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Published: June 22nd 2015
Though I had only been back from Christmas and New Year’s holidays for a week, it was time to jet off for more international travel. This time for Leo and Andy’s wedding with some extra South East Asian exploration tacked on as well. With this in mind, I started in Cambodia and I flew into Siem Reap and picked up by my accommodation in a tuk tuk and we meandered through the streets as a revelled in the 30 degree heat. Luxury!
My first full day there I joined the tourist hordes and went out and explored Angkor Wat and the inner circuit of temples. Initially I was not that impressed by Angkor Wat itself (because I wasn’t totally sure what I was looking at!) but as I explored around the complex and climbed high to the top, I was blown away and can see why it is considered one of the wonders of the world. The rest of the day was spent being taken around by my tuk tuk driver to the rest of the inner circuit temples which were great but a bit of an anti-climax after Angkor Wat.
The second day followed
a similar route but this time exploring temples on the outer circuit. Some of the temples including the ones from the Tomb Raider movies here were phenomenal and could rival the extravagance of Angkor Wat. The photos don’t really do it justice but the ‘wow!’ moments will stay with me forever. By the end of the day, my tuk tuk driver took me back and was over the moon when I gave him $20 instead of the bargained $15 – so much so that he offered to get me a woman for free! I didn’t take him up on his offer. To give you an idea of how cheap the place is, a meal for dinner and a drink would generally cost about $3-$4 USD and the meals were delicious as well.
My final day in Siem Reap was spent on a tour out further to the ruins of the Khmer kingdom on Phnom Kulen Mountain. There was some cool stuff to see but probably overpriced and nowhere as awe-inspiring as Angkor Wat and the two circuits.
The next day I was down to Phnom Penh where I was treated to some true South
East Asian traffic. Fairly hectic and my accommodation was an oasis in the middle of it! It was a beautiful little place with a peaceful garden and waterfall – with taxi drivers waiting outside the gate to jostle for your business. My first day here I went to the Royal Palace and explored the simply phenomenal buildings as you can see from the photos. After that I went to check out the museum which also had some pretty amazing stuff but unfortunately no photos allowed here, and for once I actually abided by this rule!
My second day in Phnom Penh was my ‘somber’ day as I went out to the Killing Fields and the former prison, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Both were horrific but the Killing Fields might have been the most disturbing I have ever seen (even more so than the Nazi concentration camps) as they had a tree which was used by the guards to smash baby’s heads on to kill them as bullets were in short supply.
But enough of that, as from Phnom Penh I flew into Bangkok to meet up with Clay, Marc, Kim and
Meg and we were off to Koh Samui!
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Angkor Wat #1
