Phnom Oudong

Day three at Cambodia was a laid-back kind of day. We woke up late and were not in a rush to do anything. Our only itinerary for the day was to take a tuktuk for a short trip to Oudong.

We had lunch first at a Japanese restaurant near Mad Monkey Hostel. To get to the street with lots of food choices, from the hostel, turn left, and then left again at the first street with the convenience store at the bend. Go straight for around 3 blocks. Then to your right, you'll spot a temple, look to your left and you'll see a street full of restaurants. It is parallel to the street of Mad Monkey Hostel. We spent around 3 USD/pax.

After lunch, we headed back to the hostel for the tuktuk that will take us to Oudong. The ride was priced at 10 USD/pax, and took around 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the traffic. During our time, there were lots of road constructions going on so that there was much heavier traffic. It was also very dusty, so you better bring a cover, such as a scarf or sarong, for your face. Don't forget, the roads there are literally rough and rocky.

Phnom Udong

Oudong or Udong, is a town located around 40 km north-western of Phnom Penh. It was once an ancient capital which was home to a succession of Khmer kings. It is famous for bearing a mountain stretch which was believed to have a shape similar to the Naga, the magical multi-headed serpent that can be seen guarding Buddha. Atop one of its hills is the Phnom Udong, the largest stupa of Cambodia. 

Stairs to Phnom Udong

At the base of the hill, one can see the royal tombs bearing the remains of 200 years worth of Khmer rulers. The way to the top of the hill comprises of 509 steps. The climb was pretty easy since the steps were not steep. The views were scenic, and there are certain stopovers along the path with benches and tables where I picture people sitting for meditation or even having picnics.

Outside the halls of the Buddhist temple

At the top is the Phnom Penh believed to have a buddha which faces north instead of the traditional direction of east, symbolizing the power and might of the ancient Khmer Kingdom. One can enjoy a full 360 degree view of the flat Cambodia countryside, with Buddhist temples in front and slightly to the left, below.

The Buddhist Temple below Phnom Udong

 After taking in the views, we headed down to explore the Buddhist temples below. It also has a reclining Buddha. We didn't get to see much, so we headed back to the hostel to freshen up for a dinner along the Riverside.

Karma Restaurant and Bar

 We took a tuktuk to take us to the riverside, which is lined by bars and restaurants. We had a sumptuous dinner at Karma Restaurant and Bar along Preah Sisowath Quay. There's a small cluster of shops there which offers happy pizza, if you know what I mean. We spent around 5 USD/pax, but we were all stuffed. We ordered all their house specialty. You should try their Amok, it was heavenly! The curry sauce paired with a spoonful of rice was enough to satiate your hunger.

Khmer Dinner

Following dinner was desserts at the Blue Pumpkin still located along the Quay. It is Cambodia's original French bakery and ice cream parlour. We had some ice cream and chilled at their second floor where you could lounge on their white comfy sofa beds with large pillows.

Chilling at the second floor

But of course, we're in Cambodia, so we bought one order of happy pizza from Happy Herb's Pizza. Happy pizza is supposed to be pizza garnished with cannabis. Yes, cannabis. It is commonly used by Cambodians for cooking as a therapeutic herb. Each order of regular pizza costs around 5 USD.

Happy Herb's Pizza

We then hired a tuktuk to go back to the hostel and retire for the night. A word of precaution: when traveling using tuktuks, be careful with your bags because there are lots of snatchers roaming around the city. Also, the streets aren't very busy and do not always have street lights, so better stick to the roads with many tourists or locals walking around than be adventurous and walk along an alley without a soul in it. Anyways, the locals, the staff of the hostel, and even the tuktuk drivers would usually warn you about the common modus operandi of snatchers and such, so better pay attention to them when they do.


Costs of the day:
- Tuktuk to/fro Oudong: 10 USD/pax
- Dinner: 5 USD/pax
- Pizza: 5 USD
- Mad Monkeys Hostel (2D2N): 17 USD for 4 pax (4.25 USD/pax)
Total: 24.25 USD

Majestic Angkor

Visiting the Angkor Archaeological park would have to be the greatest highlight of any Cambodia trip. If only I was given more time, I would have explored it for three whole days rather than the fast paced 1-day tour that I did. The whole complex, which is around 400 square km, represents the 9th to 15th century Khmer Empire. It boasts of temples, basins, dykes, reservoirs, canals, and communication routes. Formerly the center of the Khmer Kingdom, it was the major site for Khmer's cultural, religious and symbolic values.

