🇰🇭 Sightseeing in Siem Reap: fascinating temple complexes in and around Angkor Wat

With the bus company “Giant Ibis”, we will travel from Kep via Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on February 16th, 2024. We sit on the bus for eleven hours and take several breaks. In the capital we have to change buses again and then have the back seat to ourselves. 🙂 The buses are comfortable and offer legroom. When we arrived in Siem Reap it was already dark. It's maybe a ten minute walk to our hotel. We want to get our backpacks and then set off, but the tuk tuk drivers are stubborn and don't let themselves be brushed off so easily. 😅 Arguments like: “We sat on the bus for eleven hours and now we want to walk” fall on deaf ears. At some point we say a friendly goodbye and set off. We are staying until February 20th and staying at the Plumeria Hotel & Spa. Here, too, there is a nice and overzealous colleague at the reception. We are asked directly whether we already have plans, whether we have already booked tickets for Angkor and whether we need a driver.🙃 “After this long day, we would like to check in and go to the room,” we answer. We want to pay for the accommodation in cash in US dollars, but the man can't let us out... so we pay by card, which still incurs fees, which is pretty stupid. But that's not the only time we want to pay in cash but can't because they can't give us dollars. The 7 Eleven supermarket gives us our change in Riel and US dollars 🙈 so don't be surprised if you feel the same way in Cambodia. Maybe we would recommend withdrawing Cambodian Riels instead.

We book a tuk tuk driver for Angkor Park through our hotel and pay €35 for 2 days and around ten hours that he was on the road with us. He drove us from temple to temple and waited for us there and was always friendly. We booked the entry tickets online. You can choose from 1-day tickets as well as tickets for three or seven days. We pay a total of €115.55 for our 3-day tickets. You always have to carry these with you because they can be checked here and there. In our case, showing the cell phone was enough.

So the next day we start our “little” tour through the Angkor Temple Park. The tuk tuk driver picks us up at eleven o'clock and of course takes us to the most famous temple 🛕, namely Angkor Wat. We consciously decided not to come here at sunrise because there was just too much going on for us. We were there around half past twelve in the morning and activity was really limited. We are politely approached a few times and asked if we would like a tour guide, but we politely decline. We really take our time visiting the temple, there is so much to see. The whole structure is incredibly impressive and beautiful. I took so many pictures, but it is hardly possible to convey this dimension truthfully. It feels so small and I have a hard time imagining how it was all created by human hands. You can also see lots of monkeys outside on the grounds if you pay close attention. After more than two hours we need a break. We get cold drinks and go to the toilet. When we found our driver, he drove us to the next temple: the Bayon Temple. Also absolutely worth seeing, pay attention to the many faces in the rock. 😊

Overall, the entire area around Angkor Park is far too large to walk between the individual temples. You would never be able to finish it. Sometimes our tuk tuk took ten minutes from A to B and that wasn't slow. 🛺

We also spent an hour in the impressive Bayon Temple. Everywhere you see towers with meter-high faces carved out of stone. After a few minutes walk you reach the next temple. You can reach high here. Steps take you to the highest point, from where you can enjoy a great view of the terrain and the forest. Unfortunately it's only for people with a head for heights.

We go back to the tuk tuk stand and I 🙋🏼‍♀️ have to admit that I'm already pretty exhausted. We've been on the road for a little over 4 hours and the heat is getting to me. We also didn't drink as much as we should and of course we sweat a lot. However, our driver takes us to another temple 😅 Chris climbs the steep steps to the top, I prefer to look at everything from below because I don't feel so good anymore. As the driver drives to the next temple, we ask him to call it a day. We arrange to meet the next day and this time we want to start at 9 a.m.

The temperatures are a little more pleasant at this time, but there is already more going on. On the second day in Angkor Park we visit 6 temple complexes. A few of them impress us, one or two are rather uninteresting. Of course, it's difficult to top it, as we already looked at the two largest and most impressive temples yesterday. At the last temple “Ta Phrom”, the filming location of “Tomb Raider”, there is just too much going on for us and it is a pure selfie paradise and group cuddles. Personally, we're not that into it right now :)

But I really like two temples on this day: the Phnom Bakheng and the Pre Rup Temple. 👍🏼 You have to climb a bit to get to the top, but the view is worth it. We noticed that we were approached by salespeople much more often today than the day before. At the Angkor Wat Temple, for example, there were no stalls at all, but today there are even more of them. The sellers also approach tourists directly, advertising their souvenirs, shops or restaurants. Sometimes children are also sent forward, who, just like adults, are difficult to get rid of. At the “Tomb Raider” temple, they follow us into the tuk tuk. You have mixed feelings about it... on the one hand you want to help, but especially we, who are still on the road for a few months and traveling with backpacks, have to carry everything with us that we once bought. And that just doesn't work.

In the afternoon heat it is unbearably hot again. We decide to go back earlier today and finish work around 3 p.m. 😄🛺 at some point you won't be able to take anything anymore. In total we visited ten or eleven temples, which was enough for us personally. We don't use our ticket anymore on the third day, we've seen enough and let the impressions sink in for now. But what we already know: it was a unique experience and worth every euro.

We will travel from Siem Reap to Bangkok on February 20th with the bus company “Giant Ibis”. At the Thai border control it takes us a total of 90 minutes with our tour group. Afterwards there will be a small lunch on the bus to fortify you. Our tour guide today seems annoyed and rather unfriendly. Maybe he got off on the wrong foot 🙃

🇹🇭 In any case, we arrive safely in Bangkok and stay for two nights in the hotel near Khao San Road. In order to plan our onward journey to Indonesia, we take a room in a condo (apartment complex with kitchen, pool and gym) for a total of 13 days in Hua Hin.

🇮🇩 On March 8th, 2024 our flight goes to Denpesar, Bali ➡️ and on to ➡️ Labuan Bajo, Komodo 🏁