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Published: June 14th 2009
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Thanks to an exceptionally cheap airfare & a good friend now living in Thailand, we're off on holiday again only this time without kids and traveling the long way via Christchurch & Sydney to Siem Reap, Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand. Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples have always been on our "Bucket List" and now seems as good a time as any to take the opportunity to see them...
27 hours after leaving home we finally touch down at the beautiful Siem Reap airport. We needed to get Cambodian Tourist Visa's which involved handing over $20 each and having the passports stamped & passed down a line of at least six Government officials. Five minutes later we're officially "in" and travelling light with only carry-on luggage meant we were out in the tropical balmy air only 10 minutes after landing.
Our driver, Suwan Luwan (email: leng_suwan2005@yahoo.com) whom I booked online a couple of weeks ago was waiting at the exit with a big smile and our names on a card. We were quickly off on the remorque tuk-tuk (a motorscooter with chariot behind) to our hotel for the next three nights, The Day Inn.
Suwan waited for us
whilst we freshened up, grabbed some essentials (mozzie repellant, guide book, waterbottles & money) and by 10am we were off to the temples. First stop, the Official Park Admission Booth - US$40 each for a 3 day pass (no photo was needed - they took one on the spot). Suwan recommended that we visit Angkor Wat temple at sunset, so we bypassed it on the way to the fortified city of Angkor Thom. We stopped at the South Gate and stood in complete awe of the 8 metre high wall and 100 metre wide moat surrounding the city, not to mention the enormous statues and heads looking down on us. Absolutely unbelievable that this was built 1000 years ago!!! We continued on to the Bayon temple which at first looks like an enormous pile of stones, but in reality is a mass of faces looking down from every angle. This was one of our favourite temples, and being our first we spent quite a long time climbing up and down and exploring every tower and nook and cranny. We took so many photos...
Next we checked out Baphuon which was once the world's largest jigsaw puzzle after it was
taken apart piece by piece in it's restoration process, then the records were detroyed during the Khmer Rouge era before it could be put back together. It is reached by crossing a long elevated causeway, however it is not able to be climbed at present due to ongoing work being completed.
We then trampled thru grass paths and thru a hole in the wall of the Royal Enclosure and Phimeanakas temple. The kids trying to sell guide books, scarves, and temple rubbings were many and pretty persistant here. We ended up buying a gorgeous rubbing of an Apsara from one lovely young guy and after taking a photo of a little girl and her brother we gave her a little money. We probably shouldn't have but they looked fairly needy.
Lastly we walked along the Terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of Elephants before heading back to Suwan who was waiting for us at the little food stands and stalls. Decided it was time for lunch and ended up having one of the nicest meals of our entire trip at a little unobtrusive stall - Yummy Amok Fish and Fried Rice & coke all for $6.
The temperature was getting pretty hot by this stage so Suwan took us back to the Day Inn where we hung out at the lovely pool to cool down for a couple of hours before heading out to explore Siem Reap on foot. We walked for about 10 minutes along the river path to the Old Market area. Locals were fishing in the river, sleeping on the benches or just hanging out on their tuk tuks waiting for their next customer. We noticed the motor scooters out numbered cars by about 5:1. First impressions are that Siem Reap is a charming little city with tree-lined streets and friendly people. Had a delicious dinner with spring rolls at the Blue Pumpkin Restaurant - quite a cool place where you sit on a big couch/bed and eat if you want to.
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