Tempelrun in Siem Reap - Angkor

From the cozy island of Don Det in southern Laos, I continued by bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia. The bus ride was a disaster, it was delayed and overloaded with luggage and passengers, then we had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere and to make matters worse, the bus air conditioning kept failing. Once again, my bus riding resilience, which I had trained hard for in the past few months, was put to the test. Sweaty and tired, my new travel companion Selva and I arrived at the hostel in Siem Reap late at night. The next day was all about relaxing by the pool, enjoying delicious food, and taking a stroll through the city.

Siem Reap is very touristy due to its proximity to the Angkor Wat temple complex, with its party-filled Pub Street, many restaurants, and bars. In the quieter side streets, you can still find cozy cafes and restaurants.

The next day, Selva and I set off with our tuk-tuk driver Kao at 4:30 am to watch the sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to witness a spectacular sunrise. Until the afternoon, we visited many impressive temple complexes, and our favorite was definitely the Ta Prohm temple, known from the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie, where giant trees have grown through the stones. Since we had a 3-day ticket for Angkor, on the second day we visited more temples that were located a bit further away and less crowded. The temple complexes were amazing, but after 2 days of exhausting temple runs, I had had enough. I spent the remaining days chilling by the pool, trying out many restaurants, going to the cinema, and partying in a lady bar with two fun expats.