Time constrain is a bitch. Although I wish to blog more often but blogging just take too much time off my hands. So instead of taking the time to put up all my thoughts, pictures and videos on my blog, I turned to micro-blogging platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram instead.

Until recently, when I received the domain renewal notice from my hosting company, I decided not to renew my hosting and shutdown this blog for good.

Ok I was just kidding. Hahaha… Did I surprise you? Just trying to pull a belated April-fool joke :p I will never throw this 5-year-old baby out the window just like that.

The blog is here to stay, but what should I do with it next? Keep it vacant as it is and update 3 times a year and making promises to update more often which I know I can never keep?

Well, I have no idea either. I was thinking to turn this blog into something else maybe a Tumblr blog or something more advanced like an automated tweets and Instagram compilation blog. But I guess that will take quite a lot of time to implement too. Oh well.

So until I figure out what to do next, there will be nothing much to see here. Or you have better ideas? Do let me know.

Till next time, ciao.

Oh ya, there’s one more thing. Do follow me on Twitter or Instagram for more updates. Just search for my username “denslee”

But man I was proven so wrong after the 5-day trip to Ho Chi Minh City (the capital of Vietnam) in early November 2011 with Peter and Sophea.

This post is about my first impression of Vietnam in general, I’ll post my travelogue soon.

HCMC (short for Ho Chi Minh City) is a big city which I didn’t expect it to be that big with so many skyscrapers.

There are several things I found it interesting in HCMC and the first thing that had us jaw-dropped when we arrived at the city was of course, the infamous traffic situation.

The amount of motorcycles on the road was just incredible. How they dishonour the traffic lights, criss-crossing among each other while honking all the way was really an eye-opening scene.

Another interesting phenomenon is how Vietnamese love their coffee.

Drinking coffee is like their culture, their identity and their only reason to continue living. Okay maybe not to that extend.

But their love for coffee is definitely undeniable. You will see people selling and drinking coffee at every sidewalk all day long. When Vietnamese talk about their coffee, their eyes sparkle. If they can put coffee beans on their national flag, I bet they would.

So what is so special about their coffee? The coffee has some special roasted taste and it tastes really really kao (thick) it’s almost like the espresso of the espresso.

When added with some condensed milk and lots and lots of ice (usually how they drink it), the taste is just superb and satisfying!

It took me a few try to get used to the taste of the coffee and the sweetness they used to drink, but once you get used to it, you will definitely ask for more.

Another thing that caught me by surprise in HCMC is the number of luxury brand stores they have there.

Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Versace, Jimmy Choo and Burberry just to mention a few. And surprisingly, their prices are so much cheaper than Malaysia, almost by half! Too bad even cheaper by half I still can’t afford a single item from those places.

So this is it, my initial impression of Vietnam in general. The city is developing and the people are progressing.

I’ll post my travelogue from day 1 to 5 soon where we found out the painful history of the Vietnamese people and a number of incidents that caught us off guard including how I lost and found my precious belonging.

Stay tuned.

I know… I know… I’ve been gone for a very long time. And for those who have been chasing me for updates, I’m really sorry about that.

I stopped blogging 8 months ago because there were some changes in my life.

But due to some personal reasons, I can’t write about them. If I can’t write about them, my blog is not “up-to-date”. If my blog is not up-to-date, I better off not writing anything.

Execuses I know.

But time flies, I didn’t realise that stopping for a while would be 8 months long.

Many things have happened and many things have changed.

First and foremost, I quitted my full-time job!!!

Ok maybe this is not a breaking news anymore for those who know me in person since it happened months ago.

In a nutshell, I resigned from my position as a Senior Web Designer from a globalised local university and started freelancing web design and development jobs.

It was a big step for me and it was life changing.

It’s not easy at first especially when money is running low and clients refuse to pay. But that’s the price I need to pay for freedom and lifestyle. I’ll leave the details for another post (if there is another post :p).

Okay, so what else happened? Actually I can’t really remember after so many months. I have bad memories.

For now, I will leave you with a picture from the trip to Vietnam early this month. Full story coming soon (I hope).

Cityscape view of Ho Chi Minh City from the Bitexco Financial Tower’s observation deck at level 47.

