Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sorry this is a little late coming, the journey leaving Cambodia took its toll a little, phew! Leaving Cambodia behind was a little sad, as we had an amazing time there. I’d probably say it was the most active place we visited as we managed to squeeze in so much. First of all, everyone goes to Siem Reap to visit the UNESCO listed temples of Angkor, but the city really did offer a lot more than that (more on this later). The temples were about a 20 minute tuk-tuk ride away from our hostel, the tuk tuks - just like Bangkok - had crazy drivers and the roads were nuts to cross, you kinda just have to say a little prayer and hope for the best. Or better yet, toot your horn annoyingly quickly just to make everyone around you aware that you are nutter of a driver. Anyway, back to the temples. We were picked up from our hostel at 7am by our tuk tuk driver, Pepe Bunlong (new friend on insta), and taken to various different temples including Angkor Thom, Bayon, terrace of the elephants and Ta Prohm. They all had this eerie, mystical light that surrounded them, like the kind of thing you’d see in an Indiana Jones movie (although it was more likely smog from the thousands of visitors to the park, slightly less romantic). 

Our favourite temple was Ta Prohm, also known as the Tomb raider temple, because of its abandoned feel. You felt like you were discovering an ancient ruin for the first time. This temple had been left for nature to run its course so trees with huge roots had twisted and turned through the stones. 

These hand carved stones were incredible and the architectural structure the buildings had seemed to be well before their time. Some of the temples weirdly resembled French aristocratic homes which messed with your head considering they are 1000’s off years old. Our second day at the temples took us to the star attraction, Angkor Wat. We spent a morning here looking around all of the different corridors and archways, check out some of the pictures below.  

For our final day of the three day ticket we decided to rent some bikes and cycle around the temples, we went to some of the more off grid temples that meant we had the whole place to ourselves.  

Anyway, moving away from the temples, Siem Reap had loads more to offer. We played mini golf....

We did some yoga at a place called the Peace Cafe, it was so difficult and made both of us appreciate how inflexible we are, it was a great workout though and we were rewarded with a yummy vegan breakfast afterwards in the secluded garden cafe. Following on from the zen theme we got a massage in our hostel room for just $8 each, which was a real treat after lugging our bags around from stop to stop. Finally we went to the Circus, no animals were involved, of course, we checked. It was part of a scheme to help people better themselves in Cambodia teaching them skills and funding schooling for them. We were super impressed by the acrobatics and entertainment value.

So that’s it.... Just joking let’s talk about food, we were really surprised by what Siem Reap had to offer in terms of trendy cafes and bars. I’m talking chocolate smoothie bowls, avocado and poached eggs on rye toast for breakfast and trendy vegan burgers and sweet potato chips. Ooooh it was decadent. But we also found a favourite spot for dinner called ‘Try me’ which sustained us with more traditional Khmer food such as lok lak (beef curry), fish amok (fish curry) and fries noodles (fried noodles). Ooh and it did a beautiful mango smoothie for a dollar. 

So that really is it. Peace out Cambodia and on to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

#travel #cambodia #siemreap #AngkorWat #temples #khmer