Blue Pumpkin by brokenrunner

We were looking for this restaurant called Blue Pumpkin to have our lunch. I don't know who suggested that. But because I have absolutely no idea where to go, I just followed. We walked and walked and walked. I think we walked in a big circle.

Now, where is the Blue Pumpkin? Blue lagoon came to mind! hahahah! hee hee hee.... then Blue Lobster came to mind.... Blue Lobster? The gay bar in the Police Academy? Erm... I think it should be Blue Oyster?

Well, never mind, WHERE THE HELL IS THE BLUE PUMPKIN?

After a while, many heads were over Sotong's Lonely Planet guidebook. (see pic on right) I forgot to add that it was a hot day okay. We walked a few more steps and paused to look around.

And finally! There it was! Just across the road! THE BLUE PUMPKIN!!! We were expecting something blue in colour .... but this is how it looks like from the outside.

So we trotted happily into the restaurant. It was air-conditioned! It was a really nice and bright place. There were 9 of us and we had to take the biggest table there. There was this huge vase flowers which was in our way. We moved it to the side and a staff quickly came to remove it.

I think I know why it was a recommended place. I think locals will hardly patronise this place. Firstly, the price isn't what they can comfortably afford..... I think so. Secondly, who but tourists will spend hours there doing what we saw they were doing.

Some patrons were sitting on this row of very comfy couch....... and their food was served there!

Wow! On our first visit, there was no vacancies for any of us. Then on our subsequent visits, I think think we all each had a go! ahhahaha!

I have evidence okay! Just look at the pictures! Just see how lazy they were!

This Blue Pumpkin was really a very endearing place. We went there a few times. In fact, everyday we went there! No la.... we didn't go there everyday to sleep okay! You see, Blue Pumpkin is not only a restaurant but also a confectionery. After 7pm. the buns there will be sold at half price. Every morning, we had to get up damn bloody early so we bought the buns for breakfast.

Sotong and I ordered Fish Amoke Ravioli one night. The serving was fine for me but Sotong was almost crying when he realised the size of the serving. He said he ordered the wrong thing! Not wrong okay! He enjoyed it but just that it was too little.

Those who know Sotong will know that he eats like a hungry caterpillar! We later shared a plate of spaghetti which was such a let down!

Sigh.....Blue Pumpkin..... after a while, someone called it Red Pumpkin...... hahahah! or was it Whit Pumpkin? or Blue Ginger? Blue Cucumber?

[2.3 Leper King Terrace/Phimeanakas of Angkor Thom] - Sotong

0920hrs: We proceeded onwards after passing through the South Gate of Angkor Thom. After a quick toilet break, which is FREE for tourist (yahyy!!!), our first stop is the Leper King Terrace.

Here this is the terrace:

Notice the engravings and sculptures all around the structure. The history of the Leper King Terrace remains a mystery to this date. One theory is that name comes from the statue right at the top of the terrace represents King Yasovarman, who died from leprosy. Another theory is that the status represents Yama, the god of death! And the rows and rows of sculptures represents the Apsaras, Nagas, geniuses, monsters, sea creatures etc.









There is a little maze within the terrace whereby the whole length consists of rows of sculptures.











We left the terrace and track across the field towards our next location. Behind us, you can see rows and rows of stones that are waiting to be assembled back to the orginal structure. But wait..... what is Sotong doing croaching under that tree?







Okay.... Sotong is admiring the tall tree...... what tall tree? THIS tall tree.... and now we know why Sotong was croaching over the floor.....








.... it must have intrigue the rest... coz... one by one... they came.... they saw..... they were SNAPPED!!! Okay... everybody got so excited we forgot about the tree.....










Okay... enough of all this tomfoolery, let us move on towards the Royal Palace. But first, we approach the gate leading to it. Somehow, this gate has a modern feel to it.... I just can't put a finger to it... but... (check out the clue at the bottom hee hee)
























Anyway, most of the buildings were constructed using sandstones. In those time, the common people were not allowed to use bricks or stones to construct their houses, it was reserve solely for the King and temples. Having said that, not all the royal buildings were constructed in stones. Some were built using wood, but those structures did not survive to this day.
Another two lovely photos taken at the gate.










1015hrs: Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the King's personal Temple within the Royal Palace: Phimeanakas
Like the rest of the structures, this temple has steep and narrow staircases on all four cardinal directions. Brokie and Lily managed to climb to the top.....











Vincent made a little side excursion to take some shots of a local model. She was in a very cooperative mood and here are some of the nice shots taken by him.

[2.2 Angkor Thom Southern Gate Entrance] - Sotong

0855hrs: Left Angkor Wat and onwards to the south gate of Angkor Thom , one of the largest of all Khmer cities. Angkor Thom is like a square approximately 3km on each side. The walls surrounding it are pierced by four gates at the cardinal points, and the roads that pass through them converge o the central State Temple - the Bayon.
On either side of the road leading to the South Gate of Angkor Thom, lines statues carrying the body of a giant serpent - a seven headed Naga in a form of a tug-of-war. The figures on the left are gods, while those on the right, with fierce grimaces, are asuras (demons). This depict one of the story engrave in the walls of Angkor Wat about the Churning of the Sea of Milk, a battle between human and demons to wrestle for the amrita, the elixir of immortality. Of course, humans won and thus they became gods.

















Top-Left: Statues of gods in tug-of-war position. Top-Right: Close up of the god statue. Bottom left: Statues of asuras against the backdrop of the moat which surrounds the whole City of Angkor Thom. Bottom-Right: Statues of asuras in tug-of-war position.

Having said so much, here's a close up of the Southern Entrance to Angkor Thom (About time too... geewhiz.....)

