“I have read your guide and she has been essential from the planning trip!”

Ele from Italy dropped us an email today after reading through our Siem Reap guidebook by Chinseng and Lina. Thanks, it really makes our day in a4trip the way he put it!

9 Oct 2008 Evening Banteay Kdei– Siem Reap
Shopping Rule of Thumb from Lily: Keep pretending not interested.
We were sitting along the lakeside opposite Banteay Kdei in Angkor Archeological Park. The golden sunset reflected from the lake surface and the windy breeze were comforting our exhausted body. Wherever we were in the Angkor Archeological Park, there are children and adults selling souvenirs or books. We used to say “No, Thanks you” with a wagging palm and walked away. However, we are too weary to walk this time. Our conventional way of “No Thanks and palm wagging” didn’t seem to work anymore.

There was our best seller I have ever met in Cambodia. At her age of 8 to 10 year olds, her ability and sincerity to sell out her souvenirs had impressed me.
“Buy something, Mr. Blue? “ She smiled to Wei Kiat in blue t-shirt, holding some postcards in her hands.
“No, thanks” Wei Kiat grinned.
“Mr. White?” She looked at me.
I didn’t say anything. Wearing a sun glasses, I acted a serious face and rejected.
“Where are you from?”
“Malaysia” I replied.
“Ok lah, Buy Something lah….”
We busted into laughter instantly after hearing our own English slang spoken by the little Cambodian girl.

“How about you, Mr Blue” She was looking at Nicholas who was in blue too.
“How much?”
“1 postcard, 1 usd”
“….”
“Ok, 1 usd, 2 postcard.”
The conversation goes on and it was a successful deal as I saw Nicholas has paid the little girl a few bucks for the postcards.

Meanwhile, Lily at the other corner was telling us that the quality of the t-shirt was actually good. She managed to bargain until one t-shirt at 1USD. However she insisted to pretend that she had not interest on the t-shirts to any sale-girls.

It’s almost time to leave. After getting into the tuk-tuk, we noticed that Lily and her hubby were not following and were inside one of the stalls. We waited patiently for few minutes and she came back cheerfully. She winked and pointed seven fingers out and continued with six fingers, gesturing that she managed to buy seven t-shirts with six USD only.

10 Oct 2008 Evening Old Market – Siem Reap
Shopping Rule of Thumb from Elaine: Bulk Purchase
Elaine planned to buy Karma – Cambodian Silk Scarf, as souvenirs for her family and friends. After asking all of us on the number to be bought, she planned to use bulk purchase for bargaining tartic.

Pointing to pieces of colorful Karma, she asked the lady owner of a stall in Old Market, “How much are these?”

The lady owner was a bit panic when seeing more than fifteen of us gathered in her stall. Since she heard we are speaking Chinese, she asked her favorable daughter, Ah Hua, to entertain us. Ah Hua has a fair complexion and is unique comparing to most of the Cambodian we had met. With her sharp-pointed nose and oval shaped face, she managed to speak a fluent Mandarin as a Chinese. Hence, our bargain sessions were in Mandarin.

“USD 3 per piece” Ah Hua replied.
“If we buy likes 20 pieces, any discount?”Elaine continued.
“Aiyooo… USD 2.50 per piece, I didn’t earn anything, didn’t cheat you.” Ah Hua insisted.
“We buy so many, give more discount, USD 2?”, Elaine gestured her disagreement on the price.
“These are USD2, those are USD 2.50”, Ah Hua directed us on two different quality of Karma. “USD 0.5 to you is like so cheap back in Malaysia, please have sympathy for us.”
“USD 2 per piece” Elaine insisted and intended to leave if her piece is not met.
“Deal, deal…” Ah Hua replied, “USD 2 then.”

Ah Hua started to grin and busy putting the all the selected Karmas to plastic bag for us.
“You speak Mandarin so well, where do you learn it from?” I asked.
“It’s from local language center”
“Do you have magnets?”
“Yes, certainly, come over here…”
After paying all the souvenirs, I joked with Ah Hua “You have an awesome earnings today!”
“Aiyooo.. I didn’t earn anything, didn’t cheat you” Ah Hua grinned while patting on my right arm.
We left Ah Hua stall after Daniel taking photo for Ah Hua and me.

10 Sep 2008 Night Market – Siem Reap
Shopping Rule of Thumb: Check out the better bargain in night market
It was our last night in Siem Reap before traveling to Phnom Penh next morning. After surveying around, it was found that the night market offers a better bargain than the Old Market. The better quality of Karma is selling USD2 in night market. Some of the adult and baby t-shirt are selling cheaper.

12 Oct 2008 Sorya Shopping Center – Phnom Penh
Shopping Rule of Thumb: Buy groceries in shopping center as locals do
Strolling along the grocery market of Sorya Shopping Center, I was looking for mineral water for drinking and Coke cans for collection. Since the market is visited by locals mostly and the price is fixed, I managed to purchase some groceries with a fair price as a local did. Normally, Cambodians intended to sell some products to tourists starting from 1 USD. The locals used to get a lower price.