It’s incredible how time passes so fast. I can still remember clearly what I wrote for my 2010 new year post exactly 1 year ago.

2010 has been a year with ups and downs for me. But at least I have fulfilled my wish by travelling to 2 foreign countries — Hong Kong and Cambodia.

Now let’s summarise my 2010 in 4 quarters.

First quarter

Things were good during the first quarter. I was very much into landscape photography.

Botanical Garden at Japanese Village.

Taiping Lake Garden.

Harvested padi field at Sekinchan.

Lighting strikes somewhere around KLCC.

Beautiful sunset with blue and purple sky.

Lanterns on the highest tower.

The 2nd Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2010.

Then I had the most wonderful birthday celebration with my closest friends at Hard Rock Cafe.

Celebrated my 27th birthday with a bunch of best friends.

And I also went for white water rafting for the first time. It was really fun.

White water rafting at Kampar River.

Second quarter

Things started to change during the second quarter. I started to be less passionate about life until a certain point I realised that my life was a total mess.

But I wasn’t feeling sad or down or anything. Yeah, I wasn’t feeling anything. Nothing will excite me during that time. Until one day I threw myself off my bed and tried to cleanup my mess.

Luckily things got better and that’s when I ran my 3rd 10km marathon.

Standard Charted KL Marathon 2010.

Third quarter

Things started to get better during the third quarter.

I started to take pictures again after I bought a new lens and speedlight.

My new Nikon SB-900 Speedlight and Tokina 11-16mm F2.8 DX.

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur and the fountain.

A picture taken at Putrajaya lake.

My first indoor photography with a teddy bear.

Starcraft II light painting.

My first interior shooting.

Another indoor photography shooting still object.

First pre-wedding shooting.

And I went to Hong Kong for the first time! It was such a wonderful time!

I visited Hong Kong for the first time.

And not forgetting to mention I won a brand new iPhone 4 from Maxis! See, things were getting better and better near the end of 2010.

I won a brand new iPhone 4 from the lucky draw.

Fourth quarter

When it came to the last quarter of the year, things got pretty busy. I was so busy until I didn’t have much time to blog.

First, I ran my fourth 10km marathon at Nike City 10K 2010.

Nike City 10K 2010.

Then I visited Cambodia for the first time. It was such a memorable and meaningful trip.

Angkor Wat at sunrise.

And one last thing which was one of the reasons I didn’t blog much and that’s my pet project StageKL.

I had the concept since early 2010 but not until the end of the year I decided it was time to make it a reality.

My pet project StageKL.

Happy New Year 2011

2010 has been a great year for me and I have a feeling that 2011 will be an even better one.

No new year resolutions again this time. But I will try my very best to make my 2011 the most awesome year ever.

Happy new year once again and wish you all have a prosperous and wonderful 2011!

And I have to say that I love this set of pictures the most because we went to the beach!

A bridge on the beach.

After we went around Phnom Penh for a day, we drove all the way down to Sihanoukville to get some blue sky, white sandy beaches and clear water.

From Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville.

The weather was really on our side.

A jetty at a fishing village and crystal clear water.

We stayed at this Tranquility Guesthouse for 2 days. Everything was great but too bad something happened.

The government was doing some celebration thus drawing all the electricity to the city and we left we unstable electric and water supply.

Tranquility Guesthouse.

But the beautiful beach has already made up to it.

Blue sky, white sandy beach and clear water.

Besides, when we got to eat some delicious seafood, who cares about no electricity or water?!

Look at the golden scrumptious mouth-watering prawns and crabs, mmmh… don’t you just feel like licking your monitor now?

Mantis prawns, prawns and crabs.

A boat parked near the beach.

Given the beautiful sceneries, how can we resist from camwhoring right? Right, so we did.

Me walking on the beach.

Erin under the bridge.

More of us posing under the bridge.

The next day, we went island hopping and snorkelling.

We stopped at one of the islands and our tour guide prepared the lunch on the beach for us.

Grill fish and French bread for lunch on the beach.

Well, I have to say that snorkelling there wasn’t as good as some islands in Malaysia for example Redang. The reefs and fishes there were very limited.

All of us done with snorkelling.

So this is it, the end of our journey started from Siem Reap all the way to Sihanoukville.

