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Published: August 17th 2008
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Entrance
The entrance to Angkor Wat Siem Reap lived up to and more for my expectations. On the 6 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh, I wasn't sure what to expect. I heard that it is the second largest city in Cambodia and has it's own airport. Was this city going to be the same as Phnom Penh? Will the food be just as good, or the beer just as cheap? We arrived around 6:30 pm and were promptly picked up by a tuk tuk driver with a big smile and a couple of cokes.
I have said it before I know, but it has to be said again that people in Cambodia are some of the nicest in the world. They go out of their way to help you out and enjoy showing their country to you. The hostel we stayed at was one of the best I have ever stayed. It was walking distance to the markets and bar street, it had a indoor swimming pool, a full bar and restaurant, pool table, hammocks, movie rooms, and temple directly behind it. The staff was really friendly and by the end of our stay it really did feel like home. We had originally planned to stay
Budda
One of many that were around the temples three days and that turned into five.
The second day we went to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Only 30 min. from the hostel and you are surrounded by massive stone walls and halls was scribed with battle scenes. These places give you a sense of excitement as you walk up to them. mile long walk ways with statues line the way to Angkor Wat, and inside you find hallways surrounding a main courtyard with monolithic structures rising from the ground. Seeing the sheer size of these temples really makes you appreciate how difficult and laborious it must have been to build. the tiny detail in the walls that stretch for hundreds of yards, and the fact that they are still standing is a testament to quality and care put into these structures...it also helps that they are made of stone.
For lunch Justin and I had a couple of pears and sat back and took it all in. I told him that this was an awesome place, but lacking one major element, monkeys. I had yet to see a monkey running over walls or climbing statues, or throwing crap our way. That all changed about 10 min. later
when we turned the corner to head out of Angkor Wat. There was a monkey sitting at an entrance just spacing out, and doing what monkeys do. That made it for me, it made it all just a little more real. Seeing monkeys climb around on ancient wonders was exactly what I was looking for, the simple things in life.
We left Angkor Wat and headed to Angkor Thom. They are quite close together, but have a few differences. Angkor Thom is larger, or at least the entire area. The other difference is that Angkor Thom was built specifically as Buddhist temples, while Angkor Wat was originally built as a Hindu temple, then was converted into a Buddhist temple.
The main temple of Angkor Thom, Bayon, was my favorite of the day. It was an enormous chaotic system of hallways, stairs and dead ends. Towers shot up from every direction with faces on each side. It is an awesome sight to see up close and personal.
After running through both temple sites we called it a day. The next few day's were spent in worry that I would run out of money...I was down to $40 and had 8 more
Angkor Wat
the long walk to the temple days to go, but as luck would have it, I got an advance on a credit card after spending one day running around Siem Reap looking for an atm or Western Union. After an influx of new funds we decided to hit the markets and pubs. We spent the rest of our time in Seim Reap running around the town and taking tuk tuk rides out to the middle of know where. This is also where we went to the war museum and ran into our lucky strong fellow who just happened to have a magnet for mines, bullets and misfortune. We left Siem Reap with a greater love of Cambodia and few extra dollars in our pockets. The next stop and our last would be Sinoukville on the coast. We boarded the bus at 6:00am and headed 12 hours south until we arrived at the rain soaked ground of Sinoukville. Indecently our bus ride was supposed to be only 8 hours, but with the frequent stops along the way and hitting a cow, the journey was extended....and for no extra cost.
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Camille
non-member comment
Good photographer! Beautiful! Have fun in Cambodia!