blurpenguin

Heh! I had hoped/wished for the Grand Prize of RM50k + a Family trip to Tokyo Disneyland for 4... but we got the Consolation Prize in the end!

2 months ago i sent in about 9 photos of Hannah early years for the Dumex 50th Year Aniversary Competition.. "Si Manja Paling Ceria" Contest. A rep called several weeks later saying I had won a camera for my efforts and will courier the prize to me... though, i still don't know which picture won.

I received it today... a Panasonic Lumix Entry Level Camera (Model LS80), which will replace my parents aging digital Casio... Since it's entry level, the build is a bit plasticky... but the functions all look good... way better then any entry level Olympus i have seen... + this camera has 8MP & AntiShake!

Not too bad lah... it was only a RM20 investment! (wash photos, envelops & stamps) and it got me a RM549 return! (the supposed value of said camera)


I also recently purchased a replacement camera for the one which was Stolen/Lost in Redang. The insurance claim gave us RM850, enough to buy us a brand NEW! Canon Ixus 860IS - one model up from the one stolen (Canon Ixus 850IS)... I didn't want to fork out an additional RM300 for the very latest model as this looks good enough... hopefully i won't regret this decision!


woo... lot's of digital cameras in the house... & Hannah will get my parents Casio digital camera when i exchange the Panasonic with them, as the current one she's playing with seems to be giving up the ghost!

Heh... yeah... as in the title... Siem Reap, Cambodia was literally is like a gigantic theme park of old ruined temples ("Angkor" in Khmer means "City", "Wat" is "Temple"). This small and truly third world town is wholly surviving on tourists! Admidst all the dusty roads & zipping tut-tut's are its many motels and 5 star hotels catering to its multitudes of foreign visitors. The US dollar is the currency used... and things are not cheap...


The town itself is not very big... with several roads making all of it... but the roads are long and lined with all the hotels, art & craft galleries, eateries and markets selling souveniors.


Of course will all the Tut-tuts (motorcycles pulling a carriage seating 4!) ferry all the visitors around for USD2 per trip, the place can get messy... with no regards to any traffic system and honks blaring very often. They traffic goes the american way... right side.

Overall the people are laid back... and very accustomed to foreign visitors...




Of course the main draw is the UNESCO World Heritage Angkor Archaeological Sites. Which U pay USD20 per pax for a single day pass, USD40-3day & USD60-7day. With an estimated over 2 million visitiors per year... u can see where they get their money from!

The archaeological sites, are of course unbelievable... they are the biggest in the world... spanning across 3ooosq/km. Its both impressive and ludicrous what has been achieved... So many temples for WHAT! They said the main Angkor Wat took 1 million people 30years to build it!

We went to only 2 temples... & with such humidity and heat... it was enough... u seen 1, the rest are almost the same... but it's still impressive...





We did get a balloon ride to see the view from the air...

Julie's company customer event was being held in Cambodia, Siem Reap, home of one of the 10 ancient wonders "Angkor Wat"... and I was the official photographer... WOOT!

Siem Reap is totally run by the tourist industry... practically all their roads are occupied by Hotels... from Super budget... all the way to super High End!...

I think ours, Victoria Angkor Resort & Spa was a Mid-High end one... it was a tastefully mid-sized Resort... with very attentive/hospitable staffs... excellent food too...

The room we got was very nice... a king size bed with extra pillows... the only thing wrong was the ethernet port was busted and the wifi coverage was bad... so we ended up switching rooms later the night we checked in.




The toilets are nicely decorated... a bit cramped but ok lah... the soaps and shampoo were all poured into jars... so was kinda messy/hard to use... not very practical...



All over the Hotel were crafts and handicraft of cambodia... very antique but nice... with lots of lotus flowers too... since it was also blooming time.



They do give lots of extras... not sure it's because it was a company thing or not but... u do get a nice welcome fruit platter every 2 days... and if they turn down the bed at night... they leave u a small gift...

keh... they also had 4 baby crocs in a glass enclosure...

Today was a slow day... started with church in the morning, then lunch... a nap, then a try for the Kuantan River Cruise which was incidently closed, a short stop over at Kemaman Kopitiam for drinks then to Gelora Park for the kids to play around...

Immediately as the kids alighted from the car, they ran to the playarea and started doing their usual climbing, swinging, sliding, crawling and jumping around.

Thankfully Hannah seems almost well already... except for some bouts of stomach uneasiness...


Phoebe was a bit cranky the whole day... kinda naughty too throughout the day... donno why... shudder... "missing the maid already?"


My parents did go for a round around the jog-path in Gelora before joining us back again at the children's playarea...


So we stayed around till the sky got a bit dark and decided to head back for a quick bath before going to our appointment with crabs at Sri Mahkota! Woo Hoo! YUM!