Really wanna thank Sophea for all her effort in making all the arrangements, communication, food ordering, price arguing and tour guiding.

It was really a wonderful and meaningful trip.

All the things I saw, all the food I ate and all the experiences I had, will surely remain in my memory for many years to come.

All of us with Sophea’s family.

Cambodia Series

• Cambodia Part 1 — Siem Reap
• Cambodia Part 2 — Angkor
• Cambodia Part 3 — Tonle Sap
• Cambodia Trailer
• Cambodia Part 4 — Phnom Penh
• Cambodia Part 5 Finale — Sihanoukville (this)

The city of Phnom Penh viewed from the Mekong River.

We took an express bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. The journey took us 6 hours. We departed at noon and we reached Phnom Penh in the evening.

From Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

We stayed at Sophea’s house for 3 days. Really appreciate the hospitality she and her family provided.

Her family was so accommodative they really made us felt at home.

Home-cook dinner by Sophea’s mother.

And not forgetting to mention that Sophea’s mother can really cook.

The dishes were so nice we finished everything till the last drop every meal.

Home-cooked Khmer food.

Phnom Penh City

The next day, we went around Phnom Penh and visited some popular tourist attractions.

Monks on the street and Cambodia’s tallest building.

Before I go further, I have to mention that the food in Phnom Penh was simply awesome!

Especially the beef noodle I had. No beef noodle in Malaysia can beat that.

Delicious beef noodles for breakfast.

Pagoda viewed through the gate.

Cambodia National Museum

We visited the National Museum. Not very big but it’s definitely a good place to know more about the history of Cambodia and the ancient Khmer Empire.

In front of the Cambodia National Museum.

Silver Pagoda

The Silver Pagoda is a temple which the entire floor is covered with over 5,000 silver tiles and each of them weighs over 1kg.

The Silver Pagoda.

Ah Miaow in action.

Food again. And it was as delicious as any other meals we had in Cambodia. Really miss the food there.

Cambodian “mixed rice” for lunch.

Choeung Ek the Killing Field

Ok this is a bit of a long story. In a nutshell, it’s a place to commemorate at least 1,386,734 victims being killed and buried at this place by the Khmer Rouge regime.

Read more about the story about the Killing Field at Wikipedia.

Choeung Ek the Killing Fields.

Saw a very nice scene while we were travelling and stopped to take pictures.

A girl carrying firewoods back to the house above water.

Mekong River Cruise

At evening, we went for river cruise at the Mekong River to enjoy the cool breeze and to see the city from far.

Camwhore on Mekong River during our river cruise.

It was definitely a good day trip. Experience is always better than listen. As the Chinese proverb says,

Rather to walk a thousand miles than to read a million books.

It means that it’s better to go out and see the world with your own eyes than to read about the world through the books.

This is very true because if I were to read about Cambodia through books or online only, I will never know how the fried crickets taste like in real.

Fried crickets for snacks.

Cambodia Series

• Cambodia Part 1 — Siem Reap
• Cambodia Part 2 — Angkor
• Cambodia Part 3 — Tonle Sap
• Cambodia Trailer
• Cambodia Part 4 — Phnom Penh (this)
• Cambodia Part 5 Finale — Sihanoukville

I’m really impressed by the ease of use of iMovie’s trailer feature and the result is indeed amazing.

Given the busy schedule for this and next month, I think I will have a hard time in keeping my words to release the full video by Christmas.

So in the mean time, enjoy the trailer.

P/S: If you have not seen my Hong Kong video, you should. It’s really nice

Cambodia Series

• Cambodia Part 1 — Siem Reap
• Cambodia Part 2 — Angkor
• Cambodia Part 3 — Tonle Sap
• Cambodia Trailer (this)
• Cambodia Part 4 — Phnom Penh
• Cambodia Part 5 Finale — Sihanoukville

Floating Village at Tonle Sap.

Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia. These people live on floating houses and they catches fish to make a living.

A black and white portrait of a kid.

They move their houses from place to place according to the water level of the lake during different season.

Ah Miao and Sophea.

We went for a tour around the floating village and it was undoubtedly, “eye-opening”.

Me sitting in-front of the boat while touring the Floating Village.

These people do everything from eating to sleeping on their small little floating house.

A floating house with kids playing around.