13 Oct 2008 Evening Russian Market – Phnom Penh
Shopping Rule of Thumb from Siew Ling: Ask for the half of price given
It was our last market visit in Cambodia. Daniel and Siew Ling had planned to grab the last chance to purchase some pictures in Russian Market for their house decorations.

“This Angkor Wat picture is USD 20” the stall owner informed on the price.
“USD 10, USD 10” Siew Ling replied boldly.
“No, no, USD 18.”
“Ten, Ten” Pointing out all of her fingers, Siew Ling repeated.
“No, no…” the stalls owner declined the price, and lowered the price.

The final deal of the purchase didn’t go to USD 10 though, however, the price has been marked down much lower than the original price.

Gear you should pack - Medical Mask

As you travelling around Cambodia with a motordup or a tuk tuk or walking, especially to the floating village in Siem Reap, and the Killing Field in Phnom Penh, the journey will be very dusty. You are advised to wear a medical mask during the journey. Most of the locals are doing so.

Food you shouldn’t miss - (Kuyteav) Chicken rice noodle soup (5000 Riels, 1.25 USD)

You should try this yummy rice noodle early in the morning at the Soup Dragon, inside Old Market Area of Siem Reap. Take a slurp on the hot rice noodles in the morning with a sip of local brewed coffee.

Budgetary place to eat- Chao Praya Cafe/Restaurant

Situated opposite of the Angkor National Musuem in Siem Reap, the Chao Praya Cafe is the best place for you to chill out after a lengthy walk in the museum. Enjoy the air-conditioned and Wifi (USD3 per hour) access cafe, with comfortable sofa. You must try the cold Frappe (Ice Blended Mocha and Chocolate) and the stir fried basil with chicken (USD 2.50) in this restaurant.

Riverfront of Phnom Penh

There is an on-going project for flood protection and drainage improvement at the Riverfront of Phnom Penh. This project is planned to be completed at year 2010. Riverside walking pathway are expected to be constructed by then too!

Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda opens at 8am to 11am and 2pm to 5pm everyday.

There is a Night Market inside the Old Market Area of Phnom Penh at night during Saturday and Sunday. It is visited mostly by locals. Experience the lifestyle of Cambodians while shopping in the night market.

If you would like to experience the city view of Phnom Penh, you are suggested to go to the top floor of Sorya Shopping Center. Grab a Grilled Chicken Burger at the Mc Grill and enjoy the city view of Phnom Penh. It is a great hang out place for teenagers who like roller skating.

If you like the calligraphy of Cambodian, you are suggested to walk along the Street 53 south of Sorya Shopping Center. Along this street, you will see a lot of locals sewing Cambodian names with a sewing machine. Students in Cambodia are required to wear uniform with their name sewed at the top of the right pocket of their shirt. Hence, if you would like to get your name sewed, you can ask the local to get your name translated and sewed on your shirt at USD 1. Their dexterity in handicraft can get your name done in minutes.

a4trip in Angkor WatWhat? Yes, we did.

Recently, a4trip’s crews were in Siem Reap. We planned our itineraries by referring to our own guide. We stay, we eat, we drink, we walk around…to collect new information to be updated in our guide.

It so happended that we drop by at Angkor What? in Siem Reap bar street. There was a white board behind the bartender saying “This is not a tourist information centre. So shut up and drink”. We all agreed with that statement. Perhaps, you should refer to a4trip Siem Reap guidebook if you need Siem Reap travel information

There are a lot of places to eat in Yangon. It depends on what kind of food do you want to eat. At the food stalls on the road sides or at a restaurant? Or even hotel?

I used to eat Kyae-Oh when I go back to Yangon. It is a kind of rice noodle with chicken or pork soup with different kinds of pork organs (you can eliminate them if you don’t eat those). You can order without soup too. It is called Si-chat. Some said it is Chinese food, some said it’s Burmese. Well, it is still good no matter what. One of the famous Kyae-oh houses is YKKO. They have seven or eight branches. There you can order grilled potatoes (kind of barbecue, tiny potatoes put into sticks) and grilled ladyfingers (a kind of veggie).

You can order fresh drinks too. I used to have sugar cane juice. It is freshly juiced and natural. I can’t find the address right now. One is one Sayasan Road, near Kokine Swimming pool. One is near Hledan Junction. One is near Myay Ni Gon Junction.

If you go to China town, you can see a lot of food stalls along the road too. For Thai food, Sabai Sabai is one that I recommend. The house looks colonial style and it is clean too. Another one is Phai Lin on Pyay Road. I don’t have a Yangon directory here in US. I’m sorry about that. I hope you can find the directory in hotels inside the country.

For snack, fried gourd on the bank of Inya Lake is pretty famous and it’s a place where university students used to hang out. Along the Mahabandoola Road in downtown, there are several food stalls which offer indian snacks like samusa, onion balls, grilled or fried chicken in indian style and other Burmese recipe too.

For fine dining, I suggest Karaweik. It is on the big golden mythical bird shape boat facing the serene Kandawgyi Lake and famous Shwedagon Pagoda. It is really beautiful. I guess they have buffet for evening (I ate there last year). So, I hope they still do. In the evening, they have traditional burmese dance and several other show which is free if you have dinner there.