ANGKOR WAT

No-Filter Angkor Wat Sunrise

To best experience this site, visit it during sunrise and sunset. During my visit, I was pretty puzzled as to why people would go to any length just to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, brave the chill of the dawn coupled with darkness, and position themselves in front of the lake on the left side of the Angkor Wat temple. I thought to myself, "It's just sunrise. What's the big deal?" And then, as I was gathered in front of the temple together with hundreds of spectators, and as the sun's rays began to shine on the temple, a magnificent chill overcame me and went through my spine making the strands of hair on my back stand up... It was one of the most majestic sights I have ever witnessed in my whole life. The sunrise event takes place for more or less 15 minutes. As the sun ascends, the view changes; everything changes, the colors, the shadows, the skyline, they made me truly awestruck.

What happens BTS

After the sunrise, we then hired a guide to tour us around the Angkor Wat temple. There are many tourist guides available roaming around the complex, so don't fret. Also, they charge the same rate that's why you don't have to worry about being ripped off. They are really friendly, and good in explaining the complex, so better pay attention. Mainly, the walls tell stories of Hindu mythology. Scenes were carved from Mahabharata and Ramayana. The temple is adorned with sculptures, which are mostly that of female divinities called "apsaras" created for the entertainment of the Hindu gods. These divinities were often depicted in dance poses and were seen wearing pointed crowns. If you fancy having a tour on your own without shelling some bucks, search and download audio tour guides from the internet and listen to them as you go along. Or bring a trusted traveling book with you.

The Inner walls of Angkor Wat

The Angkor Wat complex was designed to replicate Mount Meru, home of the Hindu God, Vishnu. Bearing five peaks surrounded by mountain ranges and oceans, Mount Meru was architecturally represented by Angkor Wat by also having 5 peaks surrounded by outer walls and moats. The monuments rise in tiers towards the center tower, with higher towers at every corner of the concentric squares. It was thought that, since the main central tower of Angkor Wat was made facing the West, symbolizing death in SEA, the Angkor Wat was built by Suryavarman II to serve as both his tomb and as a temple.

Angkor Wat view from behind

As part of the "small tour package" that we availed at our inn, we then proceeded to Bayon Temple where we decided to eat our simple breakfast consisting of 2 slices of baguette, 2 slices of bananas, and 2 packets of butter and strawberry jam. It was a truly simple and humble breakfast, if I might say.

BAYON TEMPLE

Bayon Facade

The Bayon Temple is basically "massive stones lying on the ground." Before you are able to enter the temple, there are guards to whom you have to present your Angkor Wat pass. This temple, situated at the center of Angkor Thom, is unique in such a way because it contains giant stones making up faces bearing different kinds of smiles.

Bayon Temple Panorama

Walk along towards the top and you'll see the beautiful collage of smiling stone faces. The view kind of makes you feel like you're in Machu Picchu.

BAPHUON TEMPLE

Just walk across the Bayon temple, and to your left, you'll see a towering temple, the Baphuon Temple. Before being able to access the temple, you'll have to walk through a long bridge-like structure towards it. Oh, I can only imagine it during its hay day! When the people of Khmer walked through it to go to their temple.

View from the top of Baphuon Temple

This temple is quite striking because just from below, you'll see an altar-looking structure at its top. You have to climb all the way through very steep sets of stairs to the top to see yet another set of magnificent views! Believe me, climbing those steep steps is worth it. The dilemma would be going down through another set of steep stairs, but no worries, it's actually more fun than scary.

On the way down

On the way to Ta Prohm, we had a quick stop at a restaurant in front of Angkor Wat for lunch, which was priced at around 6 USD per pax.

TA PROHM

Wall/Temple-Eating Trees at Tomb Raider

 More popularly know as Tomb Raider because it was used as a shooting spot for Lara Croft's Tomb Raider movie series, Ta Prohm's jungle-eating-temple theme makes it truly unique from the other temple sites. You'll see enormous tree trunks eating out (or in) temples.

Ta Prohm Panorama

We were done exploring all of the aforementioned temples at around 2 in the afternoon. I swear, although the views are Angkor-edible, you'd really feel like you've seen one too many stones and temples for one day. So, we opted to go back to the inn to freshen up before being picked up by a van for our bus transfer to Phnom Penh that same night.


