Monday, November 30, 2015

Day 1 (Part2): Siem Reap July 4th, 2015

Right after dinner, we had to leave hotel to go for Phare Circus.

From our hotel, it was more than 2 KM to the place. 5 USD 2 ways we got. In fact, it's supposed to be 6 USD.

A typical circus, you will think of animals doing stunts and making the audience burst into laughter. This isn't like that. There's a add on value service in any trips. If you know a local friend, or a friend who's residing there, it's gonna help you experience your holiday even better.

This isn't that typical circus you know. It's a theater, music, dance, modern circus and acrobats where performers used this aspects to tell Cambodian stories. I can't exactly remember the price. Depending on what you take, it varies. I think, mine was $18 USD.

The show was perfect. I was glad I went for it. It's THAT amazing. They tell their story through their performances. Each day you go, they tell a different story. The highlight of my whole trip, has got to be this.

These performers come from struggling families, poverty, and some are orphanage. They attend the school to learn the art and later on, turn professional. This is a good cause. Show your support and watch their show. If you happen to be in Siem Reap, this is something you have to do. Do not miss this and have this Phare experience, you will not regret it. At the same time, give hope to our human counterpart in Siem Reap.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Day 1: Siem Reap July 4th, 2015

In 2014, someone booked 3 tickets to Cambodia. It ended up as a 2 person holiday, which is totally fine with us. We are happy as it is. Haha. From the airport, it wasn't that long before we reached to our hotel. All I can say, it was burning hot. It was so hot we almost died from weather shock. The temperature was at 40s and that's not even the humidity yet.

We stayed in a hotel called Royal Crown hotel. The moment we walked in, it was so cozy and nice. Oh most importantly, it was cooling. They served us cold towel and a tea. Nice! I like their hospitality.

That's our room. Omg, it was so nice. I love to sleep :D

The view from our block. It looks relatively good from the outside too.

Before we left, of course, hi. haha.

We don't stay in the hotel even though that's the most comfortable thing to do, right? It's time to discover the beauty of Siem Reap. We walked around and there we found out, it was very close by to the town area. They call it as the Old Market street and it was so strategic! Everything is there, and in particular, what we need - food. Oh, we were so excited to see Tuk Tuks. haha.

There's a culture shock again. We didn't know how to cross the road. The zebra crossing is useless. People couldn't care. There were tuk tuks, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks and everything else.

After exploring for only half an hour, we found this street that's good for our stomach. Since I was just sick the day before, I had to opt for Coke. Like, Coke okay! It's okay, patience.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Amber Beila Review -100

I know I haven't done this for awhile now. Back to reviews.

I know, I have done this review in Instagram, in Facebook. But, that's not sufficient. So, my friend bought this Groupon voucher because it was cheap. Call us cheapskate, but, we wanted to try it since it's like hundreds usually and you get like 39 bucks. Who wouldn't want, right?

This is based on my personal experience, it wasn't told by someone else. I wouldn't label anything right now, let me review and we will come to a conclusion then.

We bought a 3.5 hour full body aromatherapy and lymphatic massage, together with facial. I didn't know what to expect from a lymphatic massage but I read on it after that that it is supposed to be gentle, not painful and does not have a stimulating effect.

We entered the center, expecting to see some pretty ladies. What I saw was some bare-faced "beauticians." Proper beauty centers like this, I really expect them to speak English but they came with Chinese. o.O So there were 2 sides to sit, one on the left and another on the right. So, she just said, have a seat. She didn't bother when I sat at the other side because there's a form I had to fill which I wasn't aware of. Another came out with a cup of tea asking me to sit at the other side. I was then asked to fill in the form. Honestly, in centers  like this, this isn't my first time. There were no consultations. Instead, all they did was to ask you to fill in the form if you have any allergy and stuff like that on the form. Okay, in you go for a massage.

The moment I lied on the place they prepared for massage, the lady came in, asking if I wanted lavender or ginger oil. I said, I didn't want because from what I would have known, that is an additional charge. Then, she sounded like, I have to take. I told her politely I wanted lavender. The moment I said lavender, she said it's an additional charge. I am not commenting, yet.

Then, the masseur came in and she started doing it. She asked if the strength was okay, which it was. In the middle of it, I felt like she was marinating a cow. In particular, in the end of the massage whereby it was so painful, it was so poignant I hope that it ended at that very moment. I am someone who loves massage, by the way.

