From Battambang we headed to Siem Reap to spend a day exploring temples. I think in that one day I saw enough temples to last me a lifetime! We woke up at 4:30am to head over to Angkor Wat in order to see the sunrise.. unfortunately it was a cloudy day and to our dismay there was no sunrise. We then spent the next 12.5hours avoiding the rain while exploring different temples - talk about tiring! I think we made it through about 15 different ones! My favourite temple was Ta Prahm, which is where they filmed Tara Croft: Tomb Raider (with Angelina Jolie).
This day, apart from being very tiring, was also quite depressing. We were surrounded by poor children who were trying their hardest to sell us postcards, scarves, gifts, bracelets, etc. When we walked to a restaurant for breakfast we were followed by a group of kids who waited for us while we ate. They ended up giving a couple of us postcards as gifts, with messages on them in their broken English. Mine had a flower drawn on it and a very sweet message that made me feel like crying because I felt so bad for them. In the end many people in our group bought bracelets off of them and in return were rewarded with huge smiles.
We spent the rest of the evening (meaning not too long because we w
ere all exhausted) exploring the city of Siem Reap. We ate as a group at a restaurant with alligator feeding and Khmer dancing at different intervals of the night. From there we explored 'Pub Street' (aka main street). Unfortunately we couldn't stay out late because we were leaving the next morning very, very early, but it was still fun to spend some time in an area with a backpacker-y feel similar to Khao Sahn Road in Bangkok.
If anyone ends up traveling here I'd highly recommend spending more than one day in Siem Reap. It would have been much better had we seen a few temples one day and a few on another, while having time to explore the city as well. Cramming 15 different temples into one day resulted in our whole group being extremely 'templed out.'
Picture: Jessica and me out for dinner
This day, apart from being very tiring, was also quite depressing. We were surrounded by poor children who were trying their hardest to sell us postcards, scarves, gifts, bracelets, etc. When we walked to a restaurant for breakfast we were followed by a group of kids who waited for us while we ate. They ended up giving a couple of us postcards as gifts, with messages on them in their broken English. Mine had a flower drawn on it and a very sweet message that made me feel like crying because I felt so bad for them. In the end many people in our group bought bracelets off of them and in return were rewarded with huge smiles.
We spent the rest of the evening (meaning not too long because we w
ere all exhausted) exploring the city of Siem Reap. We ate as a group at a restaurant with alligator feeding and Khmer dancing at different intervals of the night. From there we explored 'Pub Street' (aka main street). Unfortunately we couldn't stay out late because we were leaving the next morning very, very early, but it was still fun to spend some time in an area with a backpacker-y feel similar to Khao Sahn Road in Bangkok.If anyone ends up traveling here I'd highly recommend spending more than one day in Siem Reap. It would have been much better had we seen a few temples one day and a few on another, while having time to explore the city as well. Cramming 15 different temples into one day resulted in our whole group being extremely 'templed out.'
Picture: Jessica and me out for dinner
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