With a few extra days before heading to Thailand, we decided that it wouldn’t be a trip to Southeast Asia without visiting one of the world wonders, Angkor Wat. We had originally planned to spend more time in Cambodia but rearranged our itinerary to include more of Vietnam (best decision yet) so we were left with just enough time to see the ancient temples. It was on our path from Ha Noi to Bangkok anyways, so we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia for what would be the quickest stop we’ve had in a country yet.
Angkor Wat
Nothing like a solid 4 AM wake up call for tourism. After shedding a few tears realizing how much money we’d spent just to see these temples, we were ushered inside by our tuk-tuk driver Sam. We weren’t the only ones who planned on checking out the temples for sunrise. Actually, we were surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of other tourists anxiously awaiting the sunrise.
Sadly, the sun was hidden behind clouds and we could tell the sunrise wasn’t worth sticking around for, so we headed to explore the temples before the crowds had the same idea.
Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world, covering a span of 402 acres to be exact. It was built in the 12th century and was originally a Hindu temple, but was later converted to be Buddhist. The temples are massive! They aren’t as tall as some of the pagodas we’d seen in Bagan, Myanmar but unlike those, which were individual pagodas spread apart from one another, Angkor Wat is more like a village in the middle of a Cambodian jungle.
The vast majority of the temples were preserved extremely well, and the ones with more wear and tear had a more authentic feel which we appreciated anyways.
Now, I’m not a temple guru by any means, but it really is incredible to see how intricately these temples were designed hundreds of years ago. It gives you an appreciation for their work ethic, that’s for sure!
The entire 402 acres are known collectively as “Angkor Wat” but there are multiple temples throughout which are individually named. The highlights of our day were Angkor Wat, which is completely encompassed by a moat, and Bayon, which sits in the center of the massive Angkor Thom. Each temple was incredible in its own way, but we particularly liked Angkor Thom. The ruins are massive, covered in bright green moss, and many had huge stone faces carved into the walls. It was crawling with tourists here, so it was hard to get a great picture without your average tourist dabbing in the corner, but it was beautiful.
We continued to walk around and look at temples for the rest of the morning. We saw the Ta Prohm temple, where the movie Tomb Raider was filmed, another with huge trees growing out of the top of it, and another with hundreds of bats chirping at us from the ceilings.
Being that we are not temple gurus, after a while the temples all start to look alike. (And we had only bought the 1-day pass, there are passed up to 7-days!) I really am happy we came and did this, but after 6 hours we were both ready to call it a day and head back to our hostel.
Siem Reap
Once we finished our tour we had about 34 hours left in Cambodia. We stayed at the Siem Reap Pub Hostel, which was the cheapest place we’ve stayed and honestly one of the nicest. Big bar, private pool, and our room had 2 queen beds and an ensuite bathroom. It might not sound like much but when you’ve been sleeping on concrete dorm bunk beds in a room with 6+ strangers for a while, it was heaven.
Siem Reap (surely due to the amount of tourists that pass through) was a super trendy town. They had just about every type of restaurant you could be looking for, including a vegan cafe with chocolate&pb acai bowls and hemp protein balls (my prayers were answered.. God is that you?), and of course a Mexican restaurant for Sloan. It was the perfect place to chill for a few nights, eat good food, nap whenever we wanted, and feel no guilt.
That pretty much sums up how we spent our time in Siem Reap, plus checking out a really cute night market nearby our hostel. The abundance of night markets may be my favorite thing about this part of the world. Another funny thing about Cambodia (or at least this area) is a lack of their own currency. They price everything in US dollars and even when you take money out of the ATM, you get US dollars. It was weird and made it feel much less authentic being here, but I guess that’s what you get when you go to one of the most touristy places!
Next stop, Thailand!
A Journal For My Journeys 