We planned Cambodia as one of our quick stop locations — more as a vacation than a place to have a somewhat normal life. I’ve made some quick observations in our short stay here:
Just about everything here is priced in US dollars. Tours, restaurants, and even our tuk tuk driver initially quoted their prices in dollars. I happened to have some Cambodian riel that I exchanged from a fellow traveler a few weeks ago that I really wanted to spend, so I’ve been asking folks to give me their prices in riel and it’s never been an issue. Visa and Mastercard as well as a few other forms of electronic payment are also accepted in most places, but I’ve not seen payment QR codes around Siem Reap the way I did in Thailand and Vietnam.
We haven’t really spent time exploring the city here in Siem Reap aside from a quick look when driving through. They have some really nice looking grocery stores and supermarkets. ATM’s seem plentiful and modern. From what I’ve seen around this area, the sidewalks look more walkable than Chiang Mai, Thailand or Hoi An, Vietnam because the sidewalks in town are much wider and consistent.
What we’ve seen is very much a developing country with a mix of perfect roads, roads in progress and dirt roads. Siem Reap is about an hour from the airport and those roads are about perfect as you’d expect in a wealthier nation.
Siem Reap is probably the most popular city in Cambodia for tourism, but it’s not the capital. The capital is Phnom Penh, which is about five hours south of here by car.
Angkor Wat
Our primary goal here in Cambodia was to visit Angkor Wat and boy, did that not disappoint. We got up early to arrive before sunrise, which was nice because it was also before the weather started to heat up. But don’t think that just because you’re heading out in the dark, before coffee, you’re going to have the place to yourself —there’s no shortage of other visitors also clamoring to visit and see the sun come up over the five pillars, too!
The sunrise itself was nice, but not “incredible.” What was incredible is the artwork, especially the 160 foot long wall completely filled by a bas relief sculpture of a battle scene in the east gallery. Photos just don’t do it justice — it needs to be experienced in person. The amount of detail in the 1,000 year old carvings and how amazingly well preserved some of them are is just breathtaking.
On our first day we visited Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm Temple and Angkor Prohm Temple. On day two we visited a couple of more remote locations. We explored Banteay Srei Temple, visited Phnom Kulen National Park and waterfall. We then visited the reclining buddha, but I didn’t take pictures inside. Finally we visited Beng Mealea Temple which is largely unrestored. It’s amazing to see it in that state and gives you a perspective of what nearly 1,000 years of nature can do to even the most sturdy human constructions, but also of the monumental effort it must require to reconstruct these ancient ruins.
From what I’ve seen here in Siem Reap, this seems like many travelers could be perfectly happy spending a long stay here. A big deterrent we’ve experienced, however, is the heat.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite photos of the stay. Enjoy.
