Siem Reap that I had imagined was more like a village that happened to be lucky to be situated near to one of the most famous monumental buildings in the world. Of course it was stupid to think it that way especially now that Angkor Wat has become a tourist magnet for many many years since it was opened to public again back in – well, you find out when. LOL.

I remember getting awed (and a little bit intimidated) by the bustling traffic as we moved our way towards the hotel on a Tuk Tuk. We were galloping down a bumpy and dark road and there were bikes and cars racing on both sides as if threatening to bump into us any time. Traffic would have long died down in Phnom Penh by then but Siem Reap that I found out was a place that doesn’t really sleep. It’s amazing what a booming tourism can do to a small city like Siem Reap.

We checked into a budget hotel called Siem Reap Rooms Guesthouse. It is owned and operated by a husband and wife couple who after so many years of traveling decided to sell off just about everything in their possession in Canada and settled down in Siem Reap.

That alone already tells how SERIOUSLY charming the city of Siem Reap is. I had been in contact with Melisa the wife prior to our arrival in Siem Reap and she was so responsive to all my inquiries via email so I gave my highest credit to her for making our stay in Siem Reap much easier. A self-declared ‘temple junkie’ herself, she was just as excited as we were as she explained how we were supposed to spend our days in Siem Reap with all the limited time that we had there.

“I don’t think the time that you have here is enough to cover everything. You need at least a week to see the temples alone”, she said almost to my chuckle thinking how big the Angkor Wat could really get when I already allocated 6 days for Siem Reap out of all the two weeks that we spent on this trip. If only I knew she was telling the truth… :-(

I didn’t have much problem deciding where to stay in Bangkok and Phnom Penh but the existence of so many budget hotels in Siem Reap gave me a little bit of tough time. We were going to spend our last five nights of the trip in Siem Reap so we certainly wanted to end our holiday in a bit of a style.

The fact that it has 3 beds placed in one room made it the ultimate choice in the end apart from the fact that it is located very much nearby the centre of town, a mere 5-minute walk from the Bar Street where most of the actions are. We paid like USD 18 (USD6 per person!) for a decent at Siem Reap Rooms Guesthouse so we actually saved A LOT on accommodation here.

Everything was OK for the price that we paid. The room was quite spacious and so was the toilet. I just don’t understand the reason behind the existence of a big hole on the toilet door when the room is meant to be shared by three people (I checked another room and the hole was there too). I mean, a hole? On a toilet door? I guess it was meant to test the ‘trustfulness’ among travel buddies. LOL (I did not peek on you Ulai. I DID NOT!! LOLz)

After cleaning up and taking a little bit of rest after the grueling 8 hours bus ride from Phnom Penh, we were ready to hit into the streets of Siem Reaps and see for ourselves what there was for us to see at least on the first night there. Almost in total contrast to Phnom Penh where most people would rather retreat to their hotel rooms even when it is only 9 pm, Siem Reap seems to be a party place with so many pubs and bars and eateries to keep the night going up until late at night.

Bar Street, Siem Reap

My first impression of Siem Reap was – it was such an expensive place to be that for a moment I thought my pocket was not going to last more than a few days in Siem Reap. Everything was in US Dollars so I was slapped with reality as I found out that a proper dish of meal is averagely priced at USD3 AT LEAST. o.O

But then, as I dug deeper into the streets of Siem Reap, I’d come to find out that we actually had the choice of spending less on food by going to the lesser known and usually more hidden restaurants. If you are lucky, you may find a dish of Khmer fried rice for USD1. Good thing about restaurants in Siem Reap is that they have all the prices on the menu so you wouldn’t really feel hesitant  about the possibility of being overcharged.

Siem Reap really is a tourist area so if go there expecting to find peace of mind away from all the suffocating tourists then I’m afraid you are in the wrong place. Of course you can always go somewhere in the corner to get a good massage or something and pretend like you have the place all to yourself but there’s no way you can avoid feeling their existence around you.

You will never run out of places to eat at when you are in Siem Reap but of course I can’t say the same about our Muslim brothers and sisters (sorry). There’s an array of food stalls everywhere – from the exotic to the made-for-tourists kind so you will never go hungry. The food stall area nearby the Bar Street is like the place where most of the people go to at night so you wouldn’t really want to miss it.

I would say foods here in Siem Reap are so ‘typically Asian’, the kind that we cook back at home in Malaysia except that they are mostly laden with white pepper. For me, after all the days I spent in Cambodia, I can safely put Cambodia in the Top 5  of best food destinations in South East Asia. If I were to put it in the right order, I’d put Thailand at the top, followed by Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia in the 5th place.

Our days in Siem Reap had barely started but I could already feel the excitement boiling up inside me as I made my way back to the hotel and prepared for our first adventure at the ancient city of Angkor Wat.

I would have been amazed by the big turn-up if not for the fact that I had already joined quite a number of (other) major marathons so the number of participants didn’t really impress me as much as it did back in 2009. But still, it was still a big crowd of runners at the starting line so the atmosphere was just as exhilarating.