Costs of the day:
- Angkor Wat 1-day pass: 20 USD (paid at the entrance to Angkor complex)
- Angkor Wat small tour: 10 USD for 4 pax (3.75 USD/pax) (arranged at the inn)
- Angkor Wat tour guide: 16 USD for 4 pax (4 USD/pax) (arranged on the spot inside Angkor Wat)
- Lunch (for sharing): 23 USD for 4 pax (6 USD/pax)
- Bus to Phnom Penh: 8 USD/pax
Total: 41.75 USD/pax

What to do when You're Single and Bored

I'm sure we've all had those days when the hours seem like years, and we just don't have anything planned out to kill that much time. It doesn't matter whether or not you're single or in a relationship, dragging days really do exist. Unfortunately, for the single people out there, it's much harder to find things to do to spend some time. So, here are some not-new-ideas you could try to work with (in no particular order):

Eat

Yes, we are all too familiar of doing this, and it's probably the first thing that came into mind while you were reading the title of this boring post. We tend to resort to eating because for most people, it's the default thing to do. Whether or not you're stressed or perfectly relaxed, busy or just staring at the ceiling or into nothing, this act of putting food through the GI tract is probably the best choice when you've got nothing else to do. Besides, as Freud postulated, the first thing that we satisfy as infants is our oral needs. So, eat, eat, eat!

Khmer Dinner at Phnom Penh

Watch Movies/Series

Don't want to binge and thus, gain weight? You could try catching up with movies of your liking. If you're not the movie-kind-of-person, why not catch up with the latest episodes of your favorite series, or, just finally start watching episodes of one of the most talked about series now? Get copies from your friends or download such from P2P, and you're good to go. Nothing beats a Lord of the Rings trilogy marathon or How to Get Away with Murder series marathon from fast-forwarding time. In this case, slow internet connection's probably gonna be your only enemy, aside from low storage space.

Not quite sure which movies to watch? For the hopeless romantic but wanting to have some LOLs... or not:

• Blended: the most recent movie collaboration between Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, this hilarious romcom deals with two single parents, who are just trying to get through life while raising their own set of children. They first met each other at a horrible blind date set up by their friends, and then later got caught up together with their kids at a fantastic family 'blending' retreat in Africa. I'm sure you've seen their prior movie team-ups, so you'd know what to expect. If not, see 50 First Dates and the likes. 
• Love, Rosie: this British romcom rocks, yo! First off, because the lead characters are English, and pretty much every word that comes out of their mouth sounds holy to thy ears. Second off, it stars the Hunger Games' hot Sam Claflin, and Mortal Instruments' cheeky Lily Collins. It's a movie about 2 best friends who've friendzoned each other, and then goes through a series of bad relationships and hardships in life separately, and then finding out that love sometimes takes time, and that no matter what, those who are meant to be together will eventually (hopefully) find their way to each other at the end. It's like the movie One Day, but with a happier, much more satisfying ending.
• That Thing Called Tadhana: this Filipino movie is about having your heart broken, finding out how and where to get the courage to start picking up the pieces, and then being brave enough to open up and find love again. This ultimate hugot or so 'much feels' movie stars Angelica Panganiban and JM De Guzman.

For the young at heart (and or even mind):

• How to Train Your Dragon 2: this sequel did not fail to follow into the footsteps of the virtues/values shown during the first movie. It's still about treasuring family, finding out more about who you are, where you belong, and doing what you feel serves your purpose most. It's about finding your inner strength and making it a weapon to defend those you love. After learning to live with and love dragons, the riders of Berk learn of the presence of the alpha dragons, encounter dragon catchers and a mysterious dragon rider, and set out to try to win a battle for maintaining peace for both humans and dragons.
• Big Hero 6: this Japanese movie is full on laughs and heart-touching moments. It's about the things that matter most (family, friendship) than having revenge over the people who've hurt us. The tale tells of an incredible bond between Baymax, a robot health care provider, and a technology genius child who suffers the loss of his family and now seeks to avenge them.

For the thrill/suspense/action + fantasy seeking type:

• The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies: the third and final installment to the Hobbit trilogy shows the story of how Bilbo and his company defended the Lonely Mountain through a series of combats between five different armies all striving to conquer such stronghold and its treasures.
• Guardians of the Galaxy: let Groot and his company of weird, crazy and unexpected criminals-turned-heroes save the day in a series of comic battles against a fanatical warrior trying to take over the universe.

Out of the ordinary/mind-blowing movie:

•  Gone Girl: after his wife's messy disappearance, which was blown out of proportions by the media, Ben Affleck's character becomes the suspect to a murder, and finds himself uncovering a series of lies that got him to his position to prove his innocence. Also Starring: Rosamund Pike, and featuring HIMYM's Barney Stinson.

