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November 15th 2014

Published: November 17th 2014

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DivyaRamagopal

Tonle Sap Lake (Day 1)

Cambodia - It had been a dream destination for me growing up, and for a lot more people I have known. And what a place it is! And my first blog ever is on Cambodia.

As a student, I watched a lot of programs on Discovery/ Nat Geo on architecture, history, etc - from Egypt to Cambodia; from Ancient structures/ civilizations to modern ones. Over the years, all that I saw in these programs have faded away to my subconscious. Its there. somewhere. Just not in the fore front to know everything about everyplace the moment I see it. So, I decided, that I was not going to do an extensive research on every bit of my trip planned. Just keep that basic information handy, and let Siem Reap surprise me. And it did!

Even with all the internet research on visiting Siem Reap, the most difficult piece of information to gather was to the question 'What is the ideal amount of time to spend in Siem Reap?' We had almost 7 full days with us. Here is what we did:

DAY 1: We reached Siem Reap the previous night after a long day of

Floating Village (Day 1)

flights and transit in Hongkong for about 6 hours. We decided to take it a little easy, and start our day late. It did not make sense to go to the temples when we started out day at leisure. So, we went to the Floating Village in Tonle Sap Lake. While the lake is breathtakingly beautiful, the ride through the village is quite a 'touristy' thing to do. It is interesting to see how this entire village lives on water, small babies and kids are jumping from one boat to the other with no fear of the deep waters below. Police Stations to temples; schools to departmental stores - They are all on water! At the same time, the stories that the boatman tells you about the villagers and their lives is heartrending. Still, its worth a visit if you have the time for it.

Quick notes:

Name of place: Tonle Sap Lake - Floating Village

Time taken: Journey by car/ Tuk tuk from Siem Reap to the ferry point: Around 45 minutes. Time on the lake: approximately 1.5Hrs.

Cost for small boat (seats 8 - 9 Adults) : USD 100 plus tip to the boatmen;

Floating Village (Day 1)

USD 35 for car

DAY 2: The Temple visits begin! 6 AM the car and our guide arrive and we are all set to experience the Sun rise at the Angkor Wat Temple. Our hotel packs some breakfast for us to take along. On the way, a stop at the ticketing office to buy our 3 day pass to the temples, and we reach our destination in about 20 minutes. The deep blue sky, the thick growth of trees, and all of this reflecting in the moat around - WOW! As we walk through the entrance into the expansive temple complex, we see large numbers of tourists already waiting at various locations to capture Sunrise. The rains hadn't completely stopped while we were there, so a partly cloudy sky Sunrise was not the best our guide had seen. But it was beautiful nevertheless. After breakfast, our guide took us through the temple. When inside the temple, for a for a while, it almost feels like you are inside an ancient Indian temple (more so a South Indian one - since I have not seen many temples in other parts of the country). But then the massive scale

Angkor Wat at dawn (Day 2)

of the temple starts to sink in as you walk through. Also, the thick forest setting does the magic. And the awesomeness of Angkor Wat comes back to hit you! None of the other temples even remotely match up to the scale of Angkor Wat.

Our next stop was at the Bayon Temple - the temple with the numerous faces carved on it. Though a lot of it has weathered out, the temple gives you scope to imagine it in its hay days. It is much much smaller than Angkor Wat, but it has a very distinct character to it.

Our next, and last stop for the day was at the Ta Prohm Temple - commonly known as the forest temple. It is also famous for being the location where the famous movie Tomb Raider was shot. By now, even the spare battery to my camera had run out and I was restricted to taking photographs on my phone. All these years, the image of Cambodia I had, was of this temple - with the huge trees, with their huge roots growing all over the temple. It has some sort of a mystic feel to it. This again,

Angkor Wat (Day 2)

Tourists waiting to capture the Sunrise

is much smaller than the Angkor Wat, so it seems a lot more crowded, and you have to look for that mystic feel beyond the crowd!

Back in the city for a late lunch, our temple visits for the day was done. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing, and walking around the night markets, and the crashed into bed early after all the walking and climbing through the day!

Quick Notes:

Places Visited: Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple, Ta Prohm Temple

Time taken: approximately 8 hours

Costs: USD 40 per head for 3 day temple pass; USD 40 for car; USD 40 for guide.

There is a lot of walking and climbing, so be sure to wear comfortable clothing and shoes, and if you are a photography buff, then carry spare batteries/ power banks to ensure you don't miss anything.

DAY 3: Started our day at around 8AM and headed out to 4 temples. These temples are a little further away from the city. There isn't much to write about each temple as in this blog, I am not covering the story/ history of each temple; I am only restricting

Angkor Wat (Day 2)

Relief work showing the Mahabharata inside Angkor Wat

it to our experiences. All these temples are all in ruins - to different extents, they are all relatively small temples, and are all beautiful! Photographs say it all. Again, we were back in the city for a late lunch. We ended our day walking through the night markets and Pub street.

Quick Notes:

Places Visited: Preah Khan Temple; Neak Pean Temple; East Mebon Temple; Pre Rup Temple

Time taken: approximately 6 hours

Costs: USD 35 for car; USD 35 for guide

DAY 4: Again, a comfortable start to the day, with visits to 3 temples lined up for the first half. We returned to the city for lunch, relaxed a little, and then headed out watch the Sunset from a hill temple close to Angkor Wat. The first temple we visited was Bantaey Srey Temple. This temple is a lot older than Angkor Wat, and of course, much smaller. This temple has a lot of intricate carvings, and looks very different from the other temples, as the photographs show. The second temple, Preah Ko, and the third one Bakong Temple, are again small temples, but have their own

Angkor Wat (Day 2)

Inside the temple - the second tier

distinct character. Reaching the temple on top of Bakeng Hill involves a 30 minute climb up the hill by foot. Here again, like for the Sunrise at Angkor Wat, a large number of tourists gather to witness the Sunset. It is a small temple, most of it in ruins. So there is not much to see in the temple as such. South East to this temple one can catch a glimpse of the entire Angkor Wat complex amidst thick forests. With this, we were done with our 3 day pass.

