Angkor Wat & What Else?
Siem Reap
After a long journey crossing the border from Laos, we eventually arrived at our guesthouse in Siem Reap. Like many travellers and tourists, we came here to see Angkor Wat. Built in the 12th century the UNESCO World Heritage Site is the largest religious temple in the world. Something that shouldn’t be missed on your journey through Cambodia.
We only spent a couple of days in the city, which I was more than happy about. It was a strange transformation in surroundings coming from Don Det (the most relaxed place in the world) back to the city life. But Siem Reap is a lovely city & on certain streets, you could believe you were in a beautiful French town, were it not for the sweltering heat.
We located a little area not far from our guesthouse that was littered with modern café’s and great eateries such as Vibe vegan café & Maybe Later Mexican restaurant (with their current A board reading ‘Mexican food so good, Trump wants to build a wall around it’).
Pub Street
Now Toby and I have decided to do a month of not drinking alcohol, so we hadn’t immediately sought out where the backpackers and travellers were drinking hanging out. So, on our last evening, we decided to venture to the night market, seeing as pretty much everywhere we’ve been has had one and they always seem to be surrounded by the liveliest places. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we jumped out of our tuktuk at Pub Street.
“It won’t be a late one, realistically it’s not going to differ from any other night market we’ve seen…” we discussed on the ride there. Siem Reap is the craziest night market we have come across so far. It split off in every direction, each street as neon as the next. But Pub Street was where it was really happening. I’m sure from the name you’ve gathered that this is Siem Reaps drinking hole. Live music and bright lights. We chose one of the bars at the quieter end, lulled in by the chilled acoustic set happening inside and ordered a mocktail. Sigh.
Angkor Wat
Pretty city, good food and bustling nightlife aside, Angkor Wat was what we came to see. If you’re planning a visit make note of the following. Angkor Wat is only one of the temples on the HUGE grounds. It is the biggest and the most well-known, but there are others to discover if you’re mad into temples and allow yourself the time. It is a nice way to while away the day, wandering around India Jones set worthy grounds, but it is also incredibly hot.
Passes are bought for 1, 3 or 7 days. If you shell out you can come and go as you please, avoiding the hottest parts of the day.
We decided to just visit Angkor Wat on a 1-day pass. We didn’t see any options for audio tours and as we were not there for a particularly long time, we didn’t get a tour guide either. I think this would have been a game changer and I would advise if you can afford it, to get a tour guide, there are plenty at the entrance of the site.
Regardless of not getting the full story, Angkor Wat is easy to admire, not only for its scale, or it’s amazing ancient architecture but also for the level of intricate details. The details that make you step back and think ‘Hold up. HOW did they even make this?!’
One of our favourite things about Angkor Wat was that it is still in use by monks today. They can be seen wandering the grounds and if you’re lucky you can see them in practice. We were drawn into the central building by the hum of the monks and quietly watched whilst they peacefully chanted. There are also a few monks collecting donations who will perform a blessing for you.
All in all, we had a nice few days in Siem Reap but we were ready to move on to Phnom Penh and explore a new city with its own (rather dark) history. Had we been drinking, perhaps I would be writing a different story… Not going out to social areas obviously limits your interactions with other travellers and socialising with other travellers can sometimes be the best way to find out what not to miss in a town or city. Either way, we saw what we came to see and saw a bit more.
“Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me”.
-Carl Sandburg
See It With Your Own Eyes [yasr_overall_rating]