My three days in Cambodia flew by very fast, yet I feel like I have been here a long time. I managed to do a lot, even more than planned, and still relax. These were three perfect days. I would recommend anyone who is travelling to south east Asia to pass by Siem Riep for some days.
- Day One; Tonle Sap -
My first day was just half a day, so I decided not to waste any time and booked a sunset boat tour, before heading to the city centre for lunch and a walk. It soon became clear that the city centre of Siem Reap is only small and that many things are within walking distance. I explored a bit until it was time for my boat tour. A tuctuc drove me to the lake, passing many sandy roads. The sand here is red and leaved a red dusty layer on everything. The route to the lake was nice; we passed some small villages with houses that were built on the water. At the lake I learned that a group boat almost cost as much per person as renting your own boat; so I opted for the last. It felt really fancy to have my own driver and my own captain (how is someone operating the boat called?). We we to the floating village by boat and stopped to see the sunset from a view point in the water. You could see it perfectly from here. I watched the end of the sunset on the boat. It was really nice to see how fast the sun was dropping and how the sky kept changing.
Back in Siem Reap, I went to the city centre for dinner. At the restaurant I met two Swedish girls, with whom I went to the night market after eating. We wanted to go for a massage and chose one of the places on the market. This was the strangest massage ever. We were led from the normal-looking front of the salon to a place behind a curtain with several mattresses on the floor. One of the girls working there looked like she was about 12 and all the staff were giggling all the time. The massage itself was also pretty weird, with many painful stretches. If I had been there alone, I definitely would have walked away immediately. In the end, it was a funny experience, but I think I prefer the Thai massage - by far.
- Day Two; Angkor -
Some girls from my hostel told me it is doable to visit all of Ankor in just one day, as long as you leave very early. They also said it would be best to start with Bayon, rather than Angkor Wat, to avoid the crowds since this route is different from the usual route. So at 6AM I was heading of to Angkor with my tuctuc driver for the day. He drove the common route reversed to avoid the big tour groups, and it worked! In some temples I was walking around nearly on my own. Only few Tempe's were crowded. This was great. My start at Bayon was perfect; it was not yet very warm, there were few people and the light was great for photos. I was surprised how much of the temple (almost all of them) was accessible. You could go inside and climb all the way to the top to have a fabulous view. It took me more that 8 hours to see all temples (with just a few small breaks) and by the time I reached Ankor Wat, I was destroyed. I was tired, it was hot and there were just too many people. By then all temples had started to look alike a bit. I already took hundreds of pictured and climbed at least as many steps. Still it was great to walk the long pass way towards the temple and to climb to the top of it. Only 100 people at a time are allowed up, so there was a queue outside. I was lucky to arrive at a moment when it was relatively short; when I was leaving again there were at least three times as many people waiting. Super exhausted I went back to Siem Reap.
For dinner I decided to try a Khmer barbeque. The grill place was a reversed bowl with a ring around it. The ring was used to boil vegetables in a broth and the grill for the meat. Really tasty and fun. After this, I went for a drink at temple bar, where there are traditional dance performances each evening. When I nearly fell asleep on the table, I realised it was time to call it a day and go back to the hostel.
- Day Three; Siem Reap by Bike -
Being Dutch, renting a bike for a day was a must. Best two dollars ever spent! It was a fast and fun way to move around. The traffic seemed dangerous at first because there don't seem to be many traffic rules; but soon I realised everyone is just taking into account what the others do. You just go where you need to go and avoid hitting other vehicles - it's as easy as that. I was planning to go to a morning yoga class at a vegetarian cafe. However, it took me so long to find the place that class was already over by then. In my search I had a nice tour along the river and saw some interesting places. I had to ask for directions many times, but did find the cafe in the end. Turned out it moved to another location earlier this year and it was a bit further out of the city than it seemed to be on the map. But it was worth the search. The place was in a calm palm garden with lounge chairs and other comfortable seats. There was a little library and all around were posters with spiritual pictures and nice quotes. I had my lunch there and took a good rest, before continuing my cycling tour.
Just for fun, I cycled up to Angkor; which was really not far at all. I think it would be fun to explore Angkor by bike, but you would need more time and a map (when I went there, the ticket counter did not have any). I read in my travel guide that there was a temple close to the road to Angkor, so I decided to try to find it. And I did. I even found another one that was nor mentioned anywhere, but was nice nevertheless. Bank on the riverside road, I followed the river to the city centre, passing some more nice temples. The temples here were very different than those in Angkor; very colourful with a lot of gold.
In the late afternoon, I returned my bike to get ready to have the yoga class after all. It was really nice to try yoga here. Very relaxing after the long days of sight seeing and carrying the backpack around. The class was in a little wooden room above the cafe. We were not far from the road, but far enough to not hear any noises and to create a calm atmosphere. After the class I had dinner in the garden and then went back to the hostel to pack. A perfect ending of my trip to Cambodia!
