the lucky tuktuk driver this time was....


SOPHEA SON!!!


















He was recommended by our hotel receptionist. Sophea was formerly a tour guide, as well as a MONK. He was in the monastery for six years, but left after being told by a "sorcerer" that he will die if he continues to be a monk. . . So he did leave. At times there was something Harry Potter-ish with his stories...

The good side with changing his profession was that he was able to start a family and purchase a lot with a wooden house for $4000. Guess being a tuktuk driver gave him more benefits time- and money-wise.

He is only 37 years old. But he looks older... Maybe it was the fasting during his monk days and sun exposure.

Sophea gave us short stories about the temples on each of our stops. We've been telling him this wasn't our first time in SR, but still he wanted to share what he knew about the temples. There wasn't a dull moment with Sophea, as he always had insights about things. He asked questions about our country and culture... As well as FARMING in the Philippines. We later on found out that he actually took up Agriculture in college, despite wanting to study Literature.



















On our way back from one of the temples, Sophea stopped to buy some palm candy.















































He insisted that we try some. This reminds us of some candy we have in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. Same taste, but ours in the Philippines is more brownish in color.

















On our last day of touring the temples, Sophea suddenly stopped (AGAIN!) at a bookstore in town. He purchased a notebook which he later on filled up with English words and phrases that he wanted us to translate to Filipino/Tagalog. It was quite annoying to be given such a task while on vacation, but what the heck... We filled it up anyway!


















He pretty much filled up the entire notebook and these are just a number of the pages he filled up. Kindness got the best of D, so he later on added more phrases which he thought would be useful for Sophea. We were also quite touched by his thirst for learning our language, so we gave it some time.









































































































Will be sending him an English-Tagalog/Tagalog-English Dictionary when we get home. :)

Terrasse des Elephants Hotel welcomes us back to Siem Reap

We had such a great time staying at this hotel during our last trip in February. So we decided to book ourselves here again.


















We got our old room back :)


















A huge fruit tray was waiting for us:


















Delicious, fresh fruits are refreshing after the flight to Siem Reap!



















But wait!!! There is a note!



















Let's open it shall we...


















Incidentally, the hotel had a new General Manager! He's only been on for a couple of weeks but during our stay, we noticed a number of improvements.

































We are soooooo happy to be back here!!! Staying A WHOLE WEEK this time :)

KLCC - Petronas Towers

We wanted to capture the Petronas Towers at night, so we proceeded to have dinner at KLCC. We ate at this restaurant called "The Manhattan Fish Market"...


Ordered the Manhattan Seafood platter for two, which was surprisingly blasted with butane to melt the cheese and mayo for the flaming prawns.


















Deep fried fish fillet, calamari, oysters, flaming prawns served with chips and garlic rice. . .


















Garlic butter mussels...


















After the heavy dinner we walked outside to look at the towers.


















Always a beautiful sight!






































P.S. >> Don't forget to get a tourist privilege card at the Information counter, as this will entitle you to a 10% discount on most of KLCC's stores. We saved a lot of $$ using this card.















































:)

Pasar Seni and Petaling Street

Pasar Seni, or the 122-year old Central Market of Kuala Lumpur. We think this is the best place to get KL souvenirs and trinkets at a bargain.


















We also ate here before, during our '5 countries' trip. Good food at a good price.


































































Petaling Street - Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. There were a number of hotels in this area as well catering to backpackers. Might try staying in this area next time. Lots of stalls selling food, clothes, and accessories. Also a lot of people selling pirated cds and dvds.
































Some men roasting castañas:

















...

Midnight snack?

We were supposed to go out for dinner at our favorite hawker center in KL, Jalan Alor. But we were caught in a downpour so we didn't get to go. :(


The road that leads to Merdeka Square:




















































But I was so hungry. . . So off we went to the nearest 7/11!














































At least we had a cute spoon! :)


















Cup noodles never tasted so good!