Siem Reap- Part 1

In an effort to try to keep the blogs shorter and since we are here for four days we will be doing this one in multiple installments. My apologies if my entries are long, not so eloquent, and somewhat overly descriptive but I am trying to give people an idea of what we do each day. Plus if Billy wrote it I am not sure it would be more than a few paragraphs long.


Siem Reap is the most traveled city in Cambodia and home to Angkor Wat. Angkor means city so it is the city of wats, or temples, and boy have we been seeing them. To quote my aunt we did get "watted out". This city is also in the poorest province so the drive from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap was not a cheerful one. We did see homes built on stilts over their farms but they are just flat roofed homes with four walls and a roof. Often there was no bathroom, electricity, or running water. People seemed to be surviving by whatever means necessary since we often saw peppers drying in the fields or front yards.



Siem Reap is very hot and humid so we splurged and got a four star hotel with pool and a/c. Helah and Tama both said we would enjoy it, and they weren't wrong.


The first day we arrived around 2pm and settled into our hotel, checked out the pool, gym, and spa. Billy and I weren't staying far from the Old French Quarter so we walked to the old market to check out what they have that Phnom Penh didn't, grab an ice cream, and people watch. We found ourselves at Viva, a Mexican restaurant, for $1 margaritas and an ice cream shake that was spectacular. Dinner was only $2 at an Internet store by day, restaurant by night. What we saw of it then we knew we would enjoy.


When we returned we had to do three loads of laundry. Our hotel charges by the piece and since all of our clothes were dirty it would have cost us a fortune. I also learned in Saigon that you don't always get back what you bring so we thought why not do it ourselves. It took lots of elbow grease by me to scrub and Billy to ring out but we did 9 shirts, 5 pairs of shorts, 1 dress, 1 pair of pants, and 2 bathing suits. We ended up with clothes all over the place in the room and in the window.


Day 2:

We had arranged for a tuk-tuk all day for $12 with the driver we had at the bus station. He was busy that morning so he sent his friend Tom who was even better. Tom is studying languages so he speaks wonderful English, French, German, and is learning Japanese and Korean. He wants to become licensed with the Department of Tourism to lead Korean tours but the test is $3,000 so he studying when he waits for his tuk-tuk passengers.


Our first stop was Angkor Thom and The Bayon. I should preface all of my Wat descriptions in Sieam Reap by saying that I could write a novel on their history but instead will just let the photos speak for themselves. If you are really into historic artifacts and Asian history I recommend lots of reading on Angkor Wat or a visit. Thom has many sculpted images expressing the Mahayana Buddhist ideal of Lokesvara (compassions). Unfortunately the sun and light weren't very compassionate with our camera. The lighting most of the day was really flat so our photos were less than spectacular. We often found ourselves forgetting to enjoy the space because we were trying to get good shots. The Bayon was the last great temple constructed at Angkor. When climbing to the top of the Bayon we met a couple from New Orleans who were visiting their kids and grandkids in Singapore. We had a wonderful 20 minute chat with them and got some great ideas for work and future travels.


Our third temple for the day was Preah Khan. It was designed in 1177 but was completed before Angkor Wat.


We ate lunch with Tom, our guide, and finished the day with Angkor Wat. It was to large to capture in photos but is one square kilometer and surrounded by a moat. It is a three tier pyramid structure which began construction in 1120. Part of the Wat was under construction so we had to skip much of the center tower.


Tom brought us back to our hotel where we took a dip in the pool and relaxed until the sun set. After the sun set we headed into town for dinner at a BBQ restaurant. We were amazed that for $6 we had two beers, four kabobs, and one chicken leg. For desert and drinks we headed to pub street for another $1 margarita and milk shake. Billy and I have been in need of conversation other than ourselves so it was nice to just be around people, even if they didn't speak English.


I also purchased a few shirts that night so I would have clothes to wear the following few days until ours dried in the room.


Day 3:


Our goal was to watch the sunset at Angkor Wat so we had Tom pick us up at 11am thinking 5 hours at the Wats would be enough before sunset. Unfortunately the few Wats we had planned for the day were smaller, thus took less time. In addition the heat was worse than yesterday so at 3:30 pm we had to call it quits and return to town. We thought we could tough it out but both of us felt our feet dragging our brains escaping us. Water was constantly going in us and we tried for shade for whenever possible but we couldn't do it. We are at an Internet cafe writing this post and will head to the hotel for a pool dip and dinner late tonight.


The Wats we visited today included; Ta Prohm (tomb raider was filmed here), Pre Rup, Prasat Neak Pean, East Mebon, and Prasat Ta Som. We also had a great lunch at a great dirt floor hut with Tom and learned more about he and his family.


Hope you enjoy our photos for the past few days. We will give a little more description when possible on those.