It was good to see a number of new faces among my friends in the crowd and it was just so evident to the fact that marathon is gaining more and more popularity among the people of Sabah and probably Malaysia as a whole. When a first-timer friend told me that I was the one who inspired him to run in the first place, I hastily changed the subject just so that he wouldn’t catch me blushing. :-P

But then, I’d say one would never understand why anybody would do something as crazy as running 21 KM just for the sake of getting some stupid finisher medal which would then be left in the drawer and probably forgotten like forever.

And – If 21km is crazy enough for you, think about those who have the balls to join full marathon. I could feel shivers up my spine every time the idea of joining a full marathon comes to mind – even the slightest of it.Of course the only way to understand it is by going crazy and doing it yourself and believe me, once you’re bitten by the marathon bug as I call it, you’ll know why people like me would waste away so much energy, time and probably money (running accessories, registration fees, flight tickets etc.) on running at marathons.

THE FLAG-OFF of the Borneo International Marathon 2012 turned out to be so silent that I actually didn’t know that it had already started until the crowd was beginning to disperse and move forward IN SILENCE.

It was a somber beginning unlike in most other marathons that I had joined before where the flag off was always ushered away by an uplifting and high-spirited song (The Final Countdown at Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon and I’ve Got a Feeling at Penang International Bridge Marathon was so cool!).
I guess the emcee must be a fan of Liverpool and the defeat by Chelsea in the FA Cup Final the night before must have really gotten into him quite so badly that he even took it to the starting line. LOL.

It was so somber that for once I hoped it was JJ and Ean from Hitz.FM who were emceeing the event so that things would be much more hilarious. Too bad that they were there to run for the 10KM and not emceeing.

So, the run began at the running track of Likas Stadium just as it had been in the past before taking it out to the open road along Jalan Kompleks Sukan and later to Jalan Istiadat before skirting the seaside of Likas Bay along Jalan Tun Fuad Stephen.

Unlike in the past when the BIM would take the runners across the city centre before making a U-turn somewhere nearby Tanjung Aru, this time the BIM did a major change in the route by taking the runners totally in the opposite direction.

Since the run started so early at 5am, I didn’t get to see the beautiful sun rise that I remembered seeing (and amazed by) at Likas Bay when the run was flagged off at 6am in 2009.But then, fret not. The run would take you exactly on the same route on your way back so you’ll see it IF you’re fast enough to get back to Likas Bay in time to catch the sunrise.The run would take you past the entrance to Universiti Malaysia Sabah and later the shopping mall of 1 Borneo which is fast becoming an iconic building since they don’t really have many shopping malls of such a big size in KK . *kidding.

One thing I didn’t really like about the route is that it’d take you back to the same route so you’d see exactly the same things that you’d seen on your way to the turning point.

I’d prefer routes that make a loop so that you’d see a different view on your way back to the start/ end point but then I was in KK so I didn’t have much to complain anyway. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it all. I’m just trying to look from the perspective of a new comer. Heh.

The organizer might have their own reason to avoid doing a loop which is understandably among others to minimize the number of drink stations and hence save a considerable amount of money on volunteers and probably the setting up of drink stations.

The BIM organizer in the past or at least in 2009 that I had participated in might have spoiled us with so many drink stations that I really thought there were too few of them this time.

There was no more power bar which I remembered they gave away at least twice in 2009. Muscle pain relief sprays were insufficient and they had to be rationed up among cramped or potentially cramped runners. I even saw one runner grab a spray away from a volunteer and did the spraying himself almost in protest of the rationing.

So, the run didn’t really go well for me. As much as I hate making excuses, I knew it wouldn’t be an easy run for me no matter how flat the route was reputed to be. Spending most of the last couple of weeks burning my ass in the back seat of a bus and taking a bumpy ride while road-tripping all over Sabah, I was expecting the worse for BIM 2012.

All the hard-partying that I found myself into ever since I landed in Sabah 2 weeks before had certainly taken its toll RIGHTFULLY on me and my running performances.I have never walked so much in what was supposed to be a running event except at BIM 2009 when I did a marathon for the first time but then let’s just say that it was my way of celebrating coming back to the track where it all started. :-P

So, my job requires me to fly all the way to Labuan and later road-trip-ing all over Sabah in the next 2 weeks. 2 damn weeks! I already foresee myself falling into the net of acute exhaustion and turning into a walking zombie just to get whatever it was that I had been assigned to do done and dusted as they say. But then, things don’t necessarily end up like how we expect them to be and true enough,

I found myself on what appears to be more of a vacation here in Labuan. Oh please, everybody needs a break at times right..? RIGHT??? :-D

Language

My first worry about traveling to Brunei had been the probability of a language barrier. Although it is located very much in the vicinity of Sabah, I was quite worried that they’d be a little bit of problem talking to Bruneian people who I knew had their own language.

Apparently, my worries were fast to go down the drain the moment I landed in Brunei and had my first conversation with the immigration officers who spoke perfectly in Malay. Then I’d come to find out that they actually speak Malay, the very Malay that we speak here in Malaysia and it is the language that they use on local radios and televisions and even airport announcements.

Of course they have their own ‘slang’ which is more like their ‘bahasa pasar’ but they only use it to communicate among themselves.