Then, I had to change room for the facial. She started to condemn my skin, saying that tsk tsk you have really dry skin here, and oily at your T-zone. Lady, I am fully aware of that, stop condemning. She said I need to do this and that treatment, which I refused of course. It's an additional of almost 200 bucks for that. I said no. She then offered a serum which was cheaper, but it's also almost 100 bucks. Again, I declined that upsell. She started doing all kinds of nonsense like she just puts stuff on my face without telling anything, left the room for a really long time until the room temperature became so uneasy and uncomfortable. There was no clock in the room and I wasn't supposed to wear a watch too. I don't live in stone age, aunties.

When I was finally done, that took about 3 hours instead of 3.5. Again, I didn't want 3.5 anymore. Oh! She brought me to the consultation room. I know, it's not something I can avoid because they will try to sell you their packages. For obvious reason, it has been declined again. We rejected them. Once we said no, she showed her black as a wok face, put down the brochure and walked out without a word. That's great customer service!

When we wanted to leave, Dwaeji's slipper was hidden God knows where. That  lady, with all the rudeness in the world, said that it's in one of those cupboards, look for it. That's very polite, I think I like that a lot. She can be nominated as one of the best serving customer service in the whole universe, like really.

The next day, my back turned to be that way in the picture. I was in pain, nobody could touch my back at all. Someone actually slightly tapped my back, and I was screaming in excruciating pain. Mind you, that was just a tap.

For all the good stuff they have put on their website, even with all the purchasing power that I have, I wouldn't even go, ever. It's all untrue, it's all just at their surface. If, these people refuse to serve the Groupon customers, by all means, withdraw from Groupon. Nobody is forcing you to advertise there. If you cannot cope with the volume with such minimal payback and you can't even cover the cost of your products, please, I request you to withdraw. It is not your customers fault that they do not want to sign up packages with you. The reason people patronize is because there was a promotion, and it was cheap, and most of them, they just wanna experience it. If you manage to catch them to sign up with you and scam them all the way, good for you but how many would? In addition to that, if you showed your bloody annoying face, being outright rude to us, tell me, in which logical sense, would a sane person wanna sign up with you? No way in Hell.

Today, November 21st, it has been a month since I posted a complaint on Groupon's FB. I checked back to see. Not everyone will do that, but I apologize that I am from the service background, I do follow ups in whatever I do.

Groupon freaking removed my complaints from their FB page. If one wonders, there were no profanities or vulgarities, just facts. Being rude is something a lot of people cannot tolerate. It is simply unacceptable for someone to be rude, especially working in places like that.

Signing off, this is to declare, Amber Beila is to be prosecuted and blacklisted, for life. They are located in Taman Sea. If you want to be tortured, too loaded, like people being rude to you, wanna feel the marinated feeling, I wouldn't stop you, go ahead, and of course, enjoy~ This is, epic failure.

Score: -100

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Day 7: Dubai City Tour, UAE

It was a long break since the last post. This has got to be the last entry already. I had the morning city tour around Dubai that day. It's the only thing I can do left before my flight in the evening that day.

That's Za'abeel Palace or it is also known as Zabeel Palace. You can see many peacocks around here. They walk wherever they want, ignoring vehicles and the humans. Do not knock them or kill them. Consequence is severe.

That's the mosque.

It's weird to have a beach area in a desert, right? Of course, it's man-made. See the Burj Al-Arab there? Great view for sure, but for people like me, I guess, it's better to see it from afar instead of staying there haha.

Next, we went to Atlantis. It's a palm area and it's far from the city. I'm not rich to be traveling with a cab everyday and everywhere.

What else ... it's Dubai's trademark, Burj Khalifa. Just like KL, you can go up, and that's with an entrance fee. I'm not exactly sure how much but it's not cheap.

Quite a shock to me. Before that, I think buildings are just buildings. How far off can a building go? I was wrong. This, is the only country I have seen that has the weirdest buildings. They are very futuristic and I can't figure out what did they build. Just wonder.

Then, went to the airport only to find out, my flight has been delayed. That's no fun.

If one asks, will I return to Dubai? Probably not. Things there are too expensive. Places like that, once is enough. In the first place, Dubai was never my intended vacation. Or, anywhere in the Middle East. It's an eye opener in terms of their cultures and all, and Dubai is already one of the modern developed ones, so I just don't think I'll be going back.