After a traumatizing massage session, I went in search of some comfort food. Sadly, the most comforting food I could find in Siem Reap was KFC – so I had my lunch at KFC ($4.30). After lunch I got a tut tut to the orphanage to pick up my donation certificate. I decided to give the rest of my USD (just $10) to get some fruits for the children, so I and a member of the staff hopped onto his motorbike to go to the local market to shop for fruits. We bought 10kg of apples and some bananas for the children. The apples, at just $7, was unfortunately of not very good quality – better quality ones cost more than $10 a box and will be outside my budget.

Fruit stall at a local market in Siem Reap

We brought the fruits back to the orphanage and I was given a ride back to the hotel, afterwhich I just lazed around at the hotel watching TV before going to the airport. The flight was uneventful, and that ends my 5 days trip to Siem Reap.

1 Sep Updated: All photos for the Siem Reap trip up!

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It was good fun and interesting – different from the usual sightseeing activities or massages. And it is really good value considering US$12 keeps me busy for 3 hours and then gets me a sense of satisfaction, includes lunch and provides enough food to pack home. I took the class with 4 other people, all Westerners. Apparently they don’t really like the food and when they tasted the pumpkin dessert which I made and recommended to them (I thought it tasted good) they made really weird expressions. Uh, we just have very different tastebuds I guess.

Vegetables for sale at Siem Reap old market

Siem Reap old market fresh produce section

Fresh poultry, anyone?

Making spring roll with shrimp

Spring rolls with shrimp

Fish Amok with rice

Pumpkin dessert

I went to the  central market on my way back to the hotel and bought another 4 T-Shirts – at just $1.50 they make good and cheap souviners.I gave the food I packed to the hotel frontdesk staff and took a rest before going for a 1 hour ATV tour to the rice paddy for sunset viewing.

The ATV or Quad tour is listed as the #1 tourist attraction on TripAdvisor. However, I had a bad experience with its customer service. Although it has 70 good reviews on TA, there were 2 bad reviews and they were about the negative service attitude of the French owner of this business.

The tour began with someone picking me up from the hotel on a motorbike. That was alright. Upon arrival I was surprised that my guide was a Frenchman (not the owner) because usually Westerners are business owners and get their Cambodian workers to deal with tourists. I was given a 10 minute safety and operational briefing on driving the ATV properly.

The briefing consisted of statements like “if you die its none of our business”, “if you damage the ATV you have to pay”, “these things are very expensive and are imported from USA”, “we have no insurance here”, etc. The whole idea they gave was that their ATVs are very expensive and precious and less important is the customer experience and safety.

OK I understand safety is important and being an understanding person I gave the benefit of doubt and attributed the seriousness of the briefing to the importance of ensuring safety for both myself and the ATV. However, when the tour started I had another bad experience.

The guide led the way on a motorbike, while behind me was another motorbike carrying the French owner and his Cambodian worker. After 5 minutes of riding when I suddenly swerved to avoid a pothole on the dirt road, someone shouted at me to stop and I did. The owner came up to me and yelled at me “Right from the start I can see that you cannot drive properly!”, “You cannot drive properly. This guy (the Cambodian staff) will sit behind you to make sure you do it properly”. Then I was corrected on my posture.

I kept my cool and said yeah OK sorry I did not do it properly and now I know how to do it. I said OK I am fine with someone riding behind me since it will ensure safety and that’s alright. The rest of the tour went well with no incident since I managed to correct my posture.

I thought the service is really terrible. This is the first time that I got yelled at as a customer/tourist trying to have fun on a tour. Granted, safety is important but customer experience is also important. The owner of this business makes it seem as though his vehicle is more important than the customer’s safety and satisfaction. One of the reveiwers on TripAdvisor even said that the tour guide made his wife cry when they argued over whether his wife should be allowed to ride an ATV without a staff sitting behind her.

The tour was good for the riding experience, the experience of seeing the countryside and having kids running out just to wave hi, and the beautiful sunset at the rice paddy field. But an otherwise perfect tour was tarnished by the bad customer service attitude.