Yes everything. From washing clothes…

A lady washing clothes on a floating house.

… to preparing food.

A lady preparing food on a floating house

And you might be thinking, how bout, you know, doing “business”?

Well, you guess it right. It’s on the floating house too! And into the same water where they use it to wash clothes and prepare food!

A kid shitting on a floating house.

Eye-opening isn’t it?

Without basic amenities, these people still have to find their way to live their life.

Kids approaching tourists to beg for money.

Life is difficult. After seeing this, I promise I won’t complaint about my air-cond not cold enough anymore.

But wait, their situation wasn’t the worst afterall. Although they do not have the basic amenities, but they have other things, like a floating restaurant.

A floating restaurant.

And also floating grocery store!

A floating grocery store.

And guess what, they have floating school as well!

A floating school.

Not bad at all right? But I think they are lacking of something important, which is entertainment.

Only if they can have a floating night club, I gaurantee it will become one of the tourist attractions in no time.

Cambodia Series

• Cambodia Part 1 — Siem Reap
• Cambodia Part 2 — Angkor
• Cambodia Part 3 — Tonle Sap (this)
• Cambodia Trailer
• Cambodia Part 4 — Phnom Penh
• Cambodia Part 5 Finale — Sihanoukville

Being able to see, touch and stand inside Angkor Wat gave me a feeling that is hard to describe in one word.

Angkor Wat at sunrise.

It feels like history being brought back to life in front of my eyes. Every piece of stone, every bas-relief, every wall and every statue seem to have their own untold stories waiting for me to discover.

I can’t help but to be amazed by the scale of this temple and the intricate artworks done by the ancient Khmer people.

However, like many others, I didn’t know that Angkor Wat is not the only temple in Siem Reap before this. In fact, there are over thousand of temples, big and small all over Angkor.

Map of Angkor.

While Angkor Wat is the most famous temple, Angkor Thom is the biggest temple complex.

Angkor Wat

We arrived at Angkor Wat 5:30 in the morning so that we could catch the view of sunrise.

Angkor Wat under the night sky.

Too bad the sun was hiding behind the clouds and the sunlight only pierce through the clouds when we were about to leave.

Angkor Wat over rising sun.

All of us after sunrise at Angkor Wat at 6:30 AM.

Path leading to the entrance of Angkor Wat.

Impressive bas-reliefs on the exterior wall of Angkor Wat.

After visiting Angkor Wat, we went to several other temples. I won’t go into details and I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Preah Khan Temple

Path leading to Preah Khan Temple at Angkor.

Entrance gate of Preah Khan Temple, Angkor.

Inside Preah Khan Temple.

Prasat Banteay Srei Temple

Prasat Banteay Srei Temple, Angkor.

Detail stone carvings at Prasat Banteay Srei Temple, Angkor.

Me and a carved doorway at Prasat Banteay Srei Temple, Angkor.

Prasat Pre Roup Temple

Prasat Pre Roup Temple, Angkor.

The tallest tower at Prasat Pre Roup Temple, Angkor.

Gate of Angkor Thom and the peak tower at Prasat Pre Roup Temple.

Ta Prohm Temple

The famous Ta Prohm Temple where trees grow on top of the temple.

Bayon Temple

Bayon Temple famous for its stone faces.

At the top of Bayon Temple, Angkor.

Happy Special Pizza

After a long day hopping from temple to temple, we had this Happy Special Pizza for dinner.

It seems like having pizza becomes one of the tourist attractions in Siem Reap.

Happy Pizzas at Siem Reap town.

Why having pizza? Because people want to be happy. Why happy? Because it’s special. What so special? Well, because they put some special herbs *ahem* ganja *ahem* into the pizza.

Ha… now you know why. But the truth is, none of us were happy or high (not even close) although we asked them to put in more “herbs”.

The Myth

After a long day visiting temples in Angkor, I must say that the architecture was eye-opening, the carvings were nothing short of remarkable and the amount of efforts put into building each of the temples were just jaw-dropping.

That leaves only one question, how did they managed to build these impressive temples thousand of years ago? And how did they even managed to bring those gigantic stones up to the hills?

Well, I think I have solved the myth. They did it with the help of an extraterrestrial creature came from the outer space.

The creature provided them with technologies so advanced even nothing in the 21st century can compare with.

