Banteay Kdei Siem Reap

This morning I was wide awake and raring to go at 6:45am! I was very excited about exploring and seeing the temples. Today was going to be a highlight of my trip and something I had been looking forward to before we left England. We met our Tuk Tuk driver at 8:45am and then drove for 20mins to the entrance gate where we bought our tickets. It cost …

We essentially did the Angkor Small circuit. We saw the sunrise at Angkor Wat, which was super packed, but still pretty. We then went in and walked around Angkor Wat - it was truly awe inspiring to stand at the foot of the prangs on the third level. We learned a lot about the battle between heaven and hell in hindu lore, the Asparas (dancing woman …

Thanks again to some good advice, (thanks again to Shannon and Andrew) we got a nice early start to our second day and were on our way to the temples by 8am.

We drove through Angor Thom and started our day on the "Grand Tour" up at Preah Khan. Hit many other temples too, but will fill in details as time permits.

Important lesson …

Awoke feeling somewhat more human - like I had woken up from a bad dream - had breakfast, took more decongestants and headed out on the so-called "Big Tour" temple circuit. It is called that because there is quite a bit more distance to cover than the "Small Tour" I did on the first day. Realistically this could be done by bicycle, but not when you …

Another bus ride and we're in Siem Reap tuc tuc picked us up from the bus stop because you couldn't call it a bus station it was just a bench in a yard with toilets no staff. any way our diver collects us and takes us to Rosy guest house where we are staying, the place is run by an English man called Simon and his wife and mates mainly used by …

Was also going to call this one "Don't Fear the Siem Reaper"

Flew from Saigon to Siem Reap. After a fairly easy breeze through customs and another full page in my passport taken up with a visa (I only have 4 pages left now) a nice boy from our guesthouse picked us up from the airport and shuttled us in his tuk tuk (or Remorque-moto as …

Après Lara Croft, here comes Gabyyyy!!! C'était notre deuxième tournée de temples aujourd'hui et ça ne finit plus! Trop, c'est comme pas assez!! En venant ici je croyais visiter quelques temples, 5 ou 6, mais le sites comprend plus de 50 temples. Ouf!! Tous sont impressionnants. J'ai pensé à ma soeur Mélanie aujourd'hui; le dernier qu'on a visité …

From door to door, Bangkok to Siem Reap, it took us just over 13 hours of exhausting travel. It began at 5:30 am when we headed out the door to board the ancient rickety train to Thailand's border town with Cambodia. Arriving at Aranyaprathet around noon, we haggled for a tuk tuk to the border. Once there, well-dressed name-tag wearing men tried to …

The word of the day, well, the last two days is 'OWWW'. Never, ever, think that just because you rode a bike when you were a kid that you are somehow granted invincibility and great biking immortality. It's not true. If you've, like me, only been on a bicycle about 3 times since you were 12 years old, I urge you to not then bicycle upwards of 100 …

Siem Reap isn't what I was expecting. It has a very European feel to it, nothing like I've experienced in Cambodia, but I wasn't to be too chilled as you get hounded the most I have in Asia for a Tuk Tuk! Half a toe length out of your hostel and you're asked "Lady, you want Tuk Tuk?" Even as you enter Pub Street, an aptly named street where you get …

... Jones never had to put up with this. Rick enjoyed Srah Srang, a pretty baray (pool) opposite the temple of Banteay Kdei. Kdei made a refreshing change after the madness of Ta Prohm, and we had a great time viewing the lively apsara carvings. ...

... . I couldn't believe he actually stopped to think about it! He eventually chose option two. Smart man. He dutifully stopped at Banteay Kdei which is a little more dilapidated than the last two but it has some nice carvings and there aren't too many ...

... stone was easily one of my favorite travel experiences anywhere in the world.   After Ta Phrom we made a quick stop at Banteay Kdei, then called it a day.  We were determined to be at Angkor at sunset everyday in the hopes catching the ...

... managed to get the following temples in during the 7 hours we were there : Angkor Wat Angkor Thom Preah Khan Ta Keo Ta Prohm Banteay Kdei But the experience at Angkor Wat was the best. We decided, at the final temple, to take a look at the ...

... for the rest of the ride. A minor insult, only $5, but the bus company owner's rudeness was a sour introduction to Cambodia. The roads to Siem Reap, as in much of Cambodia, are astoundingly bad. Many are laterite and dirt, which devolves into a rut-field ...

... by 2 in the afternoon and had seen Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng, the entire Angor Thom complex, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, and Banteay Kdei.  I was dead at the end after having taken a half hour nap at the top of one of the temples. These ...

... half-covered by jungle, giant trees intertwined with the rock, maze-like corridors, and mysterious stone carvings. Next up was Banteay Kdei, which was like a smaller Ta Phrom, and the muddy-looking swimming pool of Srah Srang. After we bought some ...

... site of Angkor Thom and the Bayon. From there we did Ta Keo, Ta Prom (aka The Tomb Raider Temple..where the film was made) and Banteay Kdei. That was enough for one day. On day two we had arranged for our tuk-tuk driver to collect us from the hotel at ...

... only 10 Bart (GBP 0.15) each, so we squeeze on board, hoping that we can change our flight time to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to something earlier than 3pm. At Bangkok Airways ticketing office we collect our (expensive) USD$120 tickets and find that there ...

... of the smaller temples, around one of the ancient, now dry reservoirs. My first stop was the small complex of Prasat Kravan, followed by Banteay Kdei, Eastern Mebon, and then Ta Som. By the time I got off the moto at Ta Som, at around 11:30am, I was ...