Sunset at the rice paddy

I rode this ATV

Beautiful Cambodian countryside

Sun setting under the paddy field

I was dropped off at the pub street where I walked around trying to find a decent place (budget and taste wise) to have dinner. Well there was no good choices (since all the reviews on the Internet were mostly by Westerners and the restaurants are mostly operated by and targeted at Westerners anyway so they may not be suitable for Asian palates). I finally settled on a local restaurant with both local and tourist customers. Had a seafood fried rice for $2. It was alright. And a pineapple shake for $0.50. Then walked to the night market to look around. The things they sell there are largely similar to the Old Market and Central Market. With nothing much else to do and not wanting to drink or have a massage I went back to the hotel.

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Sunrise at Angkor Wat

US$3 Breakfast at a food stall in Angkor park

The rest of the morning was spent doing the Small Circuit tour in Angkor Wat (which I had already done 2 years back but this time I am back with a better camera). Since this was my 2nd time seeing the same temples, I took less time than what other tourists would have done and got back to the hotel by 11am. The driver and hotel staff were amazed with my speed, although I thought I am rather slow at climbing.

The sun's reflection on the temple

Nice contrast of colors

Two young kids selling incense sticks to tourists

I rested for a couple of hours in my room before going out for a massage (US$8 including tips for 1 hour) followed by lunch. Khmer style massage is good stuff – similar to Thai style and just as good. I had a Cambodian food platter recommended by Lonely Planet. At USD $7.50 plus $1.50 for a drink, it’s equivalent to 5 meals for me in Singapore. But well I’m a tourist.

Khmer Food Platter at Angkor Palm Restaurant

After lunch I grabbed an ice-cream cone from a nearby cafe (The Blue Pumpkin, $1.50 for a scoop). Next I went to the Old Market to get touristy T-Shirts for US$1.50 each. The midday sun was too much for me to take, so I decided to walk back to the hotel to relax. I took a nap and woke up in the early evening, bumming around a little before taking the 10 minute walk to the town to search for dinner. After looking around for a while I decided to eat cheaply at a street food stall and got myself a plate of fried noodles with pork and vegetables for $1. Pretty decent stuff though nowhere near delicious. Then I sat at a bar for a while, got a beer ($0.50) and some fries to go with it. And then it’s back to the hotel where I chatted with the hotel manager for a while before blogging.

I hope I can sleep well today. I have been having restless nights since I arrived here – I’m just not very good at falling asleep in a room by myself in a foreign land.

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Today started with a breakfast on the balcony outside my room – plain porridge with salted fish, salted egg and preserved vegetables. Traditional Khmer style breakfast, so I was told. Not very appetizing for me, but the good thing out of it was that it was a light breakfast.

Breakfast of porridge, salted fish, pickled vegetables and salted egg

I went horse riding first thing after breakfast and I was glad I did not do it on a full stomach. Horse riding was… not a good idea despite the rave reviews I found on the Internet. Horse riding in the highlands where temperature is a cool 18 deg or lower is wonderful. Horse riding in the tropics at 30+ deg celcius sweltering heat is a bad idea.

View from horseback with my guide in front

Thereafter I went to the orphanage (ACODO) again, this time with the intention of discussing how best to utilize my donation. The center president was here today, and he said that they need dance practice costumes for the children – so it was decided that my donation would be cloth and sewing costs for 47 sets of costumes.

The  president came back today from the countryside together with 27 children – they came back together in ONE single van – because a group of 18 tourists were scheduled to visit the orphanage this morning. It was supposed to be the first visit from a group tour, hence the special arrangement. However, the staff and children were disappointed that not one single tourist donated anything -  they took the 2 hour ride back from the countryside for nothing. When I arrived the children were having an “early lunch” – a meal of plain rice with vegetables and nothing else.

ACODO children having a lunch of vegetables with rice

Each ACODO child has a small locker to keep his/her belongings

ACODO notice board

ACODO boy chewing on something

Since there was no tut tut available where we were, we took a motorbike ride to a local market – yes, three of us (myself, one of the ACODO staff and the motorbike driver) on one bike. Riding a motorbike isn’t as dangerous as I thought it would be – well I guess as long as it’s not in Bangkok or Vietnam. Traffic here is much slower and I guess not as bad as those places.