Accommodations

So, all the things that I’d heard about Brunei were true then. It is quite expensive to be traveling in at least by SEA standards and it’s quite difficult to move around because everybody seems to have their own car. There’s no doubt that transportation is a thing of concerns here in Brunei.

Accommodation is quite stiff – I don’t think I can let that go unmentioned. I was actually taken aback by the limited number of (budget) hotels in Brunei but then what do you expect from a country that doesn’t really need tourists to keep the economy going?

Thinking that we might encounter some problem catching a taxi at 5 in the morning, we decided to stay at a hotel apartment (BND75 per room per night) nearby the Sultan Hassanah Bolkiah Stadium so that we could just walk our way to the starting line (of SCBHM). And we were so glad we stayed there. We had come to find out that taxis are so hard to get in Bandar Seri Begawan especially after 8pm, or even if you get one, it would drill a big hole in your pocket.

Transportation

My first shock came quite too soon in Brunei when we had to take a taxi to the hotel from the airport since buses seemed to take like forever to turn up.

It was a fixed rate of BND20 (MYR50) to go to the hotel which was located just a spit’s throw away from the airport. In fact, I could see the airport tower very clearly from the window of the hotel room like the whole of it!

The story with taxis in Brunei didn’t quite end there. Imagine how we spent all the time in the world strolling around in the ever relaxing BSB and smelling every food that we bumped into since we couldn’t afford to buy most of them anyway (kidding) only to find out that we had been deserted by all the buses that we saw here and there earlier.

And to make things worse, there was no taxi around – not a single one – that we had to get help from somebody behind the info desk at one of the shopping malls there.

“You’ll be lucky if you can get a taxi anytime after 8pm here” she said. Being as nice and helpful as most Bruneians are, she ventured dialing all the taxi contact numbers that she had. Quite every time she dialed a number, she’d look at us and shake her head in despair.

She must have contacted quite a few numbers until her face finally lit up and her lips broke into a smile before saying “You guys are lucky. There’s this taxi driver willing to drive you back to the hotel”, then almost with some bitterness in her voice, she continued, “20 dollars”. She must be aware how expensive that was for us poor Malaysians.

Thinking that it might be our last chance to go back to the hotel without sacrificing our much-needed energy by walking our way to the hotel instead, we agreed to that price so there goes our RM50 for a less than 10-minute ride.

That was only 5 KM away so we actually tossed away RM 10 for every kilometer. Quite ironically, it was exactly the first 5Kms of our 21-run the next day. If only we didn’t need to save our energy, we would be more than happy to jog our way back to the hotel NO PROBLEM.

The Attractions

Brunei might have the reputation as the land of nothingness especially now that Jerudong Park is way past its glorious days. But for me, I wouldn’t say Brunei lacks all the attractions that other SEA countries might have to offer.

Tourists wouldn’t come to Brunei if it had nothing for attraction. For me, Brunei has to be looked upon from the perspective of a traveler only then you’ll see its beauty. Of course just like in most other countries, you have to dig a little deeper to see its inner attractions.

Some people would travel all the way to the other end corner of the country to see its rainforest but coming from Malaysia myself, I didn’t quite see the need of doing it especially when we only had like two days to cover everything in Bandar Seri Begawan alone.

Bandar Seri Begawan for me has its own things. The relaxation that you’ll get by just strolling lazily around the city is part of its beauty and charms.

Food

I would say food in Brunei is affordable if you don’t really stay there for too long. Of course if you’re from a country where currency value is smaller against BND then you’d feel the expensiveness of the food. I mean, you can still get a dish of Nasi Ayam for BND 3.00 but converting it into RMs (if you’re from Malaysia like me) would definitely make it look quite expensive (MYR7.50).

One thing you gotta know about Brunei is the fact that it has a VERY limited number of restaurants. I think the people of Brunei prefer to cook their own meals at home so restaurants are not really their cup of tea.

If you’re a budget traveler who needs a proper meal then you should allocate at least BND5-BND6 for a meal in your budgeting. If you’re a cash-strapped tourist then of course the limit is in you or rather your pocket. LOL.

We actually spent some BND 50 for our very last meal in Brunei. Converting it into RMs now, I can’t believe that we actually tossed away some RM125 for that one single lunch alone! That is so not-me! Urghhh! :-D

The People

Brunei for sure has some of the nicest people that anyone could ever meet. They are so friendly and helpful and so easy to deal with. It’s not only they way they talk which is so polite and even humorous at times but there really is something about them that can make you let your guards down a little and still feel safe about it unlike in most other countries in SEA where your alert system is always on the high red.

I actually went to one of the shopping malls in the downtown BSB to look for an MP3 player since I could not imagine myself running the whole 21KM without any music playing in my ears. Then I was surprised when I found out that the MP3 Player was much cheaper than the one that I had previously bought (and lost) in Malaysia.

I was so sure that it was the same model and brand so just when I was about to jump in excitement, the sales lady was fast to tell me that it was not an original item. I mean, where else can you find a sales lady who is honest enough to tell you that the item they are selling is not ori and hence the cheap price?

