Cambodia - Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

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Our SE Asia trip began with a red-eye flight that got us into Siem Reap at about 9 AM; luckily for us, there is only a two-hour time difference from Tokyo, so while we were suffering from exhaustion, we weren't suffering from jet lag. Our guesthouse, the Babel Guesthouse, had emailed me when I'd made our reservation to tell us that our tuk-tuk driver would be waiting at the airport for us after we landed. It took awhile to find our driver, as the printed paper was not very dark, but eventually we did, and we were on our way into the city. This was the first time we rode in a tuk-tuk, and we were already in love with it! (It remained my husband's favorite thing about Siem Reap throughout the trip, haha)

The hotel itself actually provided the driver, in a sense, for our entire stay, which meant that anywhere we wanted to go NOT by foot, all we had to do was talk to either the front desk or our driver himself, who was usually outside the hotel entrance when we were not traveling. This extra little feature meant that we never had to worry about finding a driver or getting around to where we wanted to go, though it did not save us from being constantly approached by other drivers when we were walking. It took about a day to get used to, but after that, it seemed quite normal. Our driver was excellent, and had many good tips as he took us around, and was more than willing to take detours when we asked for the scenic route.

Since we got there so early (and exhausted), we had planned a pretty easy and light first day, but when we inquired at the hotel about getting Angkor Wat passes for the next day, they told us that when you get a pass, you get a free sunset for the day before the pass starts. We hadn't known this, and it felt too good to pass up. We rested for awhile before heading out with our tuk-tuk driver around 4:30 - and straight into the pouring rain. We were worried that we would get stuck going right back home, but somehow the rain let off by the time we got into the ruins, and we got some really impressive rainbow photos. The sky was too cloudy to really see the sunset, but we hung around anyway, and we were tired by the time we finally got back to our hotel.

Our second day started bright and early with one of the tour loops of the Angkor Wat temples. The tuk-tuk drivers had a suggested inner and outer loop, so we chose the inner loop to start with. We hit a few temples early enough to be close to the only ones there, which was really nice, and looped back around to do Bayon and Angkor Wat, two of the most popular ones, around noon. This meant most of the early crowd had left, and we didn't have to beat any of the massive rushes to see the sights. We also could go right up into Angkor Wat's top area without waiting in line - there were signs from the morning with 45 minute wait times listed, and we were really glad that we had chosen to hit the most famous temple last. I highly suggest doing it in that order if the sunrise is not on your itinerary!

After our six-hour temple extravaganza, we were sweaty beyond belief, so we went back to shower/change clothes, and then went out to get ourselves some local craft beer as a reward. We'd done research before leaving and found craft beer bars in both countries we were visiting, and the Siem Reap one was new and fairly fancy. While there, we met a British biology professor traveling alone and killing time before his flight out, and we chatted with him for several hours about travel, climbing, and SE Asia, and it was really fun. And the beer was delicious! It was super fun sampling the local craft beer, since we're so interested in that scene.

The next day was our "floating village" tour day: I'd booked us a half-day trip through a non-profit organization that runs a school in one of the floating villages nearby. Some of the villages are super "tourist" geared and make their living selling photos and catering to tourists, and I didn't want to visit one of those. The non-profit organization took us to a still traditional one, and our guide was a young man who had lived in the same village when he'd been growing up, so he knew the area intimately and was really interesting to talk with. We were picked up in a van near our hostel and went on our tour with four other people from Australia and America, and it was nice to meet some other tourists who had interesting stories and backgrounds.

We got to stop at several places along the way before we got to the village itself, including a sticky rice stand on the side of the road (so delicious!), a small snack maker to see the foods being created, and a local market frequented by those living in the area. These were really cool sights that we couldn't have seen without our local guide, so we were grateful they were included. Then we made our way to the floating village itself and go to take a boat to the schoolhouse (which was SO COOL as a teacher to see) and spend some time in the village. We got back to our hotel around 7 PM, and we were really happy that we'd chosen to do the tour.

The next morning was another Angkor Wat temple loop morning, but this time the outer loop. We hit the outer "less exciting" temples so early that we had two entire temples completely to ourselves! It was easily one of the coolest experiences. The outer loop was much shorter because we'd already done the big ones at the end (and were starting to feel a bit tired), so it was a shorter day. After we got home and rested/showered, we decided to head out to the night market area for dinner and drinks, since it was our last night in Siem Reap. We went to the famous "Angkor What? Bar" and had some beers, and the waiter let us write on the wall. Then we had dinner, and it started raining. Mostly to escape the rain, we went into another bar that had traditional dances on the second floor, and somehow got one of the plush, completely pillow balcony table seats. I don't know how this happened, but it was the best - super comfortable, overlooking Pub Street, and watching both the rain fall and the traditional show with 50 cent beers. I fell in love with that night in Siem Reap: it was perfect.

Unfortunately, I was getting a cold, as I often do after being on airplanes, so the next day, our last day before we flew out at 7 PM, was mostly just spent walking around and hanging out so my body could rest a bit. We had no problem getting back to the airport with our Tuk-tuk driver, and then our airline, Bangkok Airways, ended up having its own private lounge in the airport with food, drinks, and wifi! That was a surprise, and super cool. After that, we were off to Bangkok!

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