The temples of Angkor

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After our long, sweaty bus ride to Siem Reap and a run in with several tuk-tuk drivers at the bus station we checked into the fabulous Yellow Guest House. The staff and other travelers were really friendly, kind and helpful throughout our stay. Lou and I recommend it!

I spent the first morning in Siem Reap visiting the floating villages on the lake just outside of the city. Cat (an Australian girl I had met in the hostel) and I were taken in a long boat to visit the Vietnam section of the floating village. There were floating houses, schools, churches and even a floating police station! The men were fishing in the lake, the children were swimming or paddling around in silver basins and the women were selling all sorts of food and drink in narrow boats. Our guide took us to the floating restaurant, which had a fish farm on one end and a crocodile farm on the other end. I was not entirely comfortable about seeing only a wooden fence in between the crocodiles and the water where all the children were swimming!

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Lou and I had decided to spend three days in Angkor looking at the temples so later that afternoon we climbed the hill to watch the sunset over Angkor. Unfortunately, all we saw was the sun drop behind some clouds but we did have a great photo opportunity with some Buddist monks! We also met a lovely Cambodian girl who visited the hill for sunset every evening so she could practice her English. Very strange conversations! We then headed for the guest house as we had a very early start ahead of us.

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We were up at 4.30am to catch the sun rise over Angkor Wat and I am glad to say that it was completely worth it! We sat by the lake in front of Angkor Wat with our guide and watched the sky change colour as the sun rose up over the towers. It was stunning, a real highlight and having a guide meant we were in just the right place at the right time…lots of great photos! The day was spent looking at the three main (famous) temples of Angkor; Bayon, Ta Phrom and Angkor Wat. All three temples were beautiful and having a guide enhanced our experience with historical and mythical stories. It was a hot, exhausting day with lots of steep steps to climb and then somehow descend. I nearly didn’t make it down the steps of Angkor Wat, but I guess I should have realised how bad they were when our guide left us to go to the top by ourselves!

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The next day was slightly more relaxed and our tuk-tuk driver took us to some of the temples on the outskirts of Angkor. Lou and I tried to remember all we had learnt about the different engravings and sculptures as we explored. I think we did pretty well!

Our time in Siem Reap was brilliant, but after all that sweaty activity we were ready for a break. Where else to go, except the beach…