The fact that we were offered a free ride at least twice is quite evident to the fact that they are so nice and helpful and most importantly AWARE that transportation is difficult in BSB. I could see some hope of improvement there. Heh.Another thing worth mentioning here is the fact that I only heard a car honk ONCE all throughout my stay in Brunei. Can you imagine? ONCE! They don’t honk at people at all! That is so reflective to the fact that they are so blessed with high tolerance and patience.

Brunei – The Country of Opportunity

The only people that you can’t probably talk to in Malay are the immigrants from the Philippines whose presence is quite redundant in Brunei.

But then, unlike in Sabah where most of them sneak in illegally and cause troubles, the Filipinos here a very much needed by the Brunei to keep the economy going. I think the wealth that they are siphoning from the underground has spoiled the Bruneian people a little. They don’t really want to or rather see the need of doing hard labor and all. That is where the immigrants including those from Malaysia come in to fill the void.

As the taxi driver told us “Cars here are cheap and so is petrol and gas. We don’t really need the money. We don’t even need to pay taxes”, he said when he asked why there were no taxis when it was only 9pm in Bandar Seri Begawan.

Looking at how well-off and comfortable the lives of Bruneian people are, it makes me wonder how BETTER OFF we would have been in Sabah if we didn’t join Malaysia in the first place. The people of Brunei seem to be getting all the perks that the people of an oil and gas producing country should be getting.

I actually winced when I thought of all the bad and terribly-maintained and rough roads to all the villages in Sabah which are lucky enough to have at least something that we can call an access road when they are so many of them which are still inaccessible.

Then it made me wince when I thought of all the visitors from the other side of the seas who are now threatening to take over the host seats and kick out us the original hosts as if we now belong to the past and they the present.

Then I thought of all the people in Sabah who had to leave their families back home and went to Brunei (and even Peninsular) to work and hopefully earn good money.

Then I thought, joining Malaysia might have been the biggest mistake after all.

I am just saying.

I overheard from some conversations that most Bruneian runners were not quite ready to take on the half marathon this year so most of them had opted to go for the 10K instead. I can only assume that you’d see more of them in the 21KM next year (when they are ready of course) so next year’s HM is going to be much more hilarious I guess.

It was without doubt one of the best organized marathons that I’ve ever participated in so far. The fact that somebody from the royal family was there to run as well was certainly something the organizer HAD to factor in and consider.

There seemed to be more officers (police, army etc) and volunteers than the number of participants itself so there was certainly no reason for any of the runners not to feel safe. I mean, I kid you not – there seemed to be a uniformed officer at every little junction along the route!

As if the existence of so many patrolling traffic police officers was not quite enough, there were also volunteers riding on bicycles and even those on big motorbikes! They certainly wanted to make a good first impression for something as big as a Standard Chartered Marathon.I’ve never seen so many medics working in one single race ever before. They are all along the road offering you with whatever medical attention that they could give you. I happened to meet one of the expatriates who were in the organizing committee and he told me how the number of medics at the SCBHM could actually cater to the needs of up to 22,000 people.

They must be less than 5000 participants at the SCBHM this year with less than a quarter of them were HM (there was no FM) runners so you can imagine the redundancy of medics.

Running at SCBHM had offered me a little bit of experience of how it is like running for a Full Marathon. With quite a limited number of participants, the runners spread out further away from each other as more kilometers were covered and quite several times I noticed how far I was from the runner behind and before me.Bandar Seri Begawan that I’ve found out is a very green and environment-friendly city so the run actually brought the runners to the greenery of the city and offered with spectacular views and beautiful scenery along the way.

It might not be the most flat run that I’ve ever been onto – in fact there were slopes here and there along the way but most of them were quite gradual so they wouldn’t really kill you.Another thing that is worth mentioning here is the fact that there are so many drink stations at the SCBHM so there were no worries about the possibility of dying because of thirstiness.

I usually grab a cup and take a sip or two at every drink station that I bump into when I’m on a run but I didn’t see the need to do so when I was at the SCCBHM. In fact I remember skipping some of the drink stations because I didn’t want to get drowned with too much drinking.

I knew it right from the beginning that it was going to be a very hot run when I heard that the flag off would only take place at 6am.

I mean, being an ocean away towards the East from the Malaysian Peninsular where the sun rays touch down an hour or so later, the sun has to be factored in when you were to run for the SCBHM. It was burning and mercilessly hot I actually regretted not having any layer of sun-block on my putera lilin skin. LOL.If there was one lesson that really learned from the SCCBHM, it would be to eat at least something before hitting the track.

One thing you gotta know about Bandar Seri Begawan is the fact that they don’t have any 7-11 outlets or 24hrs mini-markets so you have no other option but buying food the night before the marathon – something that I had failed to do. Uhuks!

So I marched to the starting line without a shit of thing in my stomach. I could feel every ounce of energy had drained out from my system when I was only half way through the race so finishing the other half had suddenly become very much of a struggle.All the mountains of food that I ate the night before suddenly became so irrelevant. The energy that came with them might have been sucked by the air-conditioner while I was asleep.

Carbo-loading is just a myth after all or rather; it had to be done the right way. Whatever it is, you still need to eat something before the race.

After much struggling, I managed to finish the run – not in the best of time but I finished it nevertheless and that was all that mattered to me.SCBHM was certainly so worthy to participate in. Great run, spectacular views, excellent organizing and above all great people. I don’t mind joining it again next year.

