Getting Our Temple on in Siem Reap

We took a bus to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh. It was a pretty pleasant 4-hour drive. Mid-way we stopped and this is where I learned that Cambodians eat fried bugs. Literally they just get a bag of fried crickets and eat them like chips. The woman next to us on the bus got some….I was seriously in awe. I noticed some other fried bugs as well….not exactly sure what they were but they were big. Yikes! Oh and I read in a cookbook that fried tarantulas are quite a delicacy….no joke!

The City River Hotel, where we stayed, was nicely situated on the Siem Reap River and near Pub/Alley streets lined with bars, restaurants, and markets. Luckily we had 4 days in Siem Reap so we had lots of time to see all the amazing temples at a very chill pace. We got a 3-day pass, which gives you access to all the main temples. Our longest day of temple hopping started at 5am so that we could see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. That day we had a tour guide and a driver, which in my opinion isn’t necessary. It was nice but I actually would prefer to soak it all in on my own….plus 5am is way too early to feel like you have to make small talk with someone you don’t know. That said, since we had the guide we were able to get onto the top floor of Angkor Wat even though it was closed (doesn’t open until 8am)…..which meant we got some great pics! :) Our favorite temples were Bayon (made up of several towers decorated with faces), Ta Prohm (this was in Tomb Raider movie and has the most amazing trees growing on top of temples), Ta Keo (really fun to climb the steep steps) and of course Angkor Wat (which is huge and has the most intricate carvings of the Ramayana). The work that went into these temples is just remarkable. Some of them took almost 40 years to make with 400,000 workers….and built over 1000 years ago. It’s really unbelievable. We took our time walking through the temples and exploring every little corner. Seriously you got a great workout climbing all the stairs…not to mention it was dreadfully hot!!

Most people see the temples early in the morning. We discovered this one day when we got a late start, which was pretty nice because we got the temples to ourselves. Seriously you feel like Indiana Jones walking through these massive structures with tunnels everywhere. We hiked up to Phnom Bhakeng which is quite impressive as it’s on a mountain and you can see views of Angkor Wat. On our way up a forest trail we saw a snake, which totally freaked me out. Ugh I hate snakes but we made it out ok and even managed not to get rained on despite the thunder/lightening the whole way up! We also took a tuk tuk to Banteay Srei which is about 40km from Siem Reap. The temple was fairly small compared to the others but had very intricate carvings in pink sandstone. I would have to say though that the best part was the drive out there. We drove through little villages where you could see children playing and workers in the rice fields. The children on the way were so cute and often smiled and waved Hello!

It rained a few days while we were in Siem Reap so we had one nice lazy rainy day. We watched Tomb Raider (which sucked by the way and they don’t even give Cambodia any credit. I think Ta Prohm was in one scene but in the movie they were in Africa….or we both missed something….) and just walked around Pub and Alley streets….and we chilled by the pool when it wasn’t raining. The downtown area is pretty small and we ran into people we met almost every day – Barnabe from France and Pascal/Miriam from Holland. It was fun hanging with peeps from the trip.

Siem Reap has a great night scene….with really good drink specials (50 cent beers and $2 cocktails). You can go all out – cheesy bar style or you can chill in a lounge/restaurant. We did both. :) And we ate pretty well here. I don’t know if it’s the freshness of the ingredients or just that Cambodians can really cook but everything just seemed to taste better here. Of course I got papaya salad everywhere I went…and mango smoothies. We also had the fish amok (fish in coconut curry – I highly recommend) and beef lok lak (just ok). Some of our favorite restaurants were Temple (good local food with a free traditional dance performance…and turns into a full dance club at night), Samsara (yummy Indian food), Le Tigre de Papier (good pizza – I was trying to be good but after a couple of drinks I caved – it happens….twice….yikes!)

Even though we had enough time in Siem Reap we were sad to go. I really felt like the people were genuine and wanted people to visit their country. I didn’t feel like everything was about the “sell” which was a nice change. I can see now why people fall in love with Cambodia. :)