Siem Reap, Cambodia (Post #89)
Monday, February 6th, 2006Michele here…
We took a 6 hour bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Cambodia on January 31st. The main reason for visiting the small town of Siem Reap is to see the nearby temples of Angkor Wat. Upon exiting the bus, we took a tuk tuk around to a couple of guest houses and eventually settled on one. We stayed 5 nights in Siem Reap and spent 3 full days visiting temples. The first day we were there we just walked around the town and went to the market. The little downtown area of Siem Reap is full of funky bars and restaurants that you might find in New York or even Washington, D.C. When we were eating dinner the first night we made a comment to each other about how strange it was that we were in the middle of Cambodia, eating at an inexpensive restaurant that had the most luxurious decor.
The second day in town we set out to find a Mr. Sa Voeun. We received a recommendation (from a young couple we met in Vietnam) to use him as a tuk tuk driver to see the temples. We walked for almost 30 minutes in the heat and humidity to get to the guesthouse where we heard he hangs out to get business. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. The guesthouse called him and we were to come back later at night to meet him. O.k., fine, we went back that night, met him, talked with him about the temples we wanted to see, and how much it would cost to hire him for 3 days. We agreed on $10 for the first day, $25 for the second day (since we wanted to see far away temples), and $10 the third day. This is actually a very good price. Over the next three days (Feb 2, 3, and 4th) we saw 26 temples. Some temples are quite small and some are very large. The largest temple is the famous, Angkor Wat. Here is a picture:
Michele Harmon