Casa Rap!

Do I have to go far to look for interesting places? Being a true blue Batangueño, I would naturally look for interesting places within the Ala Eh country. In search for a garden-slash-art-gallery-slash-organic-restaurant-slash-emote-place, I found Casa Rap, which is practically a stone's throw away from my place.
Casa Rap is proprietor Sister Ema Alday's playful take on the Batangueño expression, "kasarap," which, in "normal" Tagalog, is the same as "masarap" or delicious.
The place is just a quick 15-minute jeepney ride from the Lipa City bus stop. If you're coming from Manila and exiting at the Tambo (Lipa City) Exit of the Star Tollway, the bus will drop by the place. It's along the highway, just a few meters before the fork to San Jose town and Batangas City.
I was just amazed that such a place exists just near my mom's house in Lipa, so here, check out my photos.

(Disclaimer: These pics were taken from my N70 since I forgot to bring my ever reliable film-powered Nikon FG at that time.)

The artworks are for sale.

More artworks for sale.



Real cacao! This is what the tableya chocolate tablets are made of. If you haven't experienced a real hearty chocolate drink, they do serve an honest to goodnes one at Casa Rap.

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The Angkor Wat Temples

My two whole days in Siem Reap were so packed, that I thought writing about them would only make a long, wordy entry. In this case, there's no better way to tell the story than through pictures.

As early as 5am, Angkor Wat, the gateway to the Angkor Wat complex, is already teeming with tourists. The lake -- which I found out later on was constructed to maintain water levels and to ensure longevity of the temple -- is misty as the sun is about to rise

Angkor Wat is not a mere facade. It's made up of three clusters of majestic temples, and this structure is located at the heart of the temple. It took me a while to take this photo as I had to wait for other tourists to clear the area.

A courtyard at the Angkor Wat.

Next to Angkor Wat is the Angkor Thom. These carvings mark the walls of the Terrace of the Leper King (or Terrace of the Elephants?). The wall looks like a jigsaw puzzle after archaeologists tried to put things back, piece by piece.

Inside the Angkor Thom is this structure called the Royal Palace. A Khmer kid told me of these intricate carvings. So mean of me, that I didn't even hand her a dollar

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The Bayon is also a part of Angkor Thom. This may look like a heap of stones that are about to crumble from afar, but this is definitely one of the most beautiful among other temples within the complex.

The "halls" of the Bayon appear like a maze. The action is really upstairs, where visitors can take a closer look at the stone faces.

The carvings at the walls of Bayon. This one depicts the apsara dancers.

Two of the 200-or-so humongous heads at the Bayon.

Inside Ta Prohm is where the battle between man-made structures and nature takes place.

Still inside Ta Prohm, tourists are allowed to enter inside portions of the temple. I've read somewhere that there are intricate carvings in the interiors. I wasn't actually able to see them as I was so amazed at how the roots of the trees are overtaking the stone structures.

The is the site made famous by Angelina Jollie. It took me a while to be able to take a picture of this. There were lots of Koreans lining up to be photoed. Ta Prohm is one of the most visited temples, especially after Tomb Raider.

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Visiting the Angkor Wat temples? Here are some tips:

A view from Banteay Srei.

I'm not actually intending to give a detailed account of how my two whole days in Siem Reap went. Simply put, those days were so packed that I would just end up posting a wordy entry that you might not want to read.

So I decided to just come up with several tips that you may find useful if you’re planning to check out the Angor Wat temples:

1. The Angkor Wat complex is so huge that it’s imposible to see all the temples in just one day. If you intend to check out all of them, plan a five-day stay at Siem Reap. But if you only want to check out the “must-see” temples, this can be done in just a day, while the other interesting ones can be seen for another day or two. The “must-see” temples, according to Tales of Asia, are the Angkor Wat (the “main” temple), Bayon (my personal favorite for the 200-or-so heads), and Ta Prohm (that Cambodian structure made famous by Tomb Raider) . Also note that there are other beautiful temples that are outside of the Angkor Wat complex that are worthy to be visited, particularly Banteay Srei and Kbal Splean. You just have to ask your tuktuk driver to take you there, of course for extra fee.

And maybe it's just me, that after checking one ruin after the other, I felt I was fed up. I haven't seen all of them temples but I think I've had enough with what I've seen.
Going to Siem Reap river to check out the floating river is also another story, but my driver didn’t ask for extra fee since I finished taking rounds of Angkor temples earlier than expected.

The back side of Angkor Wat.

2. If possible, bring a liter of water. There are food stalls inside the complex but everything’s just damn too expensive. Just to give you an idea, a bowl of noodles is $3, and a bottle of 8 ounces of mineral water is $1-2.

3. Bring spare batteries for your camera. And film as well, if you’re still into film cameras like me. Four pieces of Energizer AAs’ worth $8 at the gate of Angkor Wat. Haggle with the Khmers and that’ll go down to $6. Compare that with supermarket prices. Enough said.

4. Sweaty or not, bring extra shirt/s. I went to the Angkor temples during the peak of summer, and woah, I was so drenched in sweat after spending at least 30 minutes in each temple.

5. Caretakers and children running around the temples normally talk to tourists and they give insights of the place, give tips on where the nice carvings are, etc. They’re not for free. If you don’t have a dollar or two to spare, ignore them and pretend you don't understand English.

6. I just came across a seller of books on Angkor Wat temples while entering a temple. It’s some sort of a coffee table book with lots of beautiful pictures of Angkor temples. To other sellers within the complex, that book’s about $12. To others, it's only $1! I still regret not buying that book. If you're a book person, it’s definitely a good buy!

7. The Angkor Wat itself is so glorious at dawn. Both of my two whole days at Siem Reap started early in the morning. I think if you’ve already seen the sunrise, aim for the sunset the following day. I’ve read somewhere it’s nice to take pictures at Bayon late in the afternoon, and watch the sun set at one of those Greek structure-looking temple (I'll post the photo soon, I just forgot the name of the temple). Please note that Angkor Wat itself is best photoed during sunset as it faces west.

8. The tuktuk that will take you to various temples for an entire day costs about $15 — that is, if you booked the tuktuk driver through your hotel/guesthouse. This is actually a bit expensive because hotels/guesthouses get a cut for every booking that they make. You may save a dollar or two if you simply holler a tuktuk a day before your journey and ask the driver to pick you up in your hotel/guesthouse.

Pathway at the Terrace of the Elephants, Angkor Thom.

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