Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
- Blog
-
Location Date Oceania 1371164400 Asia 
1355616000 North America 1348614000 -
Location Date Siem Reap
Kaôh Rŭng (1) Phnom Penh
Monday 15th October
Hello again, this time from Cambodia! With WiFi everywhere now it feels as though we are in touch more often than we were at home!
The 13.5 hour bus ride to Siem Reap from Don Det turned into a 16 hour journey. It was one of the more comfortable though as the bus was near empty. We crossed the border with no problems, we paid $2 extra on our visa fee & they didn't even need to see us, we just waited while the guide did the rest! The one thing they did do was put a gun to our necks & pull the trigger. I thought we were being tagged but it turns out they were taking our temperature!!
So we arrived in Siem Reap at midnight & just passed out at our pre-arranged guesthouse, Bliss Villa, it's really nice & we treated ourselves to air-con. Temperatures here are over 30 degrees by 10am with humidity close to 90%.
Tuesday 16th October
In the morning we took a walk into the town centre (about 400 metres) & grabbed some breakfast & wandered around the market & checked out our dinner options on 'Pub Street' & 'Alley Street'. There are some really fancy places here, it's more with the times than Laos but still has a small town feel in a strange way. The people are uber friendly & speak great English so we have been very lazy about learning the language!!
In the afternoon we decided to visit the site that we & everyone else are ultimately here to see, Angkor Wat. It's the largest religious structure in the World & has been in continuous use since its completion in the 12th Century. It is surrounded by a moat, 190m wide spanning 1.5km by 1.3km. It is incredible. It is so big with so many intricate details that you could spend a lifetime looking at all the carvings, sculptures & inscriptions & not see them all.
After a very quick 90 minute self-guided tour of the temple we headed to its neighbour Angkor Thom. This is a 10km square city believed to have had a population of 1 million at the same time as London had just 50,000 inhabitants. Only the religious structures remain now. Again, it's hugely impressive, faces carved into the giant stoneworked entrances & the road leading to the ancient city are lined by statues of warriors pulling a dragons tail around 100m long.
After just these two temples we decided that we were too hot to continue & headed back to our private tuk tuk to let him know it was time to go! The heavens opened at that moment & we were absolutely drenched but it was a welcome relief to the unbearable heat.
We promptly showered & changed & watched some tv for an hour or two, waiting for the sun to set so that we could step outside for dinner! Salmon burger & double cheeseburger with fries, 4 beers - £8. We also sat on a roof terrace on Pub Street & watched the world pass by, including a tuk tuk with the Rolls Royce Emblem printed on the roof & the slogan 'Perfect Safety'. Pure genius!!!
Wednesday 17th October
We headed out for an early breakfast as we were being picked up for another day of temple visiting at 9am. We decided to visit almost every other temple in this massive World Heritage Site. We were charged $15 for basically a full day of sightseeing including transport to & from our hotel & inbetween each temple. We visited Banteay Kdei, Sra Srang, Pre Rup, Eastern Mebon, Ta Som, Banteay Samre & Prasat Komnap from memory. They are all awesome, so impressive. You just cant get over how old they all are and how intricate all of the carvings are.
We went to a traditional Khmer restaurant tonight & had an early night as we are going back to Angkor Wat for the 5am sunrise. It's supposed to be spectacular.
Thursday 18th October
This morning we were picked up from our guesthouse at 5am in time to make sunrise at Angkor Wat. There were so many people there but we got a decent spot to get some good pics. It was beautiful, the sky was pink and red. Check out the pictures. We are glad we did a sunrise as the sunsets have been really hazy and not that great. We spent about an hour at the temple then headed back to the guesthouse to book our onward travel. We managed to get the 9am bus to Phnom Penh which took 8 hours. On arrival we booked onto the bus to Sihanoukville (Beach Time) which took 6.5 hours. We arrived & found a guesthouse around midnight & passed out after a 19 hour day, 14.5 of which was spent on a bloody bus!
I think in Cambodia they have a 'plus 3 hour rule' on all transport as they tell you a journey will take 5 hours but then it ends up taking 8. It's hilarious. They never seem worried either about connecting buses or pickups. We were on a bus with a couple and they were getting picked up at 8pm and we arrived at midnight and their pick up wasn't even bothered. Its crazy.
Update you soon from the beach :) Yay! Beach Time!
Barr & Berg x x
Modes of Transport so far - 2 planes, 1 Taxi, 8 Tuk Tuks, 2 VIP Bus, 2 shared taxis, 4 minivans, 2 speed boat, 2 slow boats, 1 ferry, 2 pickup trucks, 1 sleeper bus, 1 kayak
Countries Visited - Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
Beers Sampled - Chang, Tiger, Leo, BeerLao, Namkhong, Angkor & Anchor
Miles Travelled - 8,850
- comments
Emma Becker I am going to Cambodia on September this year. Besides Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are also listed to be visited. But still I have a question about a hotel you might have seen during your visit in Siem Reap. I booked the following hotel: Tara Angkor Hotel. You know if it is a good hotel? I heard good stories about it. What are the best attractions to visit in Siem Reap and in the surrounding?
Holly Hello Emma, I read your message and wanted to help you, because I have been in Siem Reap a lot of times. The Tara Angkor hotel is a beautiful hotel and is ideally and conveniently located, Tara Angkor Hotel is situated only 6 km from the Angkor Wat Temples, 15 min drive from the Siem Reap International Airport, a few minutes stroll to the Angkor National Museum and a short ride to the city town center with an array of Cambodian souvenirs, shopping and culture. They have a few promotions that you can make use of if you haven’t booked already: Last minute bookings, summer sales, early bird promotion or Angkor temptations. Of course there are a lot more, but have a look at their website. It is not that far to the Angkor temples that I would advise you to see for sure. I would say, grab yourself a 3 day pass and find yourself a decent tuk tuk driver to take you to the farther ruins and for a drive in some of the outlying villages. If you’re up for it consider renting a bike and checking out Angkor Wat on your own. There’s a lot to see and do so a lot depends on your time and budget. A few temples I would strongly suggest you check out besides Angkor Wat itself are Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom and of course Ta Prohm just to see the amazing tree. The Banteay Srei temple is farther out of Siem Reap but has a very different feel than a lot of the others. If you want to do something else as well, you can visit the day and night market. I can really recommend these attractions. If you need to know more, let me know.