We arrived in Siem Reap yesterday afternoon from Bangkok. We were met by the lovely Von who was our tuktuk driver back to the hotel where we are staying. Von offered to be our tuktuk driver for today to take us around the temples and we happily accepted as we had no inclination to hire bicycles in 33 degree heat with 90% humidity.
Yesterday evening we explored Siem Reap, happily our hotel is very central and is a few minutes walk from the notorious “pub street”. On every street there are many different little food carts with locals trying to sell you local cuisine, each cart is surrounded by plastic chairs and locals sitting down eating and chatting with their friends.
In the centre there is a large market which is like a rabbit warren, selling pashmina’s, silk scarfs, bags, local souvenirs and each trader trying to convince you that theirs is the best! We have mastered the slow walk so you can have a little look while not getting into haggling, as the moment you stop it is unlikely you will be walking away empty handed…… with only a backpack we don’t have much room to buy all the souvenirs we would like.
After the $3 cocktails and $1 beers we had some lovely food at a local Cambodian restaurant and returned to our hotel a little worse for wear! A late night dip in the pool cooled us down ready for bed.
Von collected us at 4.30am to take us to Angkor Wat for sunrise, we were advised that a 1 day ticket allows you access to the temples for 2 days and the 3 day ticket allows you in for 5 days. By 5am it was already 26 degrees and very muggy but the tuktuk gave us a lovely ‘aircon’d” ride to Angkor Wat.
We made our way to the Temple and Mark set up his time lapse camera to capture the sunrise. Sadly there was a little too much cloud sat behind the temple for us to get the beautiful sunrise we were hoping for, however it was still spectacular seeing the impressive columns and turrets come into view.
Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer empire from the 9th to 15th century, and between 1010ad – 1220ad it was a megacity thought to hold 0.1% of the global population. It is the largest religious monument in the world, it is housed within a moat and is a walled city. Every time you go though a corridor it seems to open up even more. The carvings into the stone are beautiful and so intricate, it feels like no surface has been left untouched by these carvings. What is also striking is the symmetry of the city, everything is positioned perfectly for maximum impact.
It is a challenging climb up some fairly steep stairs to the top for the panoramic view over the whole city, but this is totally worth it….even if you are melting by the time you get to the top. Von had told us he would meet us in 3-4 hours, which I thought was excessive, however it hardly felt enough to fully appreciate the whole area. Even though there are tourists everywhere you can still find solitude to take in your surroundings.
We met Von who then took us on to Angkor Thom, Prasat Bayon which was the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII. As you arrive at this walled city you are greeted by a spectacular bridge leading up to the entrance. Each side of the bridge is lined with Buddhist statues and a moat surrounds the walled city.
Within this complex there are multiple temples, all very extravagant and richly decorated. Towards the North gate where we were due to meet Von again, there is a long wall lined with elephant statues and carvings. We have been told that this is where the King would sit and watch his military parades.
When we met Von it is safe to say it had reached 34 degrees at 11am and we were approaching our tolerance level for the heat. Von asked if we wanted to see two small temples on the way to the jungle temple, if I am honest we were really struggling with the thought of even making it to the jungle temple, but Von was enthusiastic about these and we thought it would be a shame not to see them as they are not on the typical tourist routes.
Two of the temples Prasat Banteay Prei and Prasat Preah Khan were opposite each other lining the road we were driving through. However Ta Keo was set back from the road, we were the only people there visiting and it felt like the world was entirely ours. It really was a special moment to be able to be in this ancient ruin by ourselves.
After this we went on to Ta Prohm, also known as the jungle temple that is in the tomb raider movies. This temple was abandoned for centuries from the 15th century onwards and restoration work started in the 21st century. In the time that it was neglected nature reclaimed it and what remains are gigantic trees that have penetrated the structure and caused parts of the structure to collapse. The restoration work has tried to be sympathetic to nature while stabilising the structure, and it really is impressive
The main thing we have noticed is the friendliness of the locals, all keen to help and share their culture. Interested in where we are from and what London was like. Von found it amusing that London is currently hotter and going to be 42 degrees next week and laughed when we told him we had come to Cambodia to escape the heat.
Von was keen to take us on further to show us more, however we had reached 1pm and it was only getting hotter and we have therefore asked him to take us around tomorrow to which he kindly agreed. We therefore came back for the best cold shower of our lives and a couple cold beers!!
Glad you’re having such a wonderful time. You both deserve it.
Trying to control the heat in Devon with feet in bucket of cold water. 😂
LOVING this! Safe Travels Mr. & Mrs. Joyce xxx
Awesome shots and great commentary. Thanks for sharing