Siem Reap Day 3: Bayon, Angkor Thom, Blue Pumpkin, Old Market (Phsar Chas) & Angkor Night Market (Part 2)

Here’s Day 1 to Day 3’s recap:
Siem Reap Day 1: Khmer Kitchen Restaurant & Artisans d’Angkor (Part 1)
Siem Reap Day 1: Angkor Temples – Preah Khan & South Gate & North Gate of Angkor Thom (Part 2)
Siem Reap Day 2: Center Market (Phsar Kandal) & Red Piano
Siem Reap Day 3: Angkor Wat & Ta Prohm (Part 1)

After Ta Prohm, I still have to make one more stop even though it’s urgghhh SCORCHING HOT!!! There is no way I’m going to miss the beautiful Bayon temple.

On the way to Angkor Thom (that’s where Bayon lies), we passed Ta Keo again. Here’s a snap shot of it from the moving tuk-tuk.

Don’t bother visit Ta Keo if you are pressed for time. This temple lacks carvings and the steps are more dangerous than those found in Angkor Wat.


This is Terrace of the Elephants. And nope I did not visit it. Just zoomed pass since it is just by the roadside. With no shades whatsoever don’t think I’ll go down and have a look. Hehe

Here is the the beautiful valley of Bayon!

My tuk-tuk driver asked me another ‘heart attack’ question.

Tuk-tuk driver: “I meet you at the other side?”

Me: “Ohh no no. You wait here. We come back here.” Muhahahahaha

Love this shot. 🙂

The most recognizable image/structure of classic Khmer architecture after Angkor Wat is probably Bayon; towers with 1 ‘smiling’ face on each of the 4 sides facing north, south, east & west. But not all towers spotting the 4 sides though.

Another wow moment. I don’t think I can build something like this even with ‘unlimited’ supply of lego set! Haha

Photo below was photoshopped to B&W to bring out the artsy effect. Hehe

Notice some tourists’ heads at the lower left corner? Hehe we’re so tiny.

The photo below was actually very dark SOOC. After some photoshop treatments, it became one of my favorite photos of Siem Reap.

Hope you like it too. 🙂
Take a while… look and be mesmerized. How on earth did they built that?

Tell you something. When I first passed Bayon on my way to Preah Khan on Day 1, I didn’t know ‘that valley’ was Bayon. Because from far, it doesn’t look like Bayon. It’s more like some old ruins with faded stone color located centrally at Angkor Thom. But as you near this ‘valley’… WHAM BANG… behold… you’re looking at one of the most beautiful thing on earth! 🙂

After a mere 15 mins at Bayon (yes too bad, I would love to stay longer but wait till you hear my reason haha) we told our tuk-tuk to bring us to The Blue Pumpkin for lunch. It would seem that I’m the ‘puteri lilin’ (candle princess) type but I assure you I’m not. It’s just TOO HOT and because I was templed out very early on… remember??? So everything I see also feels like I’ve seen before and so I didn’t take long at each temple. 😛

And this wraps up my visits to Angkor Archaeological Park. Among the few temples I visited (few may be the word but they are the 4 must visit temples); Preah Khan, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon, I love Bayon the most – had a nice feeling there. At other temples somehow I feel there’s this energy and sometimes eerie feeling. The most eerie temple is Angkor Wat. Hehe

We had the most amazing lunch at The Blue Pumpkin because the food were great and also because we finally found an air-conditioned restaurant!!! We didn’t know about the air-cond at first but we decided to check out their first floor (lounge) and wah la… upon opening the glass door… cool air! But funny though the air-cond wasn’t very cold… just cold enough to sometimes let you sweat a bit. Hahaha ya I know funny but we’ll take it.

First floor @ The Blue Pumpkin.

The special seats (right) – where you get to put your legs up in a very large sofa (bed?).

Tuna sandwich @ US$5.25 (sorry blurry); Very yummy… surprisingly!

Fresh spring rolls @ US$1.50; Delicious and ‘fresh’. The mint leaves and nutty-vinegar sauce blend perfectly with the spring rolls containing shrimps.

We also ordered a health drink called Lolita @ US$1.75 (shared with my travel partner since I’m still cautious about what I drink). It’s a mixture of apple, ginger, lemongrass and wild honey. This is my TOP FAVORITE drink. Especially refreshing after a hot day out at the temple. Highly recommended!!! It got me hooked on lemongrass!
Total bill: US$8.50. Worth it; awesome food & drink plus air-conditioned lounge. 🙂

After lunch we checked out Kokoon (next to Blue Pumpkin), a boutique selling shawls, candles, artworks, shirts and many more. Bought a lemongrass soap @ US$3 (yeah expensive).

Then we walked to Old Market (Phsar Chas), the place to get souvenirs!!!

Cambodian silks… pretty colors ya?

Buddha & Bayons carvings. I was tempted to get one of the Bayon carvings but couldn’t find the perfect one.

Let’s buy! buy! buy! haggle! haggle! haggle! Hehe

Let’s see what I bought…
1. Cambodian trousers (very cute!) x 2 @ US$12 – usual was US$17 per trousers
2. Cambodian scarves x 4 @ US$20 + got 2 free scarves (a bit expensive but totally worth it as they are really beautiful) – usual was US$7/US$8 per scarf
3. Postcards (4 packets of 10s) @ US$3 (cheap neh?) – usual was US$2 for 1 packet of 10s
4. Tees x 3 @ US$3.90 (yes your read that right! super cheap hehe) – usual was US$5 per tee

Really satisfied with my loot. Yes I’m a great haggler! Hahaha Besides knowing how to haggle, you need to know the secret of shopping at Siem Reap. Remember I told you I learned an important Cambodian custom from a hotel staff which will benefit my shopping later?

Here it is… Cambodian has this custom whereby when they make the first sale of the day it will signify good busines to them for the rest of the day. Which means for us the customers, be the ‘early’ customer… hagglehagglehaggle to bring the price down to 50% or more. 🙂

One thing I like about haggling in Siem Reap is they will entertain you no matter what unlike some other places e.g. Chatuchak in Bangkok where they have kinda ‘fix’ haggling prices. Plus Cambodians are really friendly people. I had a bunch of fun time haggling and talking to them. 🙂

So how do you know you’re the first customer? You don’t. Just go early. Afternoon is early enough. When we’re there after lunch, the place is quite deserted.

After shopping we went back to the hotel to rest. Only come out again for dinner at 5.30pm.

Guess where we went for our dinner? Hehe Blue Pumpkin again. 😛

The Blue Pumpkin @ ground floor. Pastry & bread anyone?

Ice-cream & cashier counter. Didn’t try the ice-cream though.

Stewed pork with mushroom with rice @ US$4.50. Sorry for the blurry photo. This is yet another delicious dish. Ordered Lolita again. Haha Total: US$10 – bill includes macarons 😉

Then we head to Angkor Night Market for more shopping.

The souvenirs here are almost the same as those found in Center Market & Old Market. So we basically walked by hurriedly. Again please don’t mind the blurry picture. I had no patience. Haha

Managed to grab some magnets and 2 beautiful purses (not from this stall mind you). 🙂

We also visited the Noon Night Market which is just across the road. Boring stuff as they are yes… same-same stuff.

When we went back to our tuk-tuk, my driver was shocked. Haha Shopping that fast? kekeke

That’s all for day 3.

Coming up day 4 and day 5.