A short flight and we are in Siem Reap – it is HOT!! We are staying at a really nice hotel called Tara Angkor Wat. It has a great pool (which will be needed) and is nicely decorated for Christmas:
A leisurely lunch at the hotel produces more delicious Khmer food and then it’s off to the night market and a few drinks on Pub Street!
Being chauffeured around in an air conditioned car is just what the doctor ordered in the 30c degree heat of Siem Reap. After smiling for a photo which appears on your ticket (1 day = $37), we headed for Angkor Thom. The entrance and gate is very impressive and is lined with statues:
On the other side of the entrance gate we we’re greeted by lots of monkeys.
You could also chose to get to the temple by elephant (for $20) but those elephants looked exhausted.
Onward to the Bayon temple:
This is “the one with the faces” – if you zoom in you’ll see them…
This place is magnificent and even though it’s our first temple to visit it may just end up being my favourite. I could look at it all day and keep taking photos.. amazing!
We had some free time to walk around and check out the different faces from different angles
There was also lots of interesting carvings:
From there we walked to another temple – Phimeanakus and climbed to the top:
This next one we viewed but weren’t allowed to climb:
Then it was on to the elephants terrace, where back in the day it was like a colosseum where the royals watched sport, not killings thank goodness.
Next we headed for Ta Phrom aka The Tomb Raider temple. I’ve never seen the movie with Angelina Jolie and don’t really have any interest but I might have to watch it just to see the location.
The way the trees have taken route on the temple walls is fascinating and it was really cool to see.
Most of the trees are “spueng” trees – It’s amazing to see their sprawl and how they’ve basically swallowed up the temple!
Next was the big kahuna.. Angkor Wat. Our guide, Mike (not his real name) brought us to the back entrance initially and we made our way through the temple to the front. View from the back:
This turned out to be a great idea as we were at the front for sunset. It did mean that we didn’t see the amazing full-on view until the end of our day though so the suspense was terrible!! Worth it for this though:
Walking through the temple there are amazing carvings that have survived and there is lots of restoration going on.
The climb to the very top was steep but gave more great views of the temple and a sense of how big it was – literally awesome!
It happened to be the 25th anniversary of the site becoming a UNESCO world heritage site so there was a big celebration going on outside that it was hard not to get pulled into. Kids dancing and waving and marching with a band.. it was great fun.
The money shot!
It was a long day and we were tired but we rallied for a tuk tuk ride and another great dinner.
Day 2 we were picked up again and drove about an hour outside of the city to the floating villages on the largest fresh water lake in Asia – Sap Tonle lake. First we saw houses on stilts that are in the more shallow part of the lake which crazily will be dried up in a few months.
This was where our guide was raised. He pointed out his old house and his school (photo below):
As we sailed out further into the deeper water the houses became floating houses. A lot of people live out here and there was plenty of busy life going on. As the water dries up the houses up and move to the deeper parts of the lake.
Local shop:
We had a packed lunch with us and we stopped to have it in someone’s house – it was kind of bizarre but the family were very welcoming and it was nice to see the houses they live in – this one was very fancy with tiled floors! We had a great view out to the lake too.
On the boat ride out, Suzanne and Mike were standing out front and I was happily sitting looking out the side. I noticed a kind of burning smell and was wondering how people managed to cook on their boats and in these small homes. Next thing the driver makes a run past me to the back where the engine is and I can see smoke bellowing out the back. He leans down and pulls out what looks like a pink cardigan which is in flames and he throws it into the lake behind him… holy smoke.. it could have been the end of us and I was totally oblivious enjoying the calm surroundings!!!
After the lake visit we went to see another temple. Beng Mealea is known as one of the more mysterious temples. Apparently it was built to the same floor plan as Angkor Wat and it was consumed by jungle until recently some was cleared away. It is full of piles of huge stones with no major plan to restore them to their former glory.
And again there are trees growing all over it
On our last full day we had no organised tour so we picked a couple more temples to visit and headed off by tuk tuk:
First we headed to Phnom Bakheng which sits on a steep hill with a view (somewhat limited) of Angkor Wat
Then it was on to Preah Khan which was way bigger than we were expecting. It was a huge temple and there was lots of hallways to either side branching off the main walk way. Another very impressive feat of architecture! We walked from east to west so we had a nice view of the sun shining on it and met our tuk tuk driver on the west side to take us to lunch.
After lunch and a spot of shopping we hit the pool for an hour and then I had a massage before going for our final dinner. The next day we had only half a day to say our goodbyes to Siem Reap .. we did some shopping at the local artisan shops close to the hotel – Christmas presents sorted – and had a final lunch – our best in Cambodia at Haven and that wasn’t just because they played Morrissey!
A couple of glasses of wine and a fond farewell we set off for Vietnam…
odohertyelaine 