But that was about it. I walked out onto the soil of Thailand and I couldn’t believe how different everything was despite the fact that it was only separated from the Malaysian soil by a river. There were taxi motorbikes offering to take me to the town center which was quite a distance from the immigration office itself.

Of course I’d walk. I don’t want to miss on things by simply hopping on a motorbike and vrooming my way over to the center of town. And yeah, you know you’re in Thailand when you see these.

I remembered how I wanted to buy all the fleshy magazines in Bangkok last year only to realize later that I still had a long way to go, from Bangkok itself to Phnom Penh, then to Siem Reap and then back to Kuala Lumpur. Stuffing my bags with magazines was certainly not a good idea (you guys should check out their FHM!).

You know how markets have always been my favorite things in the world so I jumped in excitement when I saw one in Golok. Somehow the fruits looked bigger than our fruits back in Malaysia that I remembered – and more delicious looking. It was probably the way they were so well-arranged or something.Vegetables in Golok might look quite similar to the ones that we have in Malaysia and just as various but if you look closely, you’d see some differences. We don’t really see much of this being sold in our markets in Malaysia or probably anywhere else in the world. That is probably why it is called Thai Basil. It was unique to their own country.

I walked on and it wasn’t long before I arrived at what I believed was the center of Golok town. I couldn’t help but noticing how buildings in Golok are so well-arranged and the roads – OMG – they are so wide and well-maintained and smooth I actually gritted my teeth as I thought of the roads in Kota Bharu and even KL.

I noticed how Golok was quite heavy with army personnel in uniforms. Some of them were standing guard while some were patrolling around as if a war was looming or something. Some of the roads were closed and they were army personnel guarding at each of the barricades that they had set up.

Oh well, the Thai government didn’t just put their army in there without reason. Golok is located in the Thai province of Narathiwat which is quite notorious for its series of bombings and gun attacks launched by groups of Muslim separatists. In fact only last year a bombing was launched in Golok and Malaysians were among those who were killed. It even prompted the Malaysian government to advise its citizen not to visit Golok until things calmed back down.

It wasn’t probably the best time to be in Golok when most of the shops were closed and things didn’t seem to be going normal. I was there on the first day of Chinese New Year – a public holiday in the highly Buddhist country of Thailand – so people seemed to be staying away from the streets. In a province where religious sentiments can get quite nasty, I had no blame for them at all.

Being highly populated by Muslim Thais, and for the fact that most of them speak Kelantanese Malay and the women wear tudung (shawl) and all, you can’t really tell a Thai from a Malay in Golok. I was told by my Kelantanese friends that there are differences in their slangs although outsiders like me wouldn’t really know.

The inter-government policy that allows Kelantanese to enter Narathiwat (and vise versa) without the need of a passport makes Golok the most ‘Malaysian’ town in Thailand. Malaysians are known to do businesses here and so are Thais in Kelantan so it really is a well-balanced business between the two sides of the border.

Being there on a public holiday, the number of stalls and open restaurants was quite limited so I was a little bit disappointed. I have always believed that Thailand is the food capital nation of the world and I was expecting Golok to have its own share of the reputation. But then again, it was Chinese New Year so it is not fair to judge Golok based on all the things that I saw within the very limited time that I have had on a public holiday there.

There were stalls here and there but most of the foods were quite too Malaysian I had to say no to them. I mean, I was in Thailand so I definitely wanted something different for the only meal that I’d probably have in Golok. Somewhere along the way, my stomach squealed at the sight of what looked more like a pie and I knew instantly that I’d go for it.

The lady who made it spoke in what sounded like Kelantanese Malay and so was the waitress who came to take my order but I couldn’t really understand what they were saying. Being in Kota Bharu for the past 8 days and constantly in close communication with the locals, there shouldn’t be any (more) problem understanding their language. Then I remembered what my Kelantanese friends told me – that there are differences in Thai and Kelantanese Malay slangs. I’d been in Kelantan long enough to finally be able to differentiate them. Heh.

After wandering around for another half hour or so, I finally decided to say good bye to Golok. There was nothing more to hold me back there for so I didn’t see any point of staying longer. I hopped onto one of the taxiing motorbikes and asked to be ‘delivered’ back to the immigration office.

SO, that was how I spent my 3 hours in Golok. It might not be the best time to be there but I am glad that all the questions about Golok had finally been wiped off my mind. And the best thing of all is that I managed to get a new immigration stamp on my passport. I mean, I was in Kelantan on a job assignment so who would have thought that I’d get a new stamp on my passport while I was at it right? :-)

That is the sad part lah. The exciting part is of course the idea of coming to a place for the best time and even more exciting is the fact that you know for sure the place is going to be a very exciting one.

I mean, we are talking about Siem Reap here. It’s like a place that I’ve heard so much about and yet I don’t know anything about as I would discover later. Quite so many times when I traveled to a new place for the first time, I really thought I had known about it thanks to all the blogs and websites like LonelyPlanet.com and Wikitravel.org and all – but then quite EVERY TIME would I find out that my imagination of the place had strayed off from how it is in real.

