Cambodia is a neighboring country to Thailand. With merely an hour flight from Bangkok you can touch down on the ancient Angkor capital of Siem Reap.
Most travelers with passport outside of Southeast Asia require VISA to visit Cambodia – rest assured this process is very simple and easy so make sure you get one before embarking on journey to the wonderful Cambodia!
The best way to apply for VISA is online here. Application fee is $28 (As of January 2014) and it takes about 3 days to get the copy through email. Make sure to carry 2 printout copies during the traveling — 1 to give out to custom upon arrival and the other one to keep for record.
Once you get in… let your free-spirit rise in the mystic Angkor capital!
If Thailand was somewhat spiritual journey to tread the mystical paths of exotic kingdom; my experience in Cambodia was inexplicable without mentioning the rare interaction I had with locals living in close-knit community and awkwardly modernized cities built on undeniably tragic history.
Siem Reap, my first destination in Cambodia, is a city still breathing the air of ancient times. The whole city is flat on the land and gigantic Angkor Archeological Park in the north is full of UNESCO world heritages. The city is surrounded by temple ruins and stampede of tourists around the “7th Wonder of the World” — Angkor Wat — day and night.
Siem Reap has not been the quietest cities for a while now.
Neak Pean temple in the middle of lake. One of the most intriguing structures inside the Angkor Archeological Park.
A boardwalk that leads to Neak Pean — an island temple.
Beautiful relief on the walls of Ta Saom Temple.
Boy waiting for his father at the Angkor Wat.
A girl selling souvenirs to tourists at temples. I never seen more value in 1 US dollar than how people in Cambodia treated them. $1 is so valuable and it can get you far. Sad truth is, money these kids make goes directly to their adults’ hands which will not be used for purpose of their life support.
There are many organizations within and outside of Cambodia to promote educational support and relief care for these poor children. There are many restaurants and shops in Siem Reap contributing portion of their sales to child protection and school education. You may find these information on your guidebook or learn from hotel concierge.
As a visitor, it is our responsibilities to determine the best ways to give back to this beautiful country and people while enjoying the most authentic food and cultural experiences.
That’s one step of becoming good traveler 🙂
Children selling fruits at the Western gate of Preah Khan Temple.
Cambodian land mine victims playing music at the entrance of Preah Khan. They also sold CDs which was awesome for souvenirs.
When I first arrived in Siem Reap Airport, I was lucky enough to meet very friendly tuk-tuk driver who spoke English.
His name was Mr. Ban. I called him Ban-san because apparently that’s how his old friend from Japan called him 🙂
Ban-san offered to show me around the important sites in Siem Reap over 3 days of stay.
^Ban-san. Awesome tour guide during the day and respectable family man at night. He lives with his wife and four kids right outside of Siem Reap.
There are MANY ruins in Siem Reap so it is not possible to visit everything in one swoop of ride. This is why my meeting with Ban-san was super fortunate as he essentially introduced me to core “essentials” in such short amount of time with his great geographical knowledge.
One full day or two days can only be good estimate to scratch the surface of this ancient city, but you can do many things if you have rough road map to play around with.
What I highly recommend, and have done during my stay was spend one full day in Angkor area starting early (I’m talking 5am early) to kick off the day with epic sunrise at Angkor Wat; and visit the major temples in Angkor park taking the big circuit route. In the afternoon, go visit Chong Kneas’ floating village and take a boat ride out to Tonlé Sap Lake for unbeatable view.
If the itinerary permits, do the day trips to distant temples on the following day and visit grandiose waterfall in mountains the day after that.
Here are some great temples around the Angkor Wat:
Ta Saom
Pondering tranquility at Ta Saom.
Reliefs of Ta Saom.
Iconic stone gate and towering tree at Ta Saom.
Angkor Wat
Day or night, Angkor Wat is the busiest temples in Cambodia.
So you won’t ever feel lonely even if you’re a solo traveler.
Entering Angkor Wat.
Weathering relief inside the Angkor Wat structure.
Joni Mitchell of Angkor Wat.
Gazing vanishing point from the top of Angkor Wat.
Getting really up close to sculptures inside the Angkor Wat.
A very detailed relief on the pillar of Angkor Wat.
Coming down.
Angkor Wat on the water.
Pssst… Sunrise and sunset hours are the holiest of holy moments in Angkor:
Phnom Bakheng
Phnom Bakheng is one of the best known epic sunset spots in Angkor.
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Farmer and calves in the field near the Phnom Bekheng Temple.
Dangling feet from the edge of Phnom Bekheng.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat – Wake up early to catch the most ethereal moment in Angkor.
Angkor Wat is everything? WRONG! There are so many breathtaking places to see around Angkor capital.
Do not miss these:
Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom is the old Khmer capital city surrounded by stone walls and stony-faced statues.
Could you resist these glares?
What? How did you get up there? I’m climbing up the walls…
Made it to the top. This is the head-shaped statues that look over the incoming traffic through the gate of Angkor Thom.
Baphuon
A woman selling burning incense at Baphuon.
Walkway in Baphuon.
Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm a.k.a. Tomb Raider Temple (insert Angelina Jolie quote here)
Preah Khan
Intricately designed relief on the wall of Preah Khan.
Preah Khan is easily my favorite of all Angkor temples.
This place is pretty much like labyrinth that my 6-year old self would have dreamt about exploring after school.
The deeper you go wander into the temple the more interesting faces you will discover. Preah Khan has both architectural beauty and enormous trees that are coexisting in awkward yet beautiful balance.
Feels like wandering into the dungeons of Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest (Dragon Warriors)
Torched by the sun.
This is a Khmer student that I met at Preah Khan. He studies English at school and spends most of free time at Preah Khan giving tours and taking pictures for small tips. Really nice guy. He even introduced me to some secret attraction of the temple (candle like structure in the above picture for example).
The tree you can see behind him was so enormous it literally took over one side of the east entrance.
So many temples, but that’s not the only face of Siem Reap:
Chong Kneas Floating Village
Chong Kneas is village built above river flowing to Tonlé Sap Lake.
Legs stripped because of dry season.
Fisher family in Chong Kneas.
Boat hand.
Short stop at lakeside restaurant.
I asked boat hand to stop the boat for a moment and explored the village.
Completely different view of village seen from the inland.
So many people breathing and living in this tiny village.
Just like many other travelers will tell you, it is IMPOSSIBLE to see everything and experience everything in few days but you can try and make the best out of it — Hanging out with locals is definitely the way to go. All of the photos above were captured amidst my real time traveling.
While there are numerous amazing temples to visit in Siem Reap, what truly moved me was people in Cambodia that live every day with bright smiles. Hands down, meeting with these lovely people are what made this travel something special 🙂
Friends of Siem Reap.
In the next chapter I will continue on my journey in Siem Reap.
Please look forward to more photos from great temples and lovely people of Cambodia 🙂
Thanks for reading!
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Photographs from Banteay Srei Temple (Woman’s Temple)
Photographs from Koh Ker Temple
Photographs from Beng Mealea and vicinity.
Photographs from Kulen Mountain
Photographs from Ban-san’s friendship feast in his backyard.