So we went to a local market to get the cloth, and it was followed by another 2 hours of butt-killing bumpy motorbike rides around town to get a place to sew the  clothes for a good price. We finally settled on a total price of US$3.50 or so for each costume – a pretty decent price in my opinion.

At lunch I suggested to the ACODO staff to have KFC for lunch – KFC was not here when I came 2 years ago. Prices are just slightly lower than in Singapore – a meal of 2pcs chicken with rice and a drink costs US$3.40. That’s like the price of 4 meals for normal Cambodians. I think the KFC here might have been opened by the Malaysian franchise because the chili sauce used is the same brand as in KFC Malaysia. Needless to say, it was the first time the volunteer had eaten at KFC – he usually has his 3 meals at the orphanage and seldom eats out.

After lunch we went back to the orphanage together with the seamstress to get the girls measured for their dresses. The children were all lined up in rows waiting to be measured. After they got measured the 27 children who only came back this morning headed back to board their van to return to the countryside. It was an emotional farewell for the 2 volunteers who will leave tomorrow morning and will not get to see the children again, at least until they come back, if they ever do.

ACODO children queuing up to be measured for their new costumes

ACODO children queuing up to board their van for the countryside

I asked the president the wisdom of sending 27 children to the Cambodian countryside where people were less well to do and there were no tourists to make donations. I was told that they do receive food donations from monasteries (this means they only need to feed 20 children in Siem Reap) and people do donate, albeit only 3oo to 500 riels (~$0.10) at a time.

I headed back to the hotel to rest for a while before getting a tut tut to Angkor Wat to see the sunset. It was like a zoo – I left without seeing the sunset because there were at least a few hundred if not a thousand tourists up on the same place waiting for the sunset.

Hundreds of tourists climbing up the steps to watch the sunset

I went for a dinner buffet and dance performance after that – the performance was good and the food variety was WOW but the food taste was below average in my opinion. It was back to the hotel afterwards because I am very tired and I’ll probably visit the pub street tomorrow night instead.

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I was given a tour of the orphanage grounds – they had 2 small classrooms and a stage where daily dance performances are put up for tourists. Including myself, there were only 2 people in the audience tonight – a shame because the children danced very well. I was told that the previous night, there was only 1 person. The tourist off-season means a lack of donations and volunteers for this organization which does not receive aid from any other agency other than ad-hoc donations and volunteers.

I decided that ACODO will be the recipient of my modest donation. Tomorrow I will visit the orphanage again to understand more about their needs and how my donation will be best deployed. ACODO relies on volunteers to teach the children English – currently there are 2 of them but they will be leaving in 2 days’ time and that means the children will be left without teachers until new volunteers come along. For those people going to Siem Reap or if you know anyone going there, please help to publicize ACODO’s cause – a worthy cause indeed.

The off-season also means that tut tut drivers hardly have any business. The tut tut driver waited more than 2 hours for me at the orphanage to earn my $2 return trip fare. I got him to drop off a China girl who spent the entire afternoon at the orphanage at her hotel, then he drove me to a ‘local Cambodian restaurant’ for dinner where I paid a touristy price of US$6  for a meal of Amok Fish with rice (Cambodian fish curry) and an Angkor beer. Then I paid another $1 for the same driver to get me back to the hotel where I am now blogging.

Updated with photos:

Tut tutting to the hotel

Room at Kazna Hotel

Children of the ACODO Orphanage performing a traditional Khmer dance - the Fishing Dance

Fish Amok curry (sorry for the out of focus photo)

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After breakfast and a short rest in our room, we checked out and walked towards the meeting point for our ride back to Lijiang. Our driver was there, without the bus. We were told that due to road works, buses were unable to enter the village and we had to walk up a very steep hill to where the bus was parked. It was a 30 minutes hike under the scorching sun at high altitude so you can imagine how tired we were when we finally reached. There were already about a dozen people waiting outside our bus and we feared that we’d end up sitting right at the back again. Fortunately we managed to get seats near the front this time. It was another 7 hours ride back to Lijiang with a lunch stop at the same place where we stopped the previous day. Oh, there was an additional stop at a “tourist shop” selling local produce and herbs.

