Siem Reap & Temples of Angkor (March 8-11)

There is not much to say. The huge Angkor area with its hundreds of larger and smaller temples is just amazing. On Thursday after the arrival in Siem Reap I met Lotte and Johan, a Dutch-Swedish couple I had already met two times before, really a coincidence! They had already been to the temple area for two days but still hadn’t seen the more distant temples, around 40 km off the main temple area. We agreed to share a Tuk-Tuk the next day to visit these remote temples and share costs. I didn’t regret it! At the end we did a large tour and ended with the sunset at Angkor Wat, really impressive!

On Friday evening I met two German girls (Claire and Sonja) at the guest house and we shared a Tuk-Tuk the next day to visit other temples, for instance the famous Ta Prohm site, where parts of the Tomb Raider film were shot. It’s a very mystic place because huge trees have overgrown the temples. After eight hours of visiting different sites we were really tired. The weather was actually quite bearable but you need to stay in the shade wherever and whenever possible. In the temple area I met two other people I already met before, Rodrigo, a Chilean who lives in Berlin and Ruth, Peruvian who lives in Stockholm. In the evening we all went for dinner and had some drinks in Siem Reap’s Pub Street. It is a bit similar to Khao San Road in Bangkok but more modest and without so many drunk people, so actually not too bad. Of course this street is only aimed for tourists (as is the whole city). In fact, Siem Reap, a town with 150.000 inhabitants only exists because of Angkor.

The third day (Sunday), I went to the temple area with Ruth, Sonja and Claire to visit the remaining sites. It’s impossible to see everything but the most interesting places can be seen in two or three days. The three day pass is the same price as two days, so it’s worth going three days and taking it easier. We ended up visiting the interior of Angkor Wat, which I hadn’t seen before and stayed until after sunset. This time I went to the opposite side of the temple to observe the sun setting behind it. I have some really nice pics!

The three days in Siem Reap were really great because I met a lot of people to share the experience of visiting the Angkor temples. I was actually thinking of skipping Cambodia because I was tired of travelling on horrible buses but at the end I’m glad I didn’t! I really liked Cambodia (more than Laos), mainly because the people are more open and friendlier.