Entry via the Gate is shared by both Vehicles and Pedestrians, so we had to take turns (so-call) to pass through it. But once over, we saw throngs of buses and vans parked right at the side of the road, waiting for Tourists (like us) to walk thru the gate and board it so that we can be on our way to the next ruins.

Of course, among the tourists and vehicles, you must expect the entrepreneurs from Cambodia.....








The group of hat sellers....... waiting to pounce on any innocent tourists who may stray into their path. And of course, for the adventurous, you can also pay between USD15 - USD20 to hitch a ride on an elephant into Bayon, the main Temple of the Angkor Thom city.












As you can see, entrepreneurs are not restricted to adults, well you will see more of such 'salesperson' all over the ruins.

Day 2 - 16th December 2006 (Saturday)

[2.1 Sunrise at Angkor Wat] - Sotong

0300hrs: Wakey Wakey!!! My alarm went off at 3am..... *GASP* why so early? Silly me!!! I forgot that Cambodia is one hour ahead!!! So setting my Mobile Alarm at 4am means it's only 3am in Cambodia!!! What a Sotong I am!!!..... how to get back to sleep? DO is super efficient..... all washed up, changed and ready to go by 0415hrs.










0440hrs: The weather was cooling and refreshing, very windy indeed. We reach the pass office in no time and there were already quite a number of people there. Making the 3-day pass was simple, just hand them the photos and USD40 per pax. All they had to do was to put the photo and the pass in the laminating pocket and pass it through the laminating machine. Within seconds, the pass was ready!!!

Another shot of Angkor Wat later in the day, when there was more light. I remembered what Balasing told me about going to the left pond in front of Angkor Wat in order to get a good shot..... alas, seems like everybody knows about the secret!!! This is what the crowd looks like..... *glurp*










Brokie having a go with her camera, on the left is the lily pond in front of Angkor Wat. Lots of nice red lilies.













0645hrs: Time for breakfast!!! There were many stalls just lined along the left of Angkor Wat, beside the Lily pond. DO gamely treated everyone to breakfast..... Cambodian Coffee and Milo. We saw someone ate Egg Omelette on French Loaf.... looks interesting, but nobody tried it as we finished the breakfast we bought from Blue Pumpkin the night before.

After breakfast, we saw the the crowd near the lily pond as disappeared. So we took the opportunity to take a group photo.....









Hmmm... sombody's missing.... WHERE'S BROKIE AND VINCENT?!? *horrors* Okay.... we need to re-arrange ourselves (I think this joke is getting over-used... *sigh*.. NEXT!!!) Another shot with just the ladies only..... the MEN don't get it!!! Hmrph!!!









Here's another panaromic view of the main temple of Angkor Wat itself with part of the lily pond and part of the field, and part of the walk way leading to the main entrance.

This is supposedly once a library. A very small one at that. Most of the structures in Angkor comes with such small libraries just inside the main entrance. There are two more libraries with similar structures inside the main temple of Angkor Wat too.

The stairs leading up to the main temple of Angkor Wat has been overlaid by wooden steps. I can think of two reasons (1) to protect the original steps from being over-used (2) to make it easier for tourist to walk up the narrow and steep steps. And on the right is the exterior of the main temple of Angkor Wat, and also the third enclosure of Angkor Wat.









This is where the walls will tell stories, with exquisite engravings of different stories in each of the exterior walls, most of which comes from Hindu sources: the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics. The carved area is truly immense, and stretches to over 600m in length and 2m in height.

Along the way, we met a famous photographer and a famous model, see if you can identify them.












Okay not sure if this lady is a famous photographer or a famous model, but thought this shot looks nice so I took it.
Anyway, I continued climbing up the steep stairways of the Uppermost level of the temple, which carries the five towers and surrounding galleries. This final level is the highest and inner most part of Angkor Wat and is suppose to represents Mt. Meru where the God resides. View from the top *pant* *pant* The steps are real steep!!!!!








Anyway, more pictures of a statue of Buddha (I think) and one of the tower.











We found a nice window to take some artistic shots, model for a day? make that model for a minute!!! EXCUSEEE ME..... ARE YOU A MODEL? Okay, so I look a bit like the guy in Da Vinci Code.... so sue me!!! (notice the peeping Tom at the bottom corner of the picture? arrgghh!!!)











Some internal architectures and sculptures that we can see in the interior of the upper level. Top left: Inner architecture of the temple. Top right: 3D sculpture found on the wall. Bottom left: Ancient "Window Grill" hee hee. Bottom right:Multiple corridors, common among the Angkor architecture.




















Wonder what they are looking at? A bird? A plane? *gasp* SUPERMAN???

Now you know: Looking at everyone gingerly climbing down the steep and narrow stairways. Not only that, they are extremely uneven, also through wear and tear, you can see chips at some part of the stairway. Negotiating your way up and down takes alot of concentration and care. This is the stair way facing South and is the ONLY one with hand railing to aid climbers. For the adventurous, try the other 3 sides.




















Of course, our Husband and Wife team also made it down the stairs safely.











Nice pose? SGRunners posing in Angkor Wat, calendar photo 2007. All looking stylo milo right? hee hee...... a group of tourists from China were so impress by our 'professionalism' that they engage our services to take photo for them.....
....... anyway, this is one of the five towers which represents Mt. Meru. Notice the steep stairs leading to the tower. That's the stairs we were refering to prior to this.
The interior of the Temple to lead the way towards the inner most sanctuary!!!
Here's the dark and eerie passage out of the main temple.... and Vincent not looking too please that he has to leave..... so many places to visit, so little time!!!









Well, here's one happy visitor to Angkor Wat. Cheers granny!!!!!
Goodbye Angkor Wat!!! We shall be back!!!!! Now off we go to visit the rest of the ruins..... a good start to the day!!!