We stopped in Cambodia for four days as we were leaving Vietnam. We really only wanted to go and see Angkor Wat. I know that many people also go to the Killing Fields and the museums devoted to it in Phenom Phen, but we weren’t planning on hitting too many depressing points on our trip.
I love countries where you can not worry about getting your tourist visa ahead of time. Upon arriving in the Siem Reap airport, you are able to pay and provide your photos right there to get your visa. As with many airports where this is a possibility, it was a little chaotic, but we expected that.
We took a tuk tuk into the city and found our hostel. It was located across from the big hotel and only a few blocks from Angkor Wat, our destination.
Filling her gastank with blackmarket petrol, this lady could not afford legal gas.
As you enter the Angkor Wat park, you must buy a pass. You can buy a one-day pass or for the price of two days, a three-day pass. Everyone had suggested the three day pass, and we felt it was well worth it. The officials even took our digital pictures and put them on the passes. All said and done, they make pretty good souvenirs to boot.
Our hostel set us up with a tuk tuk driver that we paid by the day, for about $10 per tuk tuk. We hired two for the first two days we did the temples, and we are glad we did. They knew all the places to take us and didn’t care how long we spent at any of the spots. Our driver used to be a teacher. It was a pretty tragic story. He had worked as a teacher and could barely make ends meet. This in itself is not unusual, because many teachers in the US are also underpaid.
His school did not have any supplies or textbooks; he had to supply everything he used. Many of the teachers charged the students for materials, but of course many of them couldn’t pay either. Then because the teachers have too many students and no materials, the schools can only do so much with the kids.
He made more as a tuk tuk driver in a couple of days (not including tips) then he did all month as a teacher. He was able to send his own children to private school, where he felt they were getting a much better education.
Because he was a teacher, he began to tell us many things about the temples, buildings, and customs of the country. We enjoy wandering around by ourselves and just taking it in, but it was nice to get an overview of the place as well.
The highlights of Angkor:
1- Angkor Wat at sunrise and any other time of the day. The biggest temple and the one most photographed with the three towers is just gorgeous. Even upon it’s approach, the gardens and out-lying parts of the temple is awe-inspiring. As you wander through, you can see some very steep steps that Jim climbed, but since then I heard a tourist died and now no one can climb the steps anymore. I hope it’s true, because they were extremely treacherous.
2- One of the temples I didn’t expect and which I really enjoyed, was the Bayon in Angkor Thom. Before entering the gate, you are faced with 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara, a pretty impressive sight. Also there you can rent elephants for a quick ride around the temple—cheesy, but fun.
3-Ta Prohm, made famous by Angelina during the movie “Tomb Raider” was pretty fantastic. I love trees. I love temples. I love ruins…and this temple has it all. Lovely.
4-One thing to do is watch the sunset from Phnom Bakheng Temple. You can either take an elephant up the mountain or walk. We chose to walk. Yes, it was hot. But yes, it was well worth it. Again here, you have to climb up some pretty steep steps when you reach the temple. It is quite a slog up the hill, so if you’re tired or infirm, take the elephant.
A couple of other things we did in Siem Reap were to go to the market in the center of the town and to take an excursion to Tonle Sap Lake. The market was cheaper than any Thai market I’ve ever been to, with basically the same items. A shopper could go hog-wild here. Bartering is always a fun pastime.
Tonle Sap, on the other hand, was a huge body of water that housed some refugees from Vietnam. There is a complete city on boats. We saw a church, school, many markets, farms, all kinds of things. I couldn’t believe that people kept their pigs on the boats, but where else were they going to put them? I was a little skeptical signing up for this tour, but felt it was well worth it.
All in all, Cambodia was a blast of a few days. I might try and get back there some day. I still have to do the other UNESCO World Heritage site, the Temple of Preah Vihear. It’s also so close to both Vietnam and Thailand that it’s cheap and easy to make it a quick add-on.