We arrived in Lijiang in the late afternoon and we decided to head to the Public Security Bureau to apply for our visa extension. Singaporeans can enter China for up to 15 days without visa, but due to my oversight I planned a trip for 16 days and we forgot to apply for our visas ahead of our trip… so we had to apply while in China. Anyway, the taxi driver took us to the wrong place – it turned out that the PSB had just moved to a new location way out in the suburbs a few days before. We arrived at the new PSB 10 minutes before closing time but were told (contrary to what we understood from online forums) that visa extensions required 5 working days to complete. We pleaded with the officer on duty but to no avail. She did however told us that the PSB in Shangri-la would be able to process extensions on the spot…. we’d have to try when we arrive in Shangri-la tomorrow.

We checked back into the inn and spent the evening hanging around town, window shopping and surfing the net back at the inn. Our driver from Shangri-la actually drove all the way over to Lijiang and stayed overnight at our inn at his own expense so that he could drive us to Shangri-la the next day. This driver, Lodzoh, a Tibetan guy in his fifties was recommended to us by the one we originally contacted as the latter was busy and could not take us around. We chatted with him for a while about the itinerary then went back to our room to pack our luggage. We highly recommend this driver who is a very interesting character and one of the nicest persons we ever met – more about him in the next installment of this trip report…

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Being the glutton I am, I couldn’t resist grabbing some breakfast while we were waiting for the bus. While I was shopping for breakfast the bus came and we ended up seated all the way at the back of the bus ‘cos everyone else were already on board =( I swore we would get front seats on our return trip the next day (and we did).

It was a 7 hours long bumpy bus ride along the scenic mountainous roads to Lugu Lake – the driver joked that we were getting a free massage along with our bus tickets.

On the way to Lugu Lake

The bus stopped for lunch at a family-run restaurant in the countryside enroute to Lugu Lake – it was an interesting experience – there were no menus, no waitstaff, no order-taker… customers walked straight into the kitchen and yelled their orders out to the cook or his assistant based on the raw ingredients available (one can yell out any combination of veggie or meat dishes and the cook will fry it accordingly). No such thing as first come first served or “I ordered that first” – once a dish is ready, the cook’s assistant would hand the dish over to the first person who sticks his/her hand out for it. Being inexperienced, the only two dishes I could think of were “stir-fried mushrooms with pork” and “tomatoes with fried egg”. After a couple of times of being slow in grabbing my dish of tomatoes with fried egg  from the assistant, I decided to “do as the Romans do in Rome” – forget about being polite… and we got our food promptly.

A lady would make her rounds at the dining area to collect payment – apparently there are only 2 prices for the dishes – either vegetarian (CNY 10) or meat (CNY 20) dishes. Prices were steep for a place like that but I guess we had no choice since it was the only place to get food. Actually the food tasted quite OK.

I went to the washroom after lunch… they’ve got proper doors there but the toilet bowl was just a hole in the floorboard and waste material gets “recycled” immediately as fertilizer for the vegetables being grown on the farmland… I guess that was where the veggies for our lunch came from… ugh.

After lunch we continued with our journey. We arrived at Lugu Lake slightly after 3pm after a 30 minutes delay when our bus broke down and the driver had to fix it. Luckily it wasn’t a big problem otherwise we could have been stuck in the middle of nowhere. We paid CNY 80 each for admission tickets to the Lugu Lake area (I have to grumble again that admission tickets in China aren’t cheap).

We first went to a scenic lookout where we took photos of the lake. Afterwhich the driver took us to a place where we paid CNY 30 each for a boat ride to a small island in the middle of the lake. It was quite dumb and a waste of time and money actually – there wasn’t much to see on the island except a small temple and we were done “exploring” the island in 15 minutes and got back on the boat. The boat rowers tried to persuade us to part with more money for a longer ride out on the lake but we flatly refused. We had a better rowboat experience in Tam Coc, Vietnam.

