Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor

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We left Koh Chang on the 29th of December and made our way to Cambodia. We were meant to get picked up at 7 am but the driver must have slept in and came at 7.45 and the ferry was due to leave at 8.30 am. He chased along the windy coast road like a lunatic and I didn't feel safe at all but we arrived at the ferry on time. We only had a short stop at the tour office and then continued our way towards the border crossing in Poipet. Once we got there a very very very friendly Thai "tour guide" welcomed us in the middle of nowhere and told us we have to buy the visa for Cambodia of him for 1100 Baht (36US$) otherwise it would took us 3 hours to get to Cambodia. According to official information the visa for Cambodia costs 20$ and so I refused to buy it of him. Ryan didn't get it either and I told a Swiss girl and a Spanish guy that he is trying to scam them and so they didn't took it of him either. He was not very happy about that and the very very very friendly Thai turned into a very very very angry person who ordered us to get onto the bus again straight away and we set off to the actual border crossing. We paid 20$ each for our visa and it took us about 20 minutes to get it. Once we had it we had to queue up for the immigration and it took us just over an hour to get through there. (The other couple who was on the bus with us bought the visa of the Thai guy and they were through immigration 5 minutes earlier...) Once we arrived on the Cambodian side a waiting game started with the Thai just ignoring us and not telling us where our bus to Siem Reap would leave. In the end the border crossing took us 3 hours because he wanted it to. At about 8 pm we finally arrived in Siem Reap and a whole crowd of Tuktuk drivers was awaiting us. As we were in the middle of nowhere (once again) we decided to take one to Pub Street. He ignored our destination wish and wanted to bring us to a different guesthouse further away. We told him to turn around and drop us where we wanted to go and after a short discussion he dropped us somewhere close to Pub Street. We then started to look for a guesthouse and found one in the end that was cheap and in a quiet spot but still close to Pub Street. Once we had checked in we went for dinner in Mey Mey Restaurant - a very cheap little local restaurant with great food and fruit shakes. As we had another long day of travelling we called it an early night and fell asleep in the comfy bed.

The next day we just walked around in Siem Reap and soaked up the atmosphere. It is a very nice smallish town with loads of little markets that sell scarves, bags, t-shirts and more scarves, more bags and more t-shirts. We came across an "orphanage" (most of them still have at least one parent but they are very poor so they grow up there to have enough food and the opportunity to go to school) and as the kids saw us they opened the gate to let us in. We stayed there for a few hours in the afternoon, watched the kids' English lessons and played with them afterwards. The kids were so lovely and as we were about to leave I couldn't say no when they asked whether we'd come back the next day. We had our dinner at Mey Mey again and enjoyed it as much as the first evening. We had some beers on Pub Street before we went to bed and after another good night's sleep we went to the children hospital and Ryan gave blood (I couldn't as I am still fighting my chest infection). Afterwards he didn't feel too well so I sent him to bed to relax a bit as we planned to go for a nice dinner this evening and some New Year's Eve celebrations. I went back to the orphanage and spend the afternoon with the kids before I went back to our room, had a nice shower and got ready for the evening. We decided to treat ourselves this evening and went to the Viva Mexican Restaurant and had some amazing food there before we headed to Pub Street for some drinks and the countdown towards 2012. We had a really good night but it was heartbreaking to see all the Cambodian kids being out and about until 2 or 3 in the morning and begging for money and giving breakdance performances to earn some money. At midnight they shot some fireworks into the air and from the baloncies people threw buckets with water onto the street what turned everything into a mess. Our legs and especially our feet were black and once we got home it took us about 15 minutes to clean them properly. It was horrible but we had a good night :-)

The next day we didn't do anything apart from sleeping, having some food, finding a Tuktuk driver who would take us to the temples of Angkor the next day and sleeping again at 8 pm.

The next day we had a very early start (4.30 am) as I wanted to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The Tuktuk picked us up at 5 am and at 5.30 we arrived at Angkor Wat where already loads of people were waiting to see the sunrise which didn't take place as it was too cloudy. Of course the sun rose but not colourful at all. After the first disappointment we enjoyed our breakfast with a view on Angkor Wat and then we set off to explore the gigantic monument. We spent over 2 hours walking around and admiring the impressive stone carvings. We walked around the galleries and then up to the top. It was amazing, I absolutely loved it. Afterwards we went to Angkor Thom and explored the temples in this area. They were smaller but very charming and not cramped with tourists. We strolled along the Terrace of Elephants and at around 12ish we sat down for lunch and relaxed a little bit. At this point I already felt like I had climbed 1000000 stairs. After lunch we went to see two smaller temples on the way to Ta Phrom – they were similar to the ones before but as most of the people were still having lunch or visiting bigger ones we had them almost to ourselves. Yay! My main goal on this day was to take nice pictures without any people in it – seemed impossible but I did quite well. We then went to Ta Phrom – a magical place. I read about this one in a book before we visited it and just felt I must go there. Loads of massive trees and roots were covering the stones or grew on the walls with their roots all over. It was amazing. We finished our day with visiting two smaller temples and at 4 pm we fell into the Tuktuk and he brought us back to our guesthouse. I was so exhausted and fell asleep during the ride. Once we got home I continued in bed.

The next few days weren’t very spectacular at all. We had nice sleep ins, moved guesthouse twice, had food at MeyMey Restaurant and in the afternoons we spent our time with the kids In the orphanage, playing with them and teaching English. Amazing children that really want to learn and want to take their chance.

On Saturday we rented a truck and went to the village were most of the kids come from – 2 hours for 40 km (25 miles) on a bumpy dirt path – that they can spend some time with their parents. It was incredible seeing the big smiles on the kids’ faces and they really enjoyed themselves. The village was absolutely basic and some of the wooden or bamboo huts didn’t even have roofs or walls. There is one well that all people get their drinking water and showering water from and some have to carry it over a kilometre to their homes. It was absolutely unbelievable for me but the people are making the most out of it and don’t lose their smile. We were back in Siem Reap at around 5 and I had the best shower of my life, as I have never been that dirty and dusty.

The next day we had to say Goodbye to the kids what was really sad and I wished we could have stayed longer but it was time to move on. They wouldn’t let us go without promising that we’d come back one day and we’ll stick to that promise.

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