It was Karbo's birthday, so for dinner we enjoyed a fantastic but easy on the wallet 3-course meal at The Old House restaurant for $6 USD per person (Happy birthday sweetheart!). After which we wandered through the night market. We were pleasantly surprised by how clean and organized the night market was, even though it was kind of small. We called it an early night because the next day was a full day of exploring Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples.
Posted by Jason When we were planning this RTW trip we knew there was no way we could see everything we wanted to see in one year, so we had to eliminate a significant portion of the original list of places to visit (Spain, Provence, Cinque Terre...etc). However, Angkor Wat, the ancient temple ruins just north of Siem Reap city centre, also the largest religious complex in the world, always maintained a solid spot near the top of our list, and we were excited to finally see it! We took the Giant Ibis bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and the bus ride was better than we expected. For $16 USD per person, we got spacious, comfortable seats, perfectly functioning A/C, water, snacks, movies, wifi, and an entertaining English speaking guide. It made the 7 hour journey quite enjoyable. We spent our first day walking around the Siem Reap city centre, which is tailor made for tourists with Western restaurants, souvenir shops, and "fish spas" on almost every block. We had lunch at Sister Srey, a nice restaurant/cafe owned by a pair of Australian sisters. The food was light and delicious, which explains why it was so busy when we were there. After lunch we visited the Central Market. Similar to most of the public markets we've visited in Southeast Asia, you can find all kinds of random things here, and we didn't come out of the market completely empty-handed. Karbo bought a pair of tourist pants for $4 USD =) It was Karbo's birthday, so for dinner we enjoyed a fantastic but easy on the wallet 3-course meal at The Old House restaurant for $6 USD per person (Happy birthday sweetheart!). After which we wandered through the night market. We were pleasantly surprised by how clean and organized the night market was, even though it was kind of small. We called it an early night because the next day was a full day of exploring Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. Now, when I say a full day, I mean waking up at 4:30am to get picked up by our tour guide Sarak. We arrived at Angkor Wat at around 5am and the parking lot was already full of people. I guess we weren't the only ones catching sunrise over the ancient temple. Shortly after we found a spot with a decent view, the sky started to light up, and the silhouette of Angkor Wat slowly became more and more visible. It is still one of the most majestic sights I have ever seen. Once the sun had made its full appearance the crowd started to make its way into Angkor Wat, and so began our tour with Sarak. He spent the first 20 minutes telling us a brief version of the Hindu legend Ramayana, which set the tone perfectly for rest of our tour of the temple, because for the next 3 hours every corner we turned there was a carving or painting on the wall that relates back to the story. We would've had a very hard time figuring it all out on our own, that's for sure! Angkor Wat is just one of many temples that make up the Angkor Archaeological Park. The entire park is an UNESCO Heritage Site and we had the privilege to spend the rest of the day visiting 5 other magnificent temples: Angkor Thom, Baphuon, Ta Prohm (made famous by the movie Tomb Raider), Banteay Srei, and Pre Rup (for a view of the sunset). We also stopped at the Landmine Museum, which was quite the eye-opener. Angkor Thom Baphuon Ta Prohm Banteay Srei Pre Rup Our guided tour cost us $75 (after some bargaining over email) and it was worth every penny. Sarak has an abundance of knowledge about the archaeological sites. We even picked his brain about recent Cambodian history, and he was not shy to share his strong opinions with us. Above all, his service was top-notch. If you are planning a trip to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, we highly recommend booking a private tour with Sarak. We booked him through Chet at Angkor Wat Services. We saw people doing the same route as us in tuktuks and we were very thankful we paid extra for the air conditioned private car.
2 Comments
Karbo Kam
5/5/2014 05:07:36 pm
Thanks Belle!! We're really enjoying reading about your travels too!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Currently in:Vancouver, Canada Places
All
Archives
March 2016
|