Bye Bye Siem Reap !!

16th September, 2008 - It's our final day at Siem Reap. My heart felt kinda heavy .... told myself, must take the kids here some time in the near future, when they are able to take on the steep climbing and long walks challenges ...

After checking out of the Villa Siem Reap and took our last breakfast, we stopped at the Silk Farm. Learned about the processes of making silk ... interesting. Silk worms are fed with mulberry leaves till they turn into cocoons and become bright yellow like the ones shown in this picture.

After which, these cocoons are boiled and the women workers then takes out the thread and spin them systematically into rolls. Dying and tying process follows, then painstakingly weaved into pieces of unique fabrics. Nice ... soft to the touch ... made into pouches, textile, scarves, pillow cases, shirts, etc.


Next, off we went to the Western Baray. This marvel of ancient civil engineering is now a popular local picnic site. Stretching 8m by 2.2 km, it is the largest Baray known to have been built during the Khmer Empire. At the middle of the Baray is found an island where the monument which once had a superb bronze statue of the Reclining Vishnu. In the middle of the island, the attentive viewer will recognize the shape of a hollow or reversed linga, that is to say, a linga which impregnates the water, making it fertile and thus causing all the rice fields and meadows over which it spreads to be fecund.

Stalls like these stands along the beach ... BBQ frogs, village chicken, snakes and god know what to cater for local picnic-goers ! Wanted to try but was immediately turned down by the others ... they say it's iiii .... ieeeee ... ha ha ha ... maybe next time then :-)

Finally, it's bye bye time. After a round of hugs to the tour guide and driver, off we went to the check-in counter with a heavy heart ....

Had time for ice-creams and shopping within the Airport. Here's my favourite poster : Queen Diary ice-cream .... Yeah ! Some of us sent postcards, self addressed to our respective KL addresses .... for rememberance ^_^

Board the 2:40 pm flight .... glad to be greeted by our friendly Malaysian air-stewardess and ... the first thing I did was to catch up on Malaysian news !!!! Bye bye Siem Reap ! All in all, a wonderfully pleasant and interesting trip ! Now, I am back to my HOME SWEET HOME .... realised how much I missed my kids when I saw their happy faces ....