- Day One; Tonle Sap -
My first day was just half a day, so I decided not to waste any time and booked a sunset boat tour, before heading to the city centre for lunch and a walk. It soon became clear that the city centre of Siem Reap is only small and that many things are within walking distance. I explored a bit until it was time for my boat tour. A tuctuc drove me to the lake, passing many sandy roads. The sand here is red and leaved a red dusty layer on everything. The route to the lake was nice; we passed some small villages with houses that were built on the water. At the lake I learned that a group boat almost cost as much per person as renting your own boat; so I opted for the last. It felt really fancy to have my own driver and my own captain (how is someone operating the boat called?). We we to the floating village by boat and stopped to see the sunset from a view point in the water. You could see it perfectly from here. I watched the end of the sunset on the boat. It was really nice to see how fast the sun was dropping and how the sky kept changing.
Back in Siem Reap, I went to the city centre for dinner. At the restaurant I met two Swedish girls, with whom I went to the night market after eating. We wanted to go for a massage and chose one of the places on the market. This was the strangest massage ever. We were led from the normal-looking front of the salon to a place behind a curtain with several mattresses on the floor. One of the girls working there looked like she was about 12 and all the staff were giggling all the time. The massage itself was also pretty weird, with many painful stretches. If I had been there alone, I definitely would have walked away immediately. In the end, it was a funny experience, but I think I prefer the Thai massage - by far.
- Day Two; Angkor -
Some girls from my hostel told me it is doable to visit all of Ankor in just one day, as long as you leave very early. They also said it would be best to start with Bayon, rather than Angkor Wat, to avoid the crowds since this route is different from the usual route. So at 6AM I was heading of to Angkor with my tuctuc driver for the day. He drove the common route reversed to avoid the big tour groups, and it worked! In some temples I was walking around nearly on my own. Only few Tempe's were crowded. This was great. My start at Bayon was perfect; it was not yet very warm, there were few people and the light was great for photos. I was surprised how much of the temple (almost all of them) was accessible. You could go inside and climb all the way to the top to have a fabulous view. It took me more that 8 hours to see all temples (with just a few small breaks) and by the time I reached Ankor Wat, I was destroyed. I was tired, it was hot and there were just too many people. By then all temples had started to look alike a bit. I already took hundreds of pictured and climbed at least as many steps. Still it was great to walk the long pass way towards the temple and to climb to the top of it. Only 100 people at a time are allowed up, so there was a queue outside. I was lucky to arrive at a moment when it was relatively short; when I was leaving again there were at least three times as many people waiting. Super exhausted I went back to Siem Reap.
For dinner I decided to try a Khmer barbeque. The grill place was a reversed bowl with a ring around it. The ring was used to boil vegetables in a broth and the grill for the meat. Really tasty and fun. After this, I went for a drink at temple bar, where there are traditional dance performances each evening. When I nearly fell asleep on the table, I realised it was time to call it a day and go back to the hostel.
- Day Three; Siem Reap by Bike -
Being Dutch, renting a bike for a day was a must. Best two dollars ever spent! It was a fast and fun way to move around. The traffic seemed dangerous at first because there don't seem to be many traffic rules; but soon I realised everyone is just taking into account what the others do. You just go where you need to go and avoid hitting other vehicles - it's as easy as that. I was planning to go to a morning yoga class at a vegetarian cafe. However, it took me so long to find the place that class was already over by then. In my search I had a nice tour along the river and saw some interesting places. I had to ask for directions many times, but did find the cafe in the end. Turned out it moved to another location earlier this year and it was a bit further out of the city than it seemed to be on the map. But it was worth the search. The place was in a calm palm garden with lounge chairs and other comfortable seats. There was a little library and all around were posters with spiritual pictures and nice quotes. I had my lunch there and took a good rest, before continuing my cycling tour.
Just for fun, I cycled up to Angkor; which was really not far at all. I think it would be fun to explore Angkor by bike, but you would need more time and a map (when I went there, the ticket counter did not have any). I read in my travel guide that there was a temple close to the road to Angkor, so I decided to try to find it. And I did. I even found another one that was nor mentioned anywhere, but was nice nevertheless. Bank on the riverside road, I followed the river to the city centre, passing some more nice temples. The temples here were very different than those in Angkor; very colourful with a lot of gold.
In the late afternoon, I returned my bike to get ready to have the yoga class after all. It was really nice to try yoga here. Very relaxing after the long days of sight seeing and carrying the backpack around. The class was in a little wooden room above the cafe. We were not far from the road, but far enough to not hear any noises and to create a calm atmosphere. After the class I had dinner in the garden and then went back to the hostel to pack. A perfect ending of my trip to Cambodia!
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