The Temples of Angkor

November 25-29, Days 363-367

I only spent two nights in Phnom Penh that first time before I took off for Siem Reap in order to meet up with Val, a fellow travel blogger whom I had been chatting with for months through Twitter. I knew I would be coming back through Phnom Penh later so I wasn’t too worried about missing anything the first go around.

There are a multitude of options to get from the capital to Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat temple complex. Myself, Nicola and Juno, and Jens and Julia were all heading there on the same day on three different buses. And the journey is another one where paying a little more does mean a better experience. I paid a whopping $10 for a mini-bus ride to the town. Nicola and Juno, on the other hand, paid $9 for their bus ride. They left an hour before me, got in an hour later, and from the sounds of it, had the stinky ride from hell as a baby had messed their diaper at the beginning of the trip and the parents decided to change him on the bus and leave the diaper on board.

I slept the whole way in Air Conditioned bliss with a single stop for lunch halfway through.

I met Val at the hotel. She had flown in from Phuket and, surprisingly, had only just arrived at the hotel five minutes before I had. Talk about timing! With the “Wow! It’s finally good to meet you!” out of the way, we took off to explore the town.

But that’s not what this post is about. Siem Reap, while small, is deserving of at least two posts. This one will be all about the sole reason people come here: Angkor Wat.

After a little discussion, Val and I decided to get the three day pass for $40. The 1-day pass($20) didn’t seem like enough time, and the 7-day pass($60) just seemed like too much time. For us at least. That first day we ended up renting bicycles as I had heard that that was a beautiful way of seeing some of the nearest temples.

Day 1 – Bicycling

Angkor Wat

We then biked further north . . .

. . . into the Angkor Thom area . . .

. . . And to the Bayon Temple.

The Elephant Terrace (or where I split from the group and searched for a geocache)

Phimeanakes

The Leper King Terrace

Preah Palilay

Preah Pithu

Day 2 – Tuk Tuk

Banteay Kdei

Srah Srang

Ta Prohm (AKA The Tomb used in the movie Tomb Raider)

Ta Nei

Ta Keo with sunset

Day 3 – Tuk Tuk

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Lolei

Preah Ko

Bakong

Ta Som

Neak Pean

Preah Khan