I would say the bus ride from Phnom Penh is so smooth and almost 100% undeterred. One thing about Cambodia that you should know is the fact that it is so blessed with flat land which is probably why the country is one of the major producers of rice in the world.It is so flat that you wouldn’t see any hills along the way, not until the last quarter of the journey when you are beginning to see mounds of hills scattered here and there but still there are too little of them you would hardly notice. Cambodia really is a damn piece of flat land.Most bus drivers and conductors would put the traveling period at around 6 hours but in actuality there’s no guarantee that the bus is going to make it to Siem Reap within 7 hours or even 8 hours. My estimate was around 8 and half hours thanks to all the stops that the bus had to make along the way.

But of course, stopping is good when you don’t know what you’d see once you are off the bus. I had seen Andrew Zimmern took a bite at one of these on Bizzare Food and then the damn lucky couple at 1000 Places To Visit Before You Die and I remember how I sneered at them because it seemed to take them so much effort (the couple, not Zimmern) to take even the tiniest bit of it.Coming face to face with them, I only had myself to sneer at because I could feel a gale of puke building up in my stomach by just imagining how those hairy things would feel like slipping down my throat.

I DID want to taste them – the intention was there- but thinking that I had another few hundred kilometers to go on the bus, I needed to be in the best form possible. I didn’t want to be stuck in the bus with some funny taste in my mouth and down my throat that threatened to explode at any time, any minute. (Alasan? :-P)

Scaling a country like Cambodia on a bus is probably the best way of getting to know the country in the best way possible. It’s like watching a marathon of TLC that continuously features Cambodia for more than 8 hours or so. Imagine how much you can see within 8 hours! (a lot!)The bus made a few more stops to drop off AND pick up passengers along the way. I kid not – They DO pick up people along the way and let them sit on the little stair at the end of the isle when they are no more seats left. It really is not an ‘express bus’ after all. But then, since we had nothing to catch up with in Siem Reap, at least not on that day, we had no problem with all the stopping. An aunty who was one of those came on board along the way was so eager to have a conversation with my travel buddy Ulai and I could not believe that they were actually talking to each other.It really was like listening to duck quacking to a clucking hen or something and quite amazingly, the conversation actually took place for quite a long time, long enough for the aunty come down to buy boiled corns from a roadside stall and offered one of them to Ulai. Needless to say, she didn’t offer any to me. :-(

If there was something that could have possibly killed me on the seemingly unending bus ride, it would be the Cambodian MTV songs that they kept playing without a single stop on the TV set over at the front.

I mean, they were good songs – so melodic and all – and I actually liked them in the beginning but when they kept playing hour after hour after hour, they were all beginning to sound alike to me after awhile.The Cambodian version of Baby Baby (check out the dislike count LOL) came as a relief to me. The familiarity in that song kinda eased my ears up a little and for the first time in my life, I was so glad that this Bieber guy does exist in this world that we’re living now. LOL.

Every now and then we’d see a group of cyclists wheeze by and quite every time I’d catch myself saying ‘One day Jipp.. One day..’. With such a flat land and straight wide roads and beautiful countryside that they’ve got here, cycling would certainly be such a wonderful experience here in Cambodia.There really is no way you can tell if you’re almost there in Siem Reap unless you’ve been there several times before because the road is so monotonous and so is the landscape. Just when the bus was slowing down and we thought that we were already there, it would continue to roam on for another hour or so and we’d sit back and continue staring at whatever there was to stare at.

The bus would make one last stop for a toilet break – and probably for you go get something to munch over and of course to give you a little bit of chance to take in the scenic beauty of the countryside.Seriously, the countryside in Cambodia is so beautiful I really felt like running right down to the paddy field and turning into a Shah Rukh Khan in some Bollywood movie or something. It was just so oh-my-gawding. I couldn’t believe how 8 hours could be so long when you’re traveling to a place you’re so excited of getting into.We watched how the day drifted slowly into night and that was when the real torture began because we had nothing to gaze at but the Cambodian version of K-Pop on the TV screen.

When the bus finally slowed down and pulled into a compound where hordes of people and Tuk Tuk drivers were waiting in eagerness, we knew we had arrived. We are in Siem Reap!

It would be my very last run before I joined a few thousands runners battling it out at the Angkor Wat Marathon.

There was something exhilarating about running on the riverside of Tonle Sap in the morning. I wish I had started off a bit earlier when the sun was still low over the horizon and the road was still scarce of vehicles.

The sun was already biting a little bit still the air from the river was still refreshingly cooling. It has to be the perfect place to bid my farewell to the city that has over the last few days fascinated us with so many amazing encounters and charms.

Getting back to the hostel, we packed up whatever there was to pack up. Thanks God we didn’t do much shopping in Phnom Penh thinking that we were going to drag our bags half way across Cambodia, to our next and final destination that is Siem Reap before flying back to Malaysia.

It’s always wise to save up as much as you can until the very last minute when you’re very very sure that you are financially safe to survive the rest of your days in the country that you are traveling in. Life itself is already full of uncertainties and it can’t be far from the truth when it comes to traveling as well. Heh.

