Siem Reap - ATV Countryside Tour

We decided to be more adventurous on the second day and took the kids to experience the "real Cambodia" to explore the country side and its paddy fields. The rainy season caused the roads to be extremely muddy so don't expect this to be 'clean' fun if you intend to take this tour.

ATV Countryside Tour

In case you don't know what "ATV" stands for, it means "All-Terrain Vehicles". So basically it is a 4 wheel drive vehicle which you drive along muddy roads besides the paddy fields.

The path towards to countryside

We set off from the hotel towards the countryside. I have to warned that the journey to-and-from the hotel is actually the most dangerous part. If you are not used to driving on the main roads in an unfamiliar vehicle, then my suggestion is not to do this tour unless you are confident of handing the machine or that the tour starts and ends in the country side.

A lot of mud puddles along the way

You can see how muddy the road is and thankfully, we are on the vehicles.We cross a wooden bridge and you can see the paddy fields from afar.

A wooden bridge across the river

We drove past some make-shift stores. It was an 'eye opener' for the kids.Not sure if you dare to buy food and water from them though.

Make shift stalls. 

We drove past some farmers with their cows on their way to work.

Farmer and his cows

We drove past many children and this two kids were probably too playful to go school this morning.

2 playful kids waddling in the pool

Anchanh Primary School

There are probably a dozen of kids missing from school and playing in the fields or pools. Maybe it is the canteen break?

School lessons over?

Future Ronaldos in the making

The school boys in action on the make-shift soccer fields and the ball flew all over the place. Look at the nice paddy fields from afar. The rice served in Cambodia is actually quite fragrant. Similar to those found in Thailand.

A banana kick resulted in the ball going into water

Water buffalo

Even the water buffalo can take a break today! It was a happy day for all...

Food Review - Heritage Suites, Siem Reap

Menu

From my earlier post, you would know that we stayed in Heritage Suites in Siem Reap for 3 nights. We had dinner there on the first and last night. Here is a quick review on the food we had. We had the tasting menu on the first night. (The menu on the bottom right below).

Tasting Menu

Detailed menu

 Bread with real garlic and butter!

The garlic bread came with real garlic and butter which you then "mashed" together to spread on the bread. It was really delicious.

I always "judged" a restaurant by how good the bread is. If the restaurant serves good bread, you can be pretty assured of a certain level of standard for the food.

Linguine Carbonara with egg

My kids ordered a plate of Linguine Carbonara. It was pretty tasty and usually you can't go wrong ordering this even though it is not my favourite. The seemingly raw egg blends nicely with the bacon and pasta and tasted good. I am not a fan of this dish but it does look and taste good.

Tuna with mango

The first dish of the tasting menu is the tuna with mango infused into it. If the dishes looked "fusion" to you, i don't think you are wrong. The taste does blend well with the tuna and mango melting in your mouth.

Foie Gras cambodian style

The Foie Gras tasted fine as well but not as exquisite

Jazz night

It was Jazz night when we were there and things can get rowdy and noisy. It is a form of gathering for the 'expatriates' working in Siem Reap and many came to network every thursday. If you cannot 'tahan' loud music, then my suggestion is to avoid this place during Thursdays.

Grilled Mekong "Lobster"

I am not sure why they call this a "lobster". It looked very much and tasted very much like a prawn. It must have been a busy Thursday night as the prawn was a tad over-cooked and once prawn is overcooked, the texture becomes more rubbery

Beef tenderloin

The beef tenderloin tasted much better than the "lobster" and the portion is just right and goes really well with a glass of red.

Exotic Gratin

The exotic food is actually a "Dragon eye fruit" in Chinese. hahaha can't remember the English name for this. I gave it a miss.

Breakfast at Hotel

The breakfast at the hotel is "ala-carte" buffet style where you can eat as much as you like but order only what you like to have. I find this arrangement much better than buffet style.

Omelette with sausages and bacon

My kids love the Omelette while we prefer ours the sunny side up with a runny egg yolk waiting to ooze out.I will take the egg and put it into my noodles.