Quick Notes:

Places Visited: Bantaey Srey Temple; Preah Ko Temple; Bakong Temple; Bakeng Hill

Time taken: approximately 6 hours (travel time is higher compared to time spent in each temple) for the morning trip; around 2 - 2.5 hours for the Sunset.

Costs: USD 55 for car; USD 45 for guide

DAY 5: A break from all the temple visits, this day brought us close to some nature. We went up Kulen Mountain to see the River of Thousand Lingas and visited a Buddhist temple uphill, and then spent some time at the Kulen Falls. The mountain is around 2 hours away from

Angkor Wat (Day 2)

The inner most; third tier

the city. The roads on the mountain are narrow and not very good, but the traffic movement to and from the mountain is managed in a nice way - visitors are allowed up hill upto 12 noon, and down hill after that. Of course, VIPs are always an exception! The river is an interesting place. The river bed is hard rock, and the rock is full of Lingas and figures of Gods carved onto it. During and after the rains, when the flow of water is higher (like when we visited), only some sections of the river are accessible, and there as well, it takes a little while for to train the eye to locate these carvings. During dry seasons, it is a much nicer sight we were told. Next, we climbed up to a Buddhist Temple up hill, which has a large reclining Buddha statue in it. From there, we walked down hill to the water fall. While it is not a very large waterfall, it is relaxing to be there after days of walking and climbing. For people who want to spend longer time at the river, there are kiosks available on rent through the day, where people

Angkor Wat (Day 2)

View of the entire temple complex

can sit and enjoy the view of the river. The drive to and from the mountain is picturesque. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way back to the city.

Quick Notes:

Places visited: Kulen Mountain; River of Thousand Lingas; Reclining Buddha Temple; Kulen Falls

Time taken: approximately 8 hours, including a stop for lunch

Costs: USD 20 per head at Kulen Mountain; USD 70 for car; USD 45 for guide

DAY 6: Our last day to visit temples. We went to the Beng Milea Temple, which is probably the most ruined of all the temples we saw. It is so much in ruins, that there is no place to walk in the temple. Wooden walkways have been built throughout the temple. There is immense tree growth in this temple as well. Probably more than Ta Prohm Temple. But it is a magnificent sight! Yes, there are people who got disturbed and depressed looking at the state of ruins, but to me, it was still beautiful. This temple again is located far from the city, with a travel time of around 2 hours! We were back in the city for lunch.

Angkor Wat (Day 2)

Inside the temple

Quick Notes:

Places visited: Beng Milea Temple

Time taken: approximately 5.5 - 6 hours

Costs: USD 5 per head at the temple; USD 70 for car; USD 35 for guide

DAY 7: Our last day in the Siem Reap. This was our day to relax, and enjoy a nice long massage. Since we had an evening flight, our hotel allowed us to stay on for a few more hours beyond the checkout time. Massages are really good in the city, but be sure to go to a proper professional place. The others are a lot cheaper, but no good.

Siem Reap, overall, was an amazing place to visit. The people there are extremely friendly. As the photographs show, all the temples in this area are in ruins. It is interesting to note though (especially after seeing many ruins across India), that majority of the ruins are a result of nature. Human intervention is minimal. The climate and the forests around are a major cause for the condition that the temples are in. Of course, all this happened only after each of them were abandoned when the kings shifted their capital.

Bayon Temple (Day 2)

The best description that I can give to these temples, is one that I had read somewhere during my initial research, which referred to these temples are 'one of the world's most impressive ruins'. I have not traveled much around the world yet. But of what I have seen so far, these surely are the most impressive ruins!

Quick notes/ tips:

• Currency: The city runs on US Dollars. The local currency is only used for items that cost less than $1. Most places do not accept credit cards. So be prepared to carry sufficient cash/ withdraw cash at Banks there.
• Our hotel, Friendly Villa Siem Reap, arranged the car and guide for us. They also helped us plan our itenary through the trip. We paid USD 25 per double room (this was in the non peak season. You can read my review on this hotel here: http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserReviews-g297390-d3879921-r239047843-Friendly_Villa-Siem_Reap_Siem_Reap_Province.html )
• Night Markets: There is quite a bit that can be bought from these markets - a variety of souvenirs, clothing, paintings and art work, etc. Do note, it there is a lot of scope to bargain in these shops - you can start from less than 50%!(NOVERB)

Bayon Temple (Day 2)

of the quoted price.
• Pub Street: Worth a visit, if you drink. Alcohol, especially beer, is probably among the cheapest things in the city!
• Food - for Vegetarians/ Vegans: There are a few Indian restaurants in and around the night market - pub street areas. These are owned by Indians, so it is not difficult to get Indian/ vegetarian food. Even in other local cuisine - small restaurants, there are some vegetarian/ vegan dishes. It is also quite easy to explain to them that you do not want any meat/ egg in any particular dish.
• Wifi: Even the smallest restaurant is wifi enabled (for free). We did not find the need to get a local number as our hotel, and most restaurants were Wifi enabled.
• If travelling in a group, a group size of 7-8 will be ideal. The cars used can seat that many people, so it works out more economical as the car and guide fees will be split accordingly.
• Our trip was a very relaxed one. We had in our group a 2 year old kid, and an elderly lady (my grandmother), and this schedule worked out well for us. Personally, I feel, that 4-6 days is