spunky little panda

Once we finally made it to Siem Reap, Cambodia, we ended up staying at this place called Mandalay Inn which wasn’t too far from the main downtown area. Siem Reap is a pretty small little town and overwhelmingly people just come there to see the Angkor Wat temples, which was why we were there.  Angkor served as the seat of the Khmer empire which flourished from the 9th to 15th centuries, and is made up of hundreds of unique temples.  The downtown area of Siem Reap is suuuper touristy and reminds me of this area of Quito in Ecuador called “Gringolandia.” There is a street called Pub Street which just has a bunch of big bars and restaurants geared towards tourists.  Apparently Siem Reap has changed a lot in the last ten years or so and has only gotten so touristy (and in turn lost some of its charm) in response to the public’s demand for and interest in the temples.

That night we went to dinner, got a fish spa (where you stick your feet in a fish tank and they eat the dead skin off your feet—these places are EVERYWHERE in SR), and then went to a bar called Angkor What? which is relatively popular with travelers. We met a couple of fun, tan Canadians who had a scruffy Australian with them. Dylan and I started joking about bringing “joiners” back to the hotel room because our hotel had a sign specifically stating that they discouraged it. We still don’t know exactly what a joiner is.  

The Canadians were fun and full of info about what to do in Siem Reap. They suggested the sunset and sunrise views of the temples. 

The next day, we rode bikes and got all the way out to the temples by just cruising down random roads until we found an entrance. When we got there, we were told we needed tickets but they were sold at an office far away. So we were told to hop on the back of a motorbike taxi and he took us to get the tickets and brought us back to the entrance.  

We biked around the temples a bit, but we were only able to see the closest ones as the temples cover a space of over 3000 square kilometers. We also got insanely hot and wanted to head back to town. When we got back, we decided to try to book a slightly nicer hotel for our 3rd night in Siem Reap so we could lounge by a pool and relax a bit. We ended up booking a room at the Golden Temple Villa, which was well worth the splurge.  

That evening, we went back to the temples by tuk-tuk (not sure if I’ve explained a tuk-tuk to the uninitiated yet, but it’s basically a motorbike with a cart on the back).  We had been told it was cool to see the sunset at a temple called Phnom Bakheng. I didn’t realize that this is like, THE MOST TOURISTY THING EVER. Our driver took us out there and we then hiked up this big hill/mountain for about 20 minutes amid throngs of other perspiring tourists. Once we got to the top, we found that the temple itself was covered, top to bottom, with humans. The sunset which everyone was waiting to watch was actually just happening over the landscape (as opposed to an actual temple), so basically the temple just served as bleachers for people to sit on while they waited to snap a postcard-y photo of a nondescript sunset over a jungle. Plus, we were there an hour before sunset and it was HOTTER THAN HELL. Sweet Jesus was it hot. So we actually left before sunset and it was kind of a bust. I kind of want to go on some travel forums and be like, “unless you like looking at tourists DO NOT do this!!”

That night I got an AWESOME massage.  

In the morning, we got up before the sun to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat (the main temple). Getting up for the sunrise was far superior to the sunset the day before.  When we got there it was still dark, so we explored the entire empty temple with flashlights, encountering plenty of bats along the way. With the popularity of the temples, we found that some of our favorite experiences were the times when we had a temple to ourselves and could creep around like characters in Indiana Jones.  

When the sun eventually came out, it was too overcast from the rain the night before to see any sunrise at all. Hundreds of disappointed tourists stood facing the temple with cameras poised, while we didn’t care because we’d already had an amazing time that morning. That was kind of an exhilarating highlight of seeing the temples.

We then had our tuk-tuk driver Tall (he told us to call him that because he is tall) take us to some other temples. The first one we went to, Ta Phrom, was THE BEST THING EVER. This temple in particular was left largely the way it was found by Europeans, with trees growing up and around and often though the temple. I guess it’s where they filmed Tomb Raider. We had an awesome time, climbing through the temple, going up on roots and trees and the temples themselves. At every temple there were a few signs warning you not to climb or simply to “be careful,” but the overwhelming feeling of the temples is NOT that you as a tourist are to look and not touch. We very much touched and climbed on the temples, which was some of the most fun we had so far on the trip. We went to a number of other temples as well, but the first one was by far my favorite. 

From Siem Reap, we took a bus ride to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. When we arrived, I glanced out the window and there was a Cambodian dude outside the window of our bus making the most emphatic tuk-tuk gestures and thumbs-up gestures, so naturally we had to go with that guy. Tuk-tuk drivers will do almost anything to get your business.  He was super smiley and goofy and never once broke eye contact until I got off the bus. It was kind of creepy actually, but effective.

We asked him to take us to Capitol Guesthouse (an ultra cheapo hotel that would be $4 a night each), and as many tuk-tuk drivers do, he wanted to take us to another option, close to the water for “only $15 dollars.” We insisted on going to Capitol. When we arrived he pointed at the building and shouted, “It’s fucking old!!” We laughed, paid him, and went inside.

Despite looking like crap from the outside, Capitol turned out to be a pretty spacious, clean, if cell-like (the guide book did warn us) room. What a steal! It was easily the best place we stayed for the money. Mandalay Inn in SR was $8 each for a bit more ambience, but a smaller room with a super thin blanket. 

I’d like to say something about the blankets in this country and this part of the world in general. I guess the assumption is that if they give you a heavy blanket you’ll blow the a/c super high, so instead they just give you the smallest piece of crap blankets ever. I hate it! Give me a decent blanket! 

More on our adventures in Phnom Penh later!