View of Lugu Lake

Boating on Lugu Lake

Our room balcony had a view of Lige Village and Lugu Lake

Dinner is being skewered

Our room was really decent and cheap (CNY 200) for a room with private bathroom and a lake view. There was a balcony with tables and chairs for us to relax in. By the time we settled down in the room my stomach was growling for the BBQ suckling pig which was being roasted right beside the hostel. We went down and got ourselves a 1/8 of a pig(let), a fish, potatoes, brinjal and Pepsi for just CNY 100. The food was so delicious we wanted to order more but the wait time was so long we got tired of waiting so we paid up and left.  I think that was the best meal we had in our 16 days in China.

BBQ Dinner at Lugu Lake

At about 3000m above sea level, the temperature in Lugu Lake was a little colder than Lijiang. It was still warm in the daytime but I think it was about maybe 15 degrees celcius or so at night. I had a mild headache initially I suppose due to the altitude but it got better after dinner.

After dinner we went back up to our room to rest for a while before heading out again to join in a campfire performance (CNY 20 per person). PY joined in the dancing for a while. It was over by 10pm and we went back to our room to rest as there was nothing else to do and we had to wake up at 5.30am the next day for a short boating trip to see the sunrise.

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Just last night I booked 3 trips (for next year!) – to Penang ($7.50 per person return inclusive of taxes), Bandung ($20+), and Langkawi (also $20+).

And last week me and my mom decided to go to Bali next month for a princely sum of S$75 for air tickets and 3 nights accomodation.

The GF is getting exasperated with my booking frenzy I suspect. OK, I think it’s time to stop already anyway since I’ve got trips lined up almost every month right till next April =)

Some updates on my personal life… well, I’ve been applying for jobs in the past week – just applying for anything and everything in my areas of interst. I’ve also been working part time for my professor compiling a report. As usual, I’ve also been planning for my next trip. Been feeling a little discouraged lately from the lack of career opportunities despite my academic and non-academic achievements. I’m starting to wonder whether I should just accept any job and be a regular Joe instead of aiming high. Maybe I’m just a has-been.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all readers who offered me advice and words of support via my blog. Thanks for being so supportive – It’s heartening to know that there are people out there who don’t know me personally but still bother enough to offer their advice and support.

More updates of my China trip coming soon… I’m doing things a little bit slow these days so do stay tuned!

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Our plan for this morning was to take a taxi to one of the flower markets Kunming is known for. However, while on the taxi the driver told us that shops at the flower markets don’t open so early (it was about 8.30am)… so she suggested we drop off at a nearby mall (WalMart!) for some shopping before we head to the market. As we had a flight to catch at midday, we only had enough time for WalMart… actually I like strolling through markets and supermarkets when I go on trips – one gets to see (and feel) how locals live – the food they eat, the things they buy, etc.

After WalMart it was back to our hotel to check out, get a taxi to the airport and check in for our 45 minutes flight to Lijiang. We arrived in Lijiang shortly after noon, found the minivan we booked for airport transfer, and checked in at the Tea Galleria inn which is situated on Lion’s Hill, overlooking Lijiang ancient town.

View from The Tea Galleria, Lijiang

We paid CNY 200 a night for a room on the second floor. The room itself was quite comfortable and the lady boss Jenny made us feel at home. Our airport transfers, Naxi ancient music concert and bus tickets to Lugu lake were handled by her, and she took no payment from us until our last day in Lijiang. Our room door opens out onto a corridor where there are tables and chairs where guests can just sit around, have some snacks and enjoy the scenery and fresh air.

Our small but cosy room

Tables and chairs are provided outside the rooms for guests to lounge around and relax

This is the inn's front gate

I only have two grouses about the room. First, the room door was only secured by a tiny little lock about 2 or 3cm wide (the type people use to lock their bag zippers) – it feels a bit insecure especially since the room door cannot be shut completely – it’s hard to explain but thats the way it was. However I have to say that security shouldn’t be much of an issue since the inn is situated in a residential area where there isn’t much human traffic, and it would not be possible for strangers to walk in unnoticed – Jenny has 5 cute dogs keeping watch all day (3 pugs and 2 puppies). Second grouse is about the lack of sound-proofing. We can hear every small movement the people in the next room makes… that’s how bad it was.

These small issues aside, we would recommend the Tea Galleria to everyone for its price, location, service and its 5 cute dogs.