Since we still had at least a couple of hours to kill, we walked around the hostel area and see what we could see within that period of two hours. There were a lot.

I mean, I’ve read so many blogs writing about their experiences in witnessing the offering ritual where people would offer something to a group of monks – most notably in Laos say Luang Prabang (soon baby, soon) – and some of the would wake up very early in the morning so that they wouldn’t miss the ritual.Well, talking about being lucky here, we didn’t need to wake up so early to witness it here in Phnom Penh. It kinda just happened right before our eyes in the broad day light.

After downing a bowl of instant noodles for breakfast with all the embellishment that they throw in to make it look more visually appealing of course, it was time to finally say good bye to the windowless gloomy room that we had been nesting in for the past few days.

I was very sure that our smell would stay lingering in there for a very very long time. LOL!Worry not about your transportation to Siem Reap because the hostel would be more than happy to arrange it for you. All we had to do was to pay USD6 (KHR24k, MYR18) to them and they arranged everything for us including our pick-up transfer to the bus station. It really was so easy peasy I would say.I was actually quite surprised that we only needed to pay like USD6 for a 6 ++ hrs bus ride but considering how cheap it is at least by comparison to some of the bus rides that I went on in some other parts of Asia, I was actually expecting the worse.

I could already imagine a dilapidated bus with broken windows and non-functional air-conditioner and probably the possibility of sharing a seat with a local who had the head of a duck in one hand and a hen’s in the other.

Well, guess what. My judgment was premature – apparently. It might not be the best of buses but it was so damn alright I actually cursed myself for underestimating what Cambodia could offer in terms of transportation and all.

I was so embarrassed to myself that I really felt like hitting my head on the window so that I’d be reminded not to judge and underestimate any country that I travel to EVER again. After all, this is 2012 la wei! :-D

Oh well, there was nothing much to say about the run accept for the fact that the flag off took place at the National Stadium of Bukit Jalil. It was probably the closest to being an athlete for me and I could almost hear the thunderous applause from the roaring crowds all cheering us up as we took to the starting line.The image of Ato Bolton going against Frank Fredericks during the 100 meters final at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 right there at the very track suddenly flicked back on in my head. I was one of those who were lucky enough to be there to witness it – only this time I was on the track instead of looking down from the stands. Heh.

I have never run a marathon with so many bridges and flyovers and highway ramps crisscrossing all over along the way. It reminded me a little bit of Singapore Marathon that I took a part in about 2 years ago where most of the physical challenges came from the need to run against a series of highway ramps (hate!).The route took us to some residential areas which at 6 in the morning were still so dead and silent. I guess the residents were not even aware that we were running right across their neighborhood. It was Sunday after all.

It really was a damn hilly route that I the run should have been named The Hilly Marathon instead of Brooks Half-Marathon. You know how bad I am at running against the gravity so I really was having a difficult time trying to finish my last few kilometers. I should have known why they put the cut off time at 4 hours instead of the usual 3.5 hours as it is in most other races.So, I finished it – alright – but not without much pain and sore muscles all over me. It was tough, in fact, one of the toughest routes that I’d ever done since I started marathoning not so long time ago so finishing it in the end albeit the not so good time was still an accomplishment worth celebrated. Of course, it was only the beginning of a series of marathons that I’m planning to participate in this year. I have this crazy idea (and probably a little bit kiasu har har) of running at least ONE half-marathon every month until I’m fit enough to run for a full some time towards the end of the year.

THAT probably sounds a little bit over ambitious but then where there is a will there is a way as the say. Besides, I’m planning to do less traveling this year (I guess) so it is probably the right time to do it (FM) once and for all. Heh.

Any wish of good *uck is welcome.  :-D

So, the admission fee is USD6.25 (25,000 Riels) and that is like MYR18.50 in Ringgit Malaysia. How worthy it is depends a lot on how you can appreciate what is offered at the palace.For me, the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh would have been a big WOW if we didn’t fly into Cambodia straight from Bangkok. Bangkok had really spoiled it all. 

I mean, the Grand Palace in Bangkok had already set the bars so high for us that I couldn’t even fake any of those long WOWs that I’d  usually let out whenever I come to a place for the first time.

Even the temples that I found scattered all over Bangkok flashed more grandeur than the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh at least in my not-so-good architectural points of view.

Ya, I know. The T-shirt. I went all over Phnom Penh declaring to everybody that I am  (still) virgin. Never ever try to pursue the truth or I’ll smack you in the head so hard you’ll never gonna see the daylight ever again. :-P

But of course, the best thing you can do in the times when you want yourself to be impressed so badly is to find something that looks uniquely different at least from the ones that you had previously been to (and amazed by).

Sadly though, what I found was more and more of similarities. After all, Thailand and Cambodia used to be under the same empire so that pretty much explains why there are so many similarities in their palaces and modern-type temples.

After cursing myself for not being impressed enough, I proceeded to the Silver Temple to see how well it was going to fare in my eyes. Oh well, the main building was beautiful alright. But then, just like churches, temples in Thailand and Cambodia would look pretty much the same when you see too many of them for quite some time.

The Silver Pagoda (or rather Pagodas since they were a few of them) was beautiful although I had expected them to be much bigger in real.

