Siem Reap and Angkor

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David here...

The bus trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap was comfortable and relaxing, which included a breakfast of a hot cheese and ham toasted sandwich and a cake. Both were very much appreciated. We arrived at Siem Reap at 14:00 to find a Tuk-Tuk driver holding a sign with our guesthouse name (Bou Savy) and my name on it. It was such a relief that the guesthouse provided free pick-up as disembarking from the bus was a nightmare with all of the Tuk-Tuk and guesthouse touts lunging at you as soon as you stepped off of the bus. That is one thing we hate about travelling. You do not get a chance to collect yourself, find out where you are and then move onward. I suppose this is what the touts want, to get to you off guard so you are more susceptible. Anyway, we got to the guesthouse easily and got a free welcome mixed fruit smoothie, which was a nice touch...and delicious. Our first night was to be spent in another guesthouse just down the road as Bou Savy did not have a room free that night but did for the other 3 nights. So once we were checked in, we got driven across the road to the Victory guesthouse. This place was lovely, with a big restaurant/bar area, free internet and lovely, airy, big rooms. We settled right in. The guesthouse recommended that we use their own Tuk-Tuk drivers for going out to see Angkor as they charge the going rate, and was just easier, so we decided to do that. So, at 16:00 our own Tuk-Tuk driver came along and whisked us off to one of the Angkor temples at the top of a hill to witness a sunset. We arrived full of wonderment and excitement as we got to the top of the hill, to see a temple covered in tourists. It seems every single tourist in Cambodia descends on or is taken to see the sunset. I will admit it was a nice sunset, with the clouds making the red sky very interesting, but it was very hard to fully appreciated it while fighting for position with all the other people there. Anyway we went back into the centre of town and had some traditional Khmer cuisine - Fish Amok, Cambodian curry and the days special of BBQ'd chicken wings. It was delicious and a steal at only $10, which included 2 jugs of beer! We wandered back to the guesthouse and had a very good nights sleep at the Victory.

We were picked up the next morning and taken to the Bou Savy guesthouse for breakfast and for our packs to be put in our next room, which was already available at 08:30 when we got there. Breakfast consisted of a choice of bread and eggs (of your choosing) or a noodle soup. It was also nice to actually have a coffee in the morning as well for a change. We then set off for our first full day in Angkor. Our first stop, Angkor Wat itself. The place is big enough that you can get away from the majority of the tourists and it is truly spectacular. We found ourselves wandering around and clambering over the place for at least 2 hours before making our way back to the start and our Tuk-Tuk driver. We spent the whole day going round various sites in Angkor, and to be honest it would be quite boring to describe each and everyone of them and use up all my superlatives very quickly. All I will say is that Angkor is described as a wonder of the world and probably the biggest tourist spot in South East Asia and every accolade is a deserved one. We had a lovely day and are so pleased that we had the time to get here. The next 2 days were very much the same as the first. We were driven out to many temples and sights in Angkor by our trusty Tuk-Tuk driver (Lee was his name), each more impressive or different than the last. At times during our visits to Angkor I did feel like a typical, fat, western tourist, taking a Tuk-Tuk from sight to sight. However this really is the best way to fully see everything that this historical area has to offer.

The only downside to Angkor is the amount of begging and selling going on. Most of the sellers are children who really know how to tug on the heart strings and encourage you to buy stuff you don't need from them. We got extremely tired of fighting them off on the first day as we really did not know what to do for the best. Do you buy scarves or guidebooks from them and thus encourage them to keep on hounding tourists and their parents to keep letting them use their kids for selling, or do we resist and not encourage this as these kids should be in school. There is a 35% literacy rate in Cambodia and to encourage children sellers is to essentially keep kids out of school...but then, what about the poverty. These kids might have to do this so their families survive. It is difficult to know what to do for the best. In the end, we did end up buying some beautiful, colourful paper decorations (a bird and dragonfly) that if we'd seen them at home we would also buy, which cost us the grand sum of $1. The girl who sold them to us seemed so happy so we think we did the right thing.

Siem Reap itself was a very nice place. Touristy but very relaxed with a surprising array of restaurants. We ate very well here, the highlight being the Sugar Palm, where we had a Fish Amok that was cooked like a soufflé and was amazing. So light and fluffy yet bursting with so much flavour. It took 40 minutes to cook and it was well worth the wait.

We left Siem Reap feeling very relaxed, well looked after and looking forward to our next visit to Phnom Penh.

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