My dad's going home to Ipoh the next morning already...

We finally took the journey to Pantai Kemasik... since Hannah seems to be getting much better

The journey there was quite long, cuz it's just after Awana Kijal... which is kinda far... total journey came to about 1.5hr... but we did stop by the Natural Batik shop for my parents to get some souvenirs and the Turtle Sanctuary, near Cherating beach...

We finally arrived at the beach around 4.45pm amidst heavy traffic.

There were no shells in sight! What a shocker! This beach which was literally covered with seashells the last time we came, was today bare as ever! What happened! We speculated - either the Raya crowd was so dense and totally stripped the beach bare or the change in tides and missing big monsoon waves had ceased bringing in the shells... since this time round... the tide was very low and the waves not crashing at all!


Thankfully the low tide and calm waves brought a different delight to this beach... pools of sealife were trapped all over the rocks! We caught sight of unknown sealife and some even dangerous ones like urchins and sea-leeches...


My parents also enjoyed climbing and searching ever nook and cranny for sea creatures... so thus the lack of shells was at least not so disapointing. Only Phoebe was left out of the fun since climbing the rocks was too dangerous for her.


The journey back was long and horribly slow partly due to the super heavy return raya traffic and the dumb amount of traffic lights to get past Cukai, Kemaman - 10 Traffic lights in all! and they all turn red at every stop!

Sigh... brought Hannah to see the doctor again today... since she keeps complaining her stomach is painful... and refuses to eat...

all the doctor said was, her stomach was recovering... and gave some medicine to relief the stomach movements... and advised her to really have some food in... if not if it develops to a full blown gastric problem... she's done for... sigh... sigh...

anyways... i came this --><-- close to force feeding her today... then i gave up... sigh... just let her eat whatever... if she wills herself, i'm sure she would had easily overcome the discomfort and just gobble the food... but no... she just ignores and squirms/whines her way out.

But... hah... in the evening, we brought my parents out to Pantai Batu Hitam... the place was again FULL of people... mostly i guess guests from outstation or something... this place is a unique beach... not so much of a super clean beach... but interesting for kids. One side a super flat beach for flying kites and such... the other rocky... filled with "Black Rocks" thus its name...

the place as usual was a treasure trove of live sea creatures... hermit crabs, balitongs, crabs... mudskippers and small fishes... my parents were both pleased and surprised at the black rocks in the area... and readily speculating lava rocks from eons ago...


Hannah was cautious hopping from rock to rock... more often then not, calling out for help... Phoebe on the other end... gungho... jalan terus only...


Mom and dad... heh... enjoyed searching the rocks and even took back a black rock as a souvenir.

Hannah's still sick... or at least whining and almost not eating at all... the situation is... grrr... terribly 'geram' for me...

so... Julie suggested to just get out and do something... get some fresh air for Hannah... even if we can't go to Pantai Kemasik... so after some brainstorming... let's go back to Pancing Waterfall aka. Sg.Pandan Waterfalls!.

We left kinda late partly due to duh... Hannah not eating... but we did arrive about 4.30pm... and we saw many cars leaving when we were arriving... so we thought, at least it wouldnt be crowded, but WOW... there were still many cars & many people still there... imagine if we had went earlier - it would have been jammed like sardines!

This time round, we didn't climb to the main falls... we just played at the river... icy cool river!

Phoebe... heh...the water baby, just plonked herself and totally enjoyed herself...


Hannah, despite her stomach problems (all internal) also just gleefully played in the water... you would have thought no more problems till u pose the question "what do u want to eat?"


Of course it was my parents first time there also... and the icy cold water did take them by surprise... but they did enjoy themselves at the river...

My parents are in Kuantan with us for the Raya weekend... partly also because our maid is back in Indonesia for the month...

We had wanted to at least go to Pantai Kemasik... but Hannah has been sick since sunday... partly food poisoning and semi-gastric. Sigh... it has been a trying and tiring past few days... with a whining Hannah... who has difficulty keeping her food in... and taking almost an hour and a half to eat a tiny portion of food.

so instead, we just dropped by TC as usual (Pantai Teluk Cempedak) for the evening... partly also so Hannah could eat some fries (we had to get something into her stomach)... so the whole time there at least she ate at least 1/3 of a small fries packet... phew... this was after much much pestering... also partly because the outdoor atmosphere did help her overcome whatever nausea she was feeling.

Phoebe and heh! my mom was actively digging into the sand building mini sand castles...


Julie joined in too... having fun with sand!


Not surprising the beach was crawling with people! I think, also due to the fact it was a public holiday... tons of outstation people thronged to kuantan... and partly ended up at the beach too... plus all the food places, literally ALL are crowded these past days!

My dad also wandered all around the beach...looking at people and contemplating stuff... i presume... at least he got to just relax with his grandkids...