So until today, they still worship the statue of the creature.

They call it Stitch.

Cambodia Series

• Cambodia Part 1 — Siem Reap
• Cambodia Part 2 — Angkor (this)
• Cambodia Part 3 — Tonle Sap
• Cambodia Trailer
• Cambodia Part 4 — Phnom Penh
• Cambodia Part 5 Finale — Sihanoukville

When I decided to go to Cambodia with Sophea and gang, I totally do not know what to expect from that country. The only thing I knew from Cambodia was Angkor Wat and Seng Sophea. I even thought that the capital city Phnom Penh has only dirt roads full of motorcycles and cows.

All 7 of us camwhore with my ultra wide angle lens.

I was proven so wrong when I finally saw the cities for myself.

Many things are very similar to Malaysia. But there are also many things totally out of my expectation. And those are the things that not only expanded my horizon, but also make me appreciate what I have even more.

We went to three places — Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.

Arriving at Siem Reap from Malaysia.

We reached Siem Reap first, the land once stood the ancient Angkorian Civilisation.

Landed at Siem Reap International Airport.

Siem Reap International Airport.

Happy people enjoying cool breeze.

Siem Reap Town

We landed very early in the morning, went to the town and checked-in our guesthouse at Golden Mango Inn.

Siem Reap town and Golden Mango Inn.

“Cambodia’s hospitality is way better than Malaysia’s hospitality,” said Sophea.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Take Golden Mango Inn for example, they welcomed us with big smiles, cold towel and welcome drinks. Rooms were big and clean with comprehensive facilities. The people were so friendly they really made us feel at home. Another example, where can you find an express bus service in Malaysia that gives you cold towel, mineral water, cakes and detail explanations of the scenes along the 6-hour journey? None! All they know is how to speed, sleep and crash on the highway!

Ok enough ranting. Let’s move on.

We had our first taste of local food during lunch. It was gooooood! I mean really good. Cambodian food are mostly sweet, not much of spicy food.

Cambodian traditional food.

Looking at the pictures really make me crave for more Cambodian food.

Cambodian Cultural Village

After lunch, we visited the Cambodian Cultural Village. A place consists of cultural exhibitions, themed gardens and cultural performances.

Entrance of Cambodian Cultural Village.

Exhibition hall at Cambodian Cultural VIllage.

Camwhore with a performer at the Cambodian Cultural Village.

Miniature model of the National Museum of Cambodia.

Phnom Bakheng

Around evening, we went to get our one-day pass to Angkor which cost us 20 USD per person. However, they allow visitors to go into the Angkor area for free after 5 PM before they close the entire place at 6 PM.

Taking advantage of this free hour, we went to Phnom Bakheng, a temple situated on a hill not far away from Angkor Wat.

Phnom Bakheng, Angkor Archaeological Park.

Because Phnom Bakheng is on a higher ground, it’s a nice place to view the sunset. Too bad it was too cloudy we couldn’t see anything.

Steep stairs going up to the temple.

Camwhore at the top of Phnom Bakheng.

Pub Street

Night falls, time for dinner. We went to the famous Pub Street to look for food.

Searching for food at Pub Street, Siem Reap.

We decided to dine at the Temple Club Restaurant.

Temple Club Restaurant and cheap beer.

The beer was really cheap. A glass of Anchor draft was only 50 cents USD and a glass of cocktail was only 5 USD 2.5 USD!

The food was not bad at all, especially the pork ribs!

Cambodian tradional food and pork ribs.

Angkor Night Market

After dinner, we took a walk to the nearby Angkor Night Market.

Angkor Night Market.

It was a shopping heaven. Everything there was so cheap you could get a t-shirt for only 2 USD and a 60 minutes foot massage for only 4 USD 3 USD!

Shopping and foot massage.

What a fruitful, long and tiring day. Although it was only the first day but I started to like Cambodia already.

Coming up next, temples visiting and Angkor Wat sunrise.

Cambodia Series

• Cambodia Part 1 — Siem Reap (this)
• Cambodia Part 2 — Angkor
• Cambodia Part 3 — Tonle Sap
• Cambodia Trailer
• Cambodia Part 4 — Phnom Penh
• Cambodia Part 5 Finale — Sihanoukville