People stop off at Siem Reap for one reason… To see the ancient wonders that are the Temples of Angkor. The bustling town is filled with tourists and Tuk Tuk’s and is definitely somewhere you can have a bit of fun along the way. Bang in the centre of town you will find the Old Market where you can buy all of your Cambodian souvenirs and between the two of us we managed to accumulate 8 tshirts, 2 vests, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of trousers, 2 bracelets, a scarf and a bag. Alan has taken to the world of haggling like a duck to water, the whole lot probably didn’t come to more than $40, he’s a pro! On an evening you can work your way around the night markets if you are up for it or take a stroll down Pub Street and visit one of the many restaurants or bars. ‘Temple Club’ and ‘Angkor What?’ will have you partying till the early hours with their cocktail buckets and western music (we ended our night singing along to the Spice Girls, shhh!).
On our first day we decided to stay local and we stumbled upon Artisans d’Angkor, here you can buy some amazing souvenirs and very well crafted gifts that are made by the locals. When we got there, we were greeted by a guide, there was a free tour around their workshop before going into the shop and this was called Les Chantiers Ecoles. In the workshop they teach the underprivileged traditional Khmer artisanship, including wood and stone carving, silk painting and lacquer making. The craftsmen were very skilled and undoubtedly talented. They also offer a twice daily tour to their Silk Farm where you can see the entire process of silk making, from the mulberry trees (obvs Vic wanted to go to see this), to the silk worms, to the spinning of the silk. Trés interesting!!
The next three days consisted of Temple visits, a three day pass set us back $40 each. The idea is to start with the smaller ones and lead up to the big one, Angkor Wat. The first day we hired a Tuk Tuk driver to take us round and we managed to conquer about 8 of the smaller temples including Preah Khan, Pre Rup, Ta Keo and Ta Prohm. On day two we felt quite energetic and decided we could do the temple circuit on a bicycle :) the 10km stretch was very hot on the way there, but we made it! Angkor Thom and Bayon were much bigger than the previous temples we had seen and were well worth the ride. Half way through the day we took a Tuk Tuk to Banteay Srey which is about 36km away, it is said to have been crafted by women, the detail is so intricate that it isn’t believed a man’s hands could craft such beauty. The bike ride home was a lovely way to cool off, before a quick turn around and we headed out to Pub Street for a night out with our new friends. Day three was a bit of a killer, waking up with a monster hangover on the hottest day so far, we were worried at one point that we weren’t going to make it to see the big one, but it was nothing a big fry up couldn’t sort out. Mid afternoon we arrived at Angkor Wat and spent two hours admiring the largest religious temple in the world and taking pictures of the wild monkeys running around. Parts of Tomb Raider was filmed here so Alan had a quick shimmy along the ledge for a quick snap. A great tip is to go out the back of the temple, we had the whole place to ourselves for great photo ops, compared to the inside where it is swarming with tourists.
Before heading North into Laos, we made one last stop in Cambodia to see if we could catch a glimpse of the endangered freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins that swim in the Mekong River. We stayed over night at Kratie and hired some bikes and cycled 19km on the Mekong Discovery Trail, to get to the dolphin viewing sight in Kampi. For $7 each a little boat took us out onto the river and unexpectedly, we seen loads of dolphins. We made a slight cock-up with timings and the sun started to set, so we ended up racing back on our bikes for another 19km in the dark. With no street lights, no lights on our bike and surrounded by trees on a uneven road surface, I dare say we were very lucky to reach our hotel unharmed. Who needs spinning classes???!
We nearly there yet? 