One of the 3 pugs at the inn

Looking tired and grouchy

Aren't they cute?

Lazy afternoon for the dogs

The puppies were having their lunch while mummy seemed kinda impatient

Anyway, after checking in and resting for a while, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the old town. Lijiang ancient town is a UNESCO World Heritage site… however, over-exploitation and commercialization has made it into a Disneyland of minority cultures – all the shops, restaurants and businesses are there to cater for tourists… and at night the town becomes somewhat like Patpong in Bangkok with clubs playing booming dance music and girls dancing on bartops, minus the sleaze. I find it a pity, because with a little bit more control the local government could have made it into a nicer place with modern amenities but still preserving an authentic atmosphere of the ancient town and culture of the Naxi minority. The music from the clubs got so loud at night that we could hear the thumping beats from our inn up on Lion Hill.

There are lots of small canals like this in Lijiang Ancient Town - the townspeople wash everything (laundry, food, dirty dishes) with the water

Yak yogurt tastes really awesome. We had a bottle (CNY 4 each) every day while in Lijiang

Making ginger candy the traditional way

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Day 1
We had an early morning flight on Tiger Airways to Guangzhou, arriving at about 1030hrs. The Guangzhou Baiyun Airport is probably one of the best airports in the region in terms of design, facilities and speed of immigration and customs clearance. Due to the H1N1 problem, we first had to fill out a health declaration before going through immigration. The quarantine officer who processed me asked me “Are you feeling unwell? You seem to be perspiring.” although I already filled out the form declaring that I was in good health. Uh. I think it was because I had oily skin. I told him so and was waved on.

The day before we were notified that our connecting flight on China Southern to Kunming was cancelled. We were instructed to get our flight rearranged upon arrival in Guangzhou, so we hurried to the domestic check-in counter once we collected our luggage. After 15 minutes of running around, we finally got our boarding passes for a Shenzhen Airlines flight. Whew. We then went to look for somewhere to have lunch. The good thing about Baiyun Airport is that food prices are quite reasonable (15 CNY for a rice meal with veggies and meat – barely edible for a Singaporean palate but still is food), and there are plenty of food choices… ranging from rice meals to McDonald’s. So much better than the airports in Shanghai and Beijing.

After a flight delay and approximately 90 minutes in the air, we arrived at Kunming Wujiaba Airport. It was in pretty bad conditions for an international airport – the washrooms were in an appalling state and the whole place, including the taxi queue, was quite chaotic.

We checked into the Economic Trade Hotel after a short taxi ride, and by the time we settled down it was already dinner time. After a short walk in the hotel’s neighborhood we took a taxi to a street which is famous for a whole row of wild mushrooms hotpot restaurants. The taxi driver tried to take us to a place she recommended which was not on my list of to-eat places – I presume she would get a kickback for bringing us there. At her insistence we got off the taxi in front of the place she recommended but we just walked off towards the direction of the restaurant we intended to dine at.

Yunnan is famous for its huge variety of wild mushrooms due to its climate and altitude (some prized varietals grow only in high altitude areas). Songrong (the highly prized Matsutake), Jizong (chicken palm mushroom), Niugan (porcino aka “cow liver” mushroom), and Ganba are the four varietals Yunnan is most famous for. We tried all four of them. In the restaurant one can order either fresh mushrooms or frozen ones. Fresh ones were really expensive, with Matsutake going for 150 CNY (~US$20) per serving. We only had the frozen ones as they were much cheaper and we only wanted to have a taste of them so we were not too particular about having the best. Dinner cost us 150 CNY for a goose meat hot pot with four types of mushrooms and some veggies. Quite pricey for this part of China where a bowl of noodles can be had for 3 CNY.

After dinner we took a taxi to the Jinmabiji Archway where we took photos and shopped around a little in the nearby malls. We walked around till all the shops started closing (at about 9pm) and then had a KFC meal for supper, then took a taxi back to our hotel. Oh, KFC prices in China are steeper than in Singapore, at 28 CNY (~ US$4) for a meal with 4 drumlets/winglets, a cup of salad and a drink. But Chinese people simply love KFC – more so than McDonald’s.

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