Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, Cambodia

We got in around 5:00pm, the day after leaving. Quite a long time to be moving around. But then again the distance from Ko Phangan to Siem Reap isn't exactly short. Siem Reap is a little tourist town about 3 hours East of the Thai border and from the perspective of a tourist (and many Cambodians as well), it exists for one reason: Angkor Wat. This huge complex of temples, remnants of the ancient Khmer Empire, sprawls over an impressive area. When you think of the outlandish jungle ruins straight out of a movie, you are really thinking of Angkor Wat. They are, simply put, amazing. There are intact carvings everywhere, impressive architecture, and you get to climb over almost all of it. The whole complex takes it name from the largest and most famous temple, Angkor Wat, though there are some that are just as, if not more, spectacular. On our first day there, we explored the "Little Circuit" temples with our tuk-tuk driver, Wan:

Angkor Thom, an entire walled city of ruins including the temple Bayon, picture below (top and bottom left) with other temples in Angkor Thom (top and bottom right),



two small, unmarked temples that were empty except for us (quite a change from the more famous ones),

Ta Keo, the temple left unfinished after it was struck by lightning and the king who commissioned it took it as a sign from above, pictured below,


probably my favorite, Ta Phrom, ruins being taken over by jungle (so cool!), pictures below,


and we finished our day at the famous Angkor Wat, a grandiose temple arranged in a giant square with four towers at each corner and a central tower, giving it its characteristic appearance of the three towers, pictured below. I have to say though, this is one of the few places I've been that looks better in a photo than in real life. Either way it is impressive, it's just that the photos look cooler.

For the second day, we woke up for the fabled sunrise at Angkor Wat. It rained. But luckily for us the rain blew over before we got to our second stop, one of the outlying temples, Banteay Srei, a smaller but more colorful temple, pictured below.

We then we to the "Big Circuit" route, which includes some of the bigger temples in the areas just outside of the ones yesterday. They included: first Pre Rup, a large sandstone temple that struck me as looking like a mini Angkor Wat, pictured below.


then East Meron (left) and Ta Som (right).

Just as we were beginning to think they temples were all blending together, we were hit with the biggest temple on the Big Circuit, which reminded me of Roman or Greek Architecture for all its columns but with the distinct mark of the mixed Hindu/Buddhist architectural themes prevalent in Angkor Wat.

And to cap it all off, we hiked up a hill-temple, Phnom Bakheng, just as it was starting to rain again. We reached the top, where there is thankfully still a little ruin with a partially closed stone roof, just as the downpours started with the thunder booming all around. It was quite a cool experience and when the rain stopped, we saw panoramic views of the area, including a glimpse of the temples, such as Angkor Wat, and rainforest shrouded with mists and that concluded our Cambodian ruin exploration.

Although Siem Reap could hardly be considered the cultural capital of Cambodia, you can get at least a little insight into the people, food and general feel of the country. The food, labelled by the restaurants as Khmer, is fantastic and somehow, implacably distinct from that of Thailand. Noodles, fried rice, and curries still dominate, however and the prices are even better than Thailand ($1 for noodles at street stands, $2 for dishes at hole-in-the-walls, $4 at nicer places). And the street food is amazing! I had a little marinated-sausage-and-vegetable baguette that was so good, I had to get another an hour later. An oddity about Cambodia is that they mostly use the US dollar, though they have an official currency, the Riel, which is used as change though it is in the form of paper money (at the rate of 4,000 Riels to one dollar). The country feels quite safe (the days of the Khmer Rouge are long gone), though you'll get an offer for a tuk-tuk ride every ten seconds walking down the street. Since there is nothing to do in Siem Reap but see the temples during the day, a bunch of fun bars have popped up serving $3.50 pitchers.

Beer of Cambodia: since they brew a lot of beers here for major companies, they have decent, if unoriginal, selection at good prices, including their national beer, Angkor Beer, the standard good lager. Grade: B-.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Details:
Getting to Siem Reap by land is quite a pain in the ass. If you have the money, definitely fly, there are plenty of non-budget airlines that run the route. Basically there are two ways to go, the tourist route, and the local route. For a nice comparison, we did the tourist route on the way there and the local route on the way back. Going to Aranyaprathet, the Thai border town, we booked a minibus from Khao San Road ($7/250B, departing 7:30). We were constantly hassled about buying a visa before we got there. You simply don't need it before crossing the border and they try to charge you ridiculous prices for it. Even though we arrived in Aranyaprathet at 11:00 (making it a 3 hour ride), they took us to a restaurant to hassle us more for visas and transportation to Siem Reap and we waited painfully close to the border for an hour and a half. We finally just paid the money for the transportation to Siem Reap, $9/300B, after the border but remained adamant about the visas. When they finally took us to the actual border, we went through with no problems then went to the visa counter on the right side of the road. There is a sign that says Tourist Visa $20 but the officials will tell you that you need to pay 1000 Baht ($28). After pointing to the sign repeatedly, they finally settled for giving it to us for $26 ($20 plus 200 Baht corruption fee). They didn't require a passport photo, unlike what the hasslers will tell you on the way. In the end, we saved something like $20 by insisting to do it this way. Anyways, we got on the bus to Siem Reap and they stopped within 20 minutes at an exchanging money place, where they give you riels at terrible rates. Having been forewarned, we skipped this trap. Continuing on, we got to Siem Reap at around 4:00pm and took a tuk-tuk ($1) into the Psar Chaa (which means Old Market) area, the busiest and funnest area of Siem Reap, where we found a guesthouse, Green Angkor Guesthouse ($9 for two person room). The tickets to the ruins cost $20 for one day, $40 for three days, and $60 for a week. We did two days and while it isn't the most economical option, it worked the best for us. You could do the Little Circuit and the Big Circuit in one day, though it would be tiring. If ruins are really your thing, just do the one day, Little Circuit, though try to go in the afternoon or some time when there aren't many tour groups around. While we didn't see everything in two days (you would need three to see it all), we saw all that we wanted to and it was enough. To get around, hire a tuk-tuk driver, they are around in abundance, but don't pay more than $10 a day for the Little Circuit or $15 a day for the longer-distance days. Think about doing an afternoon rather than a morning if you are going at a slower pace; less people and good lighting for photos. Going back to Bangkok, we booked a bus through our hostel ($5) to the Cambodian border town of Poipet, then waited through a long Thai Immigration process before catching a tuk-tuk to the train station ($2/80B) and then the train to Bangkok ($1.5/48B, departing 13:55), lasting 6 hours. Upon arriving at Bangkok, we took a metered Taxi to Khao San Road ($3/100B). All in all, you don't get hassled once you leave the tourist route, it costs about half as much, and no one forces you to eat particular food places (by lack of other options as in the tourist bus places) but it is less convenient, takes a little longer, and you don't meet other travellers along the way. So it really is a matter of preference. Cambodian food is great and here are some recommendations: Khmer Kitchen Restaurant, awesome and affordable and though it is in the Lonely Planet, it has remained quality ($3-4 for large meals). Lim Kim Cheng in the Old Market for a budget ($1.50-2 for meals). And the street vendors everywhere, concentrated across the street from Pub Street ($.50-1). For good bars, try Temple Club and Angkor What?.