I am not gonna lie to you but The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh is something that you’d only (and HAVE to) visit because it is listed under Phnom Penh Attractions and not to be as impressed as you’d probably wanted to especially when you have already been to the likes of Grand Palace in Bangkok and all. You know – just to complete the ticking-offs.

If there was something that you should expect to be immensely impressed with in Phnom Penh, it would be the National Museum of Cambodia. Located just a spit’s throw away from the Royal Palace itself, you shouldn’t leave Phnom Penh without visiting this magnificent and spectacular museum that offers so much wonders to every museum enthusiast like me.

The building itself had already made a big impression to me even when I first saw it and looked at it from a distance. I was, and still is, indecisive about calling it red, maroon or pink.

It might not be the biggest museum that you’d probably ever see – In fact it is quite small for a national museum – but the collection of artifacts and ancient pieces of masterpieces within that small building stand proof that size does not really that matter when you know how to fully utilize it. ;-)

I had my every OMG moment as I traversed through the exhibition hall and saw for myself how Cambodia is so blessed with so many spectacular artifacts with amazingly intricate details and priceless values.

It was good to finally see something of a museum in South East Asia that makes it stand at least on par with those hyped-up museums in Europe say – the London Museum in London and The Lourve in Paris. They might be grand in the eye of museum enthusiasts all over the world but most of the artifacts that they are shamelessly displaying now had been raked in from other countries they had probably once colonized, say, Egypt.

Cambodia as a country known for its early civilization and ancient cities doesn’t have to steal from any other countries to come up with such a great museum like The National Museum of Cambodia. Most of the artifacts on the display had been raked in from their very own yards so for that fact alone makes it such a place so much worthy to visit.

Being so amazed with everything there was on the display, we were the last persons to exit of course, and we could have stayed longer hadn’t one of the janitors came shooing us away with a full blown whistle on his mouth. LOL.

So, after one full day of wandering all over the city of Phnom Penh, it was finally time to cool down a bit and let our damn tired bodies regained energy so that we could at least walk back to the hostel. It really was a walking day for us and a bad day for one of the Tuk Tuks who could have had us on board. Heh.

Of course, that was more like an appetizer for would follow next. Evenings in Phnom Penh really are relaxing. The environment is so laid back and it was just a perfect moment to absorb everything from the surrounding.

Being there for the past few days made me realize why Phnom Penh is highly favored by two of my favorite TLC presenters, Mr Ian Wright and Samantha Brown. It really is easy to fall in love with the city.

What I saw next made me jump in excitement because I knew from the moment I first saw it that I was going to have a chunk of it – come rains or storms.  I had to come really really close to it to know that it wasn’t what I thought it was when I first saw it.

There was something so dynamic about it and it was less in fat and distinctively red which made it look quite different from what I thought it was in the beginning. My asking later confirmed that it was a cow (and not a hog as I had first thought).

Another first-time thingy that I found in Cambodia. I’ve seen goats, pigs and even dogs barbecued in their wholesomeness like that but never a cow. A baby cow. :-)

Well, our bumping into that big piece of meat had pretty much decided where to have dinner that evening. Facing the street where people seem to be passing by from wherever they might have been earlier makes the place such a perfect spot for another one of those ‘watching the world go by’ moments.

Just on the other side of the road is an array of open-air barber shops  (or rather stalls) and although I’ve seen some of them when I was in India, the ones that they’ve got here seem much neater and have more of those serious-business looks.

It was the kind of atmosphere that you’d like to be spending your evening in when you’re in a foreign country like Cambodia. The whole place was buzzing with beer-charged conversations (since chit-chat would sound too mat salleh and un-local LOL) and people could be heard laughing and joking and talking out loud over the continuously played-on Cambodian  songs from the LCD at the front. The restaurant seemed to be such a popular hang-out spot among the locals and it wasn’t long before each of the table was occupied.

The only problem was probably the toilet. I was hesitant about doing my business there knowing that there was a CCTV right there at the toilet pump. LOL!

ORDERING FOOD in Cambodia (and probably any other foreign country) had proved to be a little bit difficult because we were not really sure how the foods were going to look like – or rather taste like – based on their unfamiliar names on the menu alone.

After consulting the waiter (thanks God he speaks English and super super friendly, one of those with happy aura), we came up with these.

They had pretty much confirmed my suspicion right from the day I arrived in Phnom Penh that Cambodia is NOTHING SHORT OF FOODIE HEAVEN! All of them were good that we were all ravaging like a trio of hungry vultures who have just found their much sought-after feed or something. Truly a bliss, really. :-)

As for the barbecued meat, the fact that we ordered twice pretty much explains how good it had tasted in our boisterous mouths. In fact, if we ordered a little bit late, we would have even missed the crumbs.

So – yeah, it really was such a perfect ending of our last day in Phnom Penh – a city that I had come to really really like a lot despite the very short stay that we had there. Somehow I believe that Phnom Penh would have had so much more to offer if we spent a little bit longer there but then again – some things are better left unattended to so that we can always come back for them in the future.

I remember updating my FB & Twitter that night with something like - Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to <gasping for air> Siem Reap, the Kingdom of Wonder!!!! Wohooooo!