Ta Keo 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 …

Yesterday I got up early and hit the bike at 8:00 AM. Strangely, it was already pretty warm at that time in the AM. The plan for the day was to bike ride to Banteay Samre and Banteay Srei - about 30 km one way. No big deal, I thought.

Seemed to take a while, but the ride was mostly shaded. I didn't look at my watch until I got to Banteay …

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 …

I've been in Siem Reap for a week now, and half of that time has been spent recovering from the worst hangovers I've ever had! It's lovely here, and it's very easy to sit back and go with the tourist flow. You can get manicures, pedicures and massages all for $1, then get some Chicken Amok for $2 and wash it down with a pitcher of Angkor beer for $ …

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 …

Angkor Wat

I only had one shot to get a good sunset at Angkor Wat, so I needed to get there early to find a good spot.

The hotel was kind enough to prepare boxed breakfast this morning. I was up at 4:30am and out the door by 5am. My poor driver is already waiting for me. It would be a long day for him!

On the road to …

Was planning on having a bit of a sleep in before the small tour today but some arseclowns one road over decided that wanted to play horrible Cambodian music that sounds worse than cats stuck under a running shower from 5:30. Extremely loudly, I've hear softer bands at pubs.

Turns out the sun decided it wanted to shine today, so I could&# …

So today was one of those carnival days where the avalanche of pictures and temples feels like a giant whirlwind of color that becomes nearly impossible to untangle without some rest time afterward. It's just wholly ironic that the route I undertook (of my own accord) retraces the classic Little Circuit (great minds think alike?), which turns out …

We arrived at our guesthouse a day earlier than we had booked as we stayed on our bus rather than getting off halfway to spend the night. We were shattered after 13hrs on the bus and of the never-ending Cambodian comedy, music videos and kung-fu films which are played really loudly on all of the buses in Cambodia! But our guesthouse was great ( …

... are still in our respective positions Boat full and people steal positions when they become free. Arrive up narrow inlet to Siem Reap port. Pilot beaches boat several times. At embarkation there are loads of touts with signs waiting for their customers. ...

... - dumbass! We 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 ...

... there ever an 'off peak' day? It's actually a huge place too and we took a long time looking around. We had a quick wander round Ta Keo then it was over to climb up to Phnom Bakeng with every other man and his dog to watch the sunset. The climb is not ...

... no, it only meant that today was as good a day as any for an adventure!  I really want to experience the temples of Siem Reap properly and decide to not even bother waking up Janne, the finnish guy from the bus who I split the hostel room ...

... Reap. In the end we bought tickets for 450Bt for Tuesday that included a VIP bus to the border, and then a "minivan" to Siem Reap. We also handed over our passports and had the travel agency get us Cambodian visas on Monday... we figured it would be ...

... three day access pass to the temples. On day one, we visited the vast 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 ...

... 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 ...

... lounging around on floating mats, sipping cool drinks whilst idling among the temples...Or maybe we were just thirsty. Then we went to Ta Keo, the first temple in the Angkor area to be made completely of sandstone. Well, it's all sandstone, but it ...

One of the first things I did when I got to Siem Reap was rent a bicycle.  I thought it would be cool to explore the temples at my own pace under my own power.  Only then did I actually look at a map.  I was surprised to ...

... off, checking out ancient temples! The Bayon, 5:45am Day two began at what is widely regarded as the second most popular temple at Siem Reap after Angkor Wat, The Bayon. I knew little about this complex before I got there, apart from the fact it had a ...