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Siem Reap - Lost City of Angkor
Entry 15 of 29 | show all | print this entry |
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From Phnom Penh we jumped on a bus and headed up to Siem Reap... the stepping stone to get to the "lost city"of Angkor.
We left at 11.30 arrived 17.30. We had organised our accommodation whilst in Phnom Penh so had a tuk tuk driver waiting to pick us up. He took us to the guesthouse which turned out to be (a) not in the location we were told and (b) twice as expensive, so after a heated discussion he agreed to drive us to the centre. When we told him to pull over he said "no no no I take you to cheap place in centre". Reluctantly we agreed and sure enough we were taken to another place further out than we wanted to be. This time, met with hostility when we said we didn't want to stay, we didn't even bother arguing we just grabbed our bags and trudged back towards the way we had came, finding a guesthouse right next to the main street where we wanted to be.
Tired and hungry we dumped bags and headed out in search of dinner - something very easy to find but a lot harder to decide on as there are gorgeous restaurants, bars, cafes EVERYWHERE - Mexican, Italian, traditional Khmer, Irish - the choice is endless. There's even a bar in a butterfly garden! The next two days in Siem Reap were spent exploring the temples of Angkor, located about 12km away. It covers a huge area so hired a tuk tuk to drive us around as unfortunately motorbikes for tourists are banned due to high accident rate. Angkor was the capital of Cambodia's ancient Khmer empire which stretched from Burma to Vietnam. In its heyday the city boasted a populations of one million when London was only a wee town of 50,000! The temples date between 9th and 13th centuries, the most famous being Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious building. We spent time wondering around that before heading onto a few more:- Angkor Thom and the impressive Bayon where stone faces stare down at you wherever you go, Ta Prohm which looks like something out of Indiana Jones and was the film set for Tomb Raider, Preah Khan and its maze of corridors, fine carvings and lichen clad stone work (my favorite) and numerous others.
You could pretty much wonder to your hearts content - up incredibly steep steps which anywhere else would be roped off, through tiny corridors with roofs that look ready to collapse, around walls taken over by enormous trees and their roots. A really magical place. Spent pretty much a full day there then the next woke up at 5.15 and caught sunrise over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately it wasn't a clear blue day but still managed to get some good photos so well worth the early rise. Was rather funny seeing people stumbling out of the club next door as we were off to start our day. The Lonely Planet suggests spending 4-5 days there, but with our days numbered we settled for 1 ½ - more than enough to get our fix and immerse ourselves in the culture that was.
Cambodia as a whole is amazing. The people are great, transport cheap and easy, beaches, temples, jungle, waterfalls - it has everything. Definitely want to come back here and spend a decent amount of time. Until then it's back to Thailand we go to continue on our route to Singapore. More thumbnails ...
Where I stayed:
Heart of Angkor
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