Sunny side up

Bee Hoon Chicken

I had the bee hoon for 3 mornings in a roll. It was that good and tasted heavenly with a dash of lime. The chicken blends better than the pork and beef as it is less hard.

Ala carte Dinner

Italian Barolo

We had dinner on the last night here as well. We ordered some similar dishes from the tasting menu and had a bottle of red Italian wine.  (I will not repost the same dishes we had here).

We shared some soup (can't remember what exactly) haha..scallop carparccio salad and lamb rack. The meal we had was good and the lady serving us was excellent. She is really an outstanding waitress who make sure we are well taken care of and provided excellent service. (I must remember to take their pictures next time).

Soup

Salad

Lamb rack

My intention of this blog is to build up the pages slowly overtime so that it can actually help 'archive' some of the nice memories we had and provide reference materials to fellow travellers who share the same passion as me.. I still have tons of pictures which is in my hard drive and i will share them slowly whenever time permits (such as when the market is in a doldrums) haha... but somehow at the rate at which we love to travel, i think i will have a difficult time catching up... :-P

Happy travelling.

Hotel Review - Heritage Suites, Siem Reap

It was a pleasant surprise to be picked up by an old vintage Mercedes as part of the airport transfer from Heritage Suites. It was like travelling back in time. The Heritage Suites website is here and the reviews on tripadvisor is here.

Old Vintage Mercedes airport transfer

There are 2 vintage cars that were bought by the owners of this hotel to ferry hotel guests to and from the hotel. Siem Reap is pretty compact in that the airport is pretty near the city and the temples. The transfer from the airport only took about 15 mins.

The two vintage cars

The hotel is part of the Relais & Chateaux chain.

It is part of the Relais & Chateaux brand!

Heritage Suites signage

Hotel Entrance

Part of the hotel block (normal rooms)

There are different types of rooms and suites available at the hotel. Pick one that suits you. We had an executive suit with 2 extra beds and a jacuzzi in our room. The suites are located at the back of the hotel.

King Size Bed

Two extra beds in the "living area"

The jacuzzi pool is just outside but it is not very clean as the leaves kept dropping into the pool.

Jacuzzi.

Vanity Top

Bath tub

Welcome tropical fruit platter

Welcome drink

Trees and pathway to our room

Small Swimming pool

The trouble with being in a natural setting, there are many frogs and lizards outside the room. The only good thing is that they won't crawl into your room but may create a little trouble if you are afraid of these insects and creatures.

The hotel owners are pretty thoughtful in their little ways with small gifts everyday. The first day was a pair of "sarongs" for your visits to the temple. The gifts for the second day is ointment for insect bites and on the third day, it was a pair of fans below.

A pair of Fans

Overall, the hotel is very comfortable with little thoughtful gadgets such as an iPod player but there is no TV unless you request for it. It was a comfortable for 3 nights chill out and serve as a good base for exploring the town of Siem Reap and the surrounding temples. I will recommend this hotel to anyone who is keen to visit Siem Reap.

Flights review between Singapore & Siem Reap

Jetstar Airways from Singapore - Siem Reap

We flew from Singapore to Siem Reap in Cambodia through Jetstar Asia and back via Silkair.

I have previously mentioned that it was cheaper to fly by Silkair from Singapore to Cambodia but unfortunately, due to work commitments, we had to fly out late on Thursday afternoon and Jetstar was the only flight available.

My review:  The interior of the aircraft was dirty and there were  food stains near the seats where we sat. In fact, i spotted some curry stains on the pouch in front of me. The fact that we have to pay extra for luggage, seats, online payment, food... etc etc and that it was cheaper to fly via Silkair left a bad taste on Jetstar. We didn't bother to eat or drink onboard.

Silkair from Siem Reap - Singapore

The aircraft from Siem Reap to Singapore was pretty new. It was a refreshing change from the dark black leather seats of Jetstar. The fact is i can choose my seats and everything else is included in the price. The highlight for the kids were the toys and the meals on board. :) We definitely prefer Silkair to Jetstar if given a choice.

Kids meal

The kids had pasta chicken and

Fried rice with fish

the adults had fried rice with fish. The winner for me is Silkair even though the food we had were mediocre!

:)