 For Series marathon, I recommend the following:

• Awkward (just finished with Season 4): sewn with really cool indie songs from MTV, this series tells of the story of how an unpopular 15 year old gains immediate, unwanted, and unfortunately, negative popularity at her high school when the student body mistakes an accident she has for a suicide attempt. Starring: Ashley Rickards. Looks familiar? You've seen this girl at One Three Hill as Brooke's adopted daughter.
• 2 Broke Girls (currently at Season 4): 2 young unlikely pair, one who's lived all her life down and below life while the other has had silver (even gold-plated with diamonds encrusted) spoon on her mouth since birth, team up for a business partnership (selling cupcakes), and then eventually forming lasting friendships. Starring: Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs.
• How to Get Away with Murder (just completed Season 1): a new mind-boggling series tackling criminal law, the whole first season is all about a team of aspiring lawyers working under one of the toughest defense lawyers/professors to figure out who was the murderer of a college girl while solving other cases each episode. Starring: Viola Davis.
• Suits (currently at Season 4): entering corporate law, a brilliant Mike Ross, who has unbelievably superb photographic memory, pretends to be an aspiring lawyer while working for one of New York City's most sought after corporate lawyers, Harvey Specter. These two take on cases and tear them down with a series of unconventional corporate law strategies. Starring: Gabriel Macht and Patrick J.
• Game of Thrones (currently at Season 5): several noble families fight over the throne to take control of the magnificent land of Westeros, plus dragons and the undead combined with sexual scenes/nudity and really gorgeous people, this series is actually the best of the best.

Read a Book (or something)

Prefer the solitude offered by the pages of a book? Then why not finally finish that one you've bookmarked at page 456 since like forever? Or maybe start reading another one just to satisfy your fill of words and use your imagination to recreate what you've read in your mind. This option takes up less electricity, and consumes less of your energy as well than the previous ones.

Write, or Doodle

Some people are actually getting hooked at calligraphy, even buying those pricey highly-specialized-for-calligraphy-artsy-fartsy pens. So why not write that favorite story, poem, or hugot lines into a piece of paper or wherever suits your taste? Work out those hands, doodle, and add color to them. If you fancy just coloring, there's this very popular coloring book that is tailored for adults, the Secret Garden, An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book. Check it out at Barnes and Noble.

Workout/Exercise

 Hit the gym, start being fit and finally get those abs! or... just maintain that already hot figure. Working out has never been so popular nowadays, and I'm blaming it on the rising trend of cropped tops and celebrities flaunting their perfectly sculpted abs in their mirror selfies post-workouts. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to have some of those abs, I workout three times a week. But having abs is not the only benefit of working out. Here are some of the best benefits to help you be more motivated in donning those workout clothes you bought from Surplus, or for the rich kids, from Nike and the likes.

• Helps improve metabolism
• Strengthens muscles and bones
• Improves cardio-pulmonary efficiency
• Boosts mood, self-esteem, sleep quality and energy
• Reduces risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke, depression and dementia

For a quick read on the miracles of exercise/physical activity, check out Livewell.

Here's a quick workout for those wanting some toning:

• Warm up exercises (1 minute each): butt kicks, high knee jog, side step/2 feet lateral hop, stretching of neck, hamstrings and quadriceps, shoulder rotations, elbow lock
• Set 1 (3 reps with 1 minute rest break in between reps): 10 reps of push ups (if you cannot tolerate doing push ups on the ground, you increase the inclination and then just gradate as your upper extremities get stronger), 20 reps of body weight squats, 30 seconds of isometric exercise for abs/core muscles (full or elbow planking)
• Set 2 (3 reps with 1 minute rest break in between reps):10 reps of pull ups or biceps curl with weights (if you don't have dumbbells, use water bottles, etc), 20 reps of side lunges (10 reps per side) or step ups (10 reps per side), 30 reps of alternate forward shoulder reach while in planking position
• Finisher: 20 reps of mountain climbers and or 20 reps of shoulder press with burpees
• Cool down: stretching

Or you can opt to download apps like NTC (Nike Training Club) or choose any from these Top 10 workout abs.

So, basically, there are lots of things we can do during those stretching hours of being alone, I mean, single and bored. Reading blog posts like this one is one, as well. Well, anyway, no matter how you spend the time, so long as you're content and happy at what you're doing or what you've done, then all's well that ends well. And, well, nothing lasts forever, so this state of being 'single and bored' would prolly end too. (wink wink)

-xo