i've always wanted to go to Cambodia. I think I booked my Vietnam trip last year with Cambodia in mind. before my trip, I imagined myself being left in awe at the sight of the temples, befriending locals as I inmerse myself in their culture and maybe taking an elephant ride on my spare time. Siem Reap was everything I dreamt it would be (but then the rain had the worst timing so I wasn't able to ride an elephant).
The temples were nothing short of amazing! The structures have been in place since the 11th century and it's unbelievable that they are still intact, modern buildings probably wouldn't even last that long. The designs and the details on the walls were made with such intricacy and precision, I cannot believe that they cover almost every single surface in the temples. amazing what people can do when there's no Candy Crush. haha!
We arrived late in the evening at the Siem Reap Airport. We were all so tired already so we decided to go to the hotel to rest for a busy temple-hopping day.
There are a lot of hotels in Siem Reap, we stayed in Tara Angkor and it did not disappoint. We were greeted with lemon grass juice and my friends and I instantly became addicted to it (Unfortunately though, restaurants don't serve them). The hotel has a buffet breakfast, a pool, spa, sauna, gym and it's really pretty.
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| Tara Angkor Hotel Lobby |
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| Welcome drinks - Lemon Grass juice! |
Our first day was devoted to the temples. We commissioned a tuk-tuk (there are no taxis in the area) to bring us around. We bought a one-day pass then went around. The first temple on the list was of course, Angkor Wat. We hired a tour guide and he gave us a brief history of Siem Reap - religion, wars, etc. I din't get to listen much though. There were too many things to look at and the heat was terrible, it was distracting.
I loved the the stone carvings on almost all the walls of the temples. The craftsmanship is exceptional (it almost made me take stone carving classes haha! ) .
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| in the echo chamber |
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| Ritual pool |
After Angkor Wat, it was time for lunch! Famished and excited for our very first Cambodian meal, we ordered in this restaurant where our tuk-tuk driver brought us. My food was decent but it was quite disappointing, at 7USD per meal, we just expected something better. Nonetheless, we left as soon as we could to go Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom.
The midday sun was unforgiving; making it so unpleasant to walk around. But we did not want to waste time and went ahead, I just bought a 1.5L bottle of water to get me through the rest of the day. Ta Prohm was the temple I was looking forward to seeing most and that was incentive enough :)
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| Ta Prohm! |
A part of Ta Prohm was being renovated(?) when we went but tourists can still go near to take photos. Most century trees that have grown on the different temples have already been removed since their roots destroy the structure. The one on this temple has been kept for the visitors to see and I'm thankful I got to see it but I wonder how much longer it will hold.
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| Ta Prohm |
The most beautiful temple, I would have to say is Angkor Thom.
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| Angkor Thom |
We finished the tour around 4pm and it started raining hard after we got inside the tuk-tuk. I wanted to go on an elephant ride or even just take a photo up close but the rain wouldn't permit it. (this made me pretty sad... no, really)
We went back to the hotel to shower and take a short nap. Come dinner time, we went to Viroth's. I ordered Amok Fish and it was good (much better than lunch and at the same price) but it wasn't anything special either, it was very filling though. We wanted to go to Pub Street after for some drink but it started raining hard again and the streets became flooded so we decided to call it a night.
As much as we loved the temples, we decided that we were quite content with seeing the 3 most popular ones. My friend Epza and I took cooking lessons in
Le Tigre Papier near Pub Street. I cooked Amok Degustation and Shrimp Salad. We were toured around the Old Market first then went ahead with the lessons. I was unsure as to how it was going to turn out but it was fun! and what we prepared were delicious too!
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| Snail, anyone? |
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| Epza's Lumpia |
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| Shrimp Salad |
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| Amok Degustation |
After our cooking class, we ate what we prepared haha! But the Amok was so good. It's much better than the one I had in Viroth's, we probably should have eaten in Le Tigre Papier instead. After lunch, we had ice cream then went back to the hotel.
We were supposed to meet with our other friends at 2 pm. However, they went to a cultural show which wasn't going to end until 5 pm so we decided to take pottery lessons in
Khmer Ceramics & Fine Arts Center which was a 5-minute walk from our hotel.
I enjoyed the pottery lessons so much! They let you choose what you want to make and they'll help you create it. I made 3 items, but only get to choose what they'll glaze and bake for us to take home. They delivered it to our hotel the following afternoon. The lessons cost 15USD for about 1.5 hours (cost and duration similar to our cooking lessons) and it was really worth it.
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| Khmer Ceramics and Fine Arts Center store in the pub street area |
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| My creation! :) |
Finally, our friends return to the hotel from the cultural show a little past 5pm. Oddly, they said that the shows were not very tourist-friendly since most of the presentations are in Khmer. (They did enjoy biking around though!)
We freshened up and then went to The Square 24. We had a set menu that's called Passionately Khmer (or something like that) and it was scrumptious. And it probably was the best meal I've during our stay (maybe just after the Amok we cooked haha). The ambiance was really nice too!
After dinner, (finally!) we went to Pub Street. There are so many Fish Spas and massage places in the streets(literally)! I wanted to try them out but they didn't seem very hygienic :D So we went to the night market to buy pasalubong for family and friends. Oh my goodness! my negotiation skills were tested. haha! Items with the initial price of 12USD can be negotiated to be lowered to 4 dollars.
After shopping we went to Happy Herb Pizza, their pizzas are supposedly spiked. I didn't feel anything though :P
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| Massage places by the street |
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| Fish Spa |
On our last day in Cambodia, we no longer had anything to do! haha :) So we had a massage at the hotel and just went to the old market to buy food/chips to bring as pasalubong.
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| Spa |
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| Tuk-tuk going to the old market! |
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| So many spices! |
We had lunch at this really cool place called Blue Pumpkin. They also have ice cream with interesting flavors.
We stayed a couple of hours in Blue Pumpkin then we went around the pub street area again after. The place reminds me of chinatowns. They have many small restaurants along the streets, a lot of vendors selling various items and lots of interesting things to see!
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| Good to know! |
With nothing else to do, we went back to the hotel, waited at the lobby and had dinner before leaving for the airport. By this time, we've had enough Khmer food (and vegetables haha). We wanted to go to a barbecue place but we didn't have much time so we just ordered hamburgers from the hotel restaurant :)
Looking back, we could've spent another day exploring other temples (as we have originally planned) if only it wasn't extremely hot. But overall, it was a great trip. We were immersed in Khmer culture - food, people, history, we got to shop and we got to see the beautiful temples I've been wanting to see for years! :) Can't wait for my next trip!
