Siem Reap, Cambodia

Originally we were planning on taking the bus into Siem Reap, and then we were over long bus rides and decided to fly from Bangkok into the city of Siem Reap. We were able to find our Gecko’s group who were still on tour for a couple of more days. Spending the day and evening with the group was a blast, especially dancing the night away at Angkor What Bar and then a farewell in the early hours of the morning when we checked in our final and last room of this one month journey in Asia. The dozens of temple ruins in the Siem Reap area was our main focus of this destination in Cambodia. We hired our Tuk Tuk driver for the day for US 20.00 (this is how it’s done in Siem Reap), who had the most adorable smile on his face driving us through the temples of Angkor. The temples vary in importance, interest and condition often kilometres apart. We began our journey entering through the south gate of Angkor Thorn. This area is a 3Km walled royal city and was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. There are five entrances (gates) to the city crowned with 4 giant faces. From this point on, it was temple after temple after temple and more temples. It really was surreal standing in front of these ancient monuments and reflecting on how these landmarks are so well known across the world. The highlight of our day is the famous Angkor Wat. It is a massive three tiered pyramid crowned by five lotus-like towers rising 65 meters from ground level. It is surrounded by a moat and an exterior wall measuring 13000 meters x 1500 meters. There are nearly 2000 carvings on the walls throughout the temple depicting stories and characters from ancient times. This is the centerpiece of any visit to the temples of Angkor. We ended the day at the Phnom Bakheng temple for a view of the sunset. Good times in Siem Reap and its ancient temples.