Angkor Wat - Temple City

Have been putting off travelling to visit Angkor Wat for the longest time because the thought of having to walk around the temple makess us feel that it's going to be a tiring trip. Finally decided to do it as I heard they might close off the temple for restoration cos too many tourists there are spoiling the architecture. It is also the UNESCO world heritage site.

Got on to silkair website and saw a pretty good bargain for the tickets at $S298 with taxes and bought the tickets. Next, I went on to search for hotels in Siem Reap. Found a reasonably good one called Prince D'Angkor at S$80 per night. It's supposed to be the low season thus the cheaper hotel rates. Decided to go online and search for a reliable guide to take us to the temple and the booking was made. Everything was booked and then it is the counting down to the day.

The day finally arrived and when we arrived at the airport, we decided to have lunch in T3 transit area and took the skytrain to T3. After walking around for a while, we decided to have lunch at Imperial Treasure. Soon, it was time to board the plane. We sat in the second row from the back and the flight was pretty empty. Food served was quite ok.

Upon departing from the airport, I could see my name clearly in the airport transfer that I booked. The person told us that he had to be there early else someone would use my name and snatched me away although I am wondering how would the person know my name.

Anyway, the driver is a pretty young chap and was driving at such a snail speed that I wondered how long will the 10 mins drive took. The driver even recommended us a local restaurant at the famous old market area. The hotel is well-hidden from the main road and I don't even realise that there is an hotel there. The hotel looks ok, our room is on the first floor and that means no lift access and we need to use the stairs (lobby is groundfloor) which may be difficult for those who have big bags.

Our room faces the pool and has a balcony which we didnt make use of at all. The room is big and bathroom is pretty clean as well. We decided to take a walk outside and will attempt to find the restaurant recommended by the driver. We got some directions and a map from the reception and started walking out. Along the way, there are many massage shops (very similar to those in bangkok) and the people who tried to get you to use their services sound exactly like those in bangkok/phuket/krabi.

We reached the pub street area and was greeted with lights and sounds that jazzed up the whole place. We past by the famous dead fish tower and the red piano. The roads there are closed every night just for tourists. Just as we were about to give up trying to look for the restaurant, we turned the corner and saw the restaurant.

We tried their famous amok fish (taste like green curry of thailand but its not that sweet and its not made of coconut), sour soup (like tom yum goong but not spicy), some fried vegetables and beer. It costs us USD13 for the meal. A short walk and we landed in the night market. A bit like suam lum night bazaar in bangkok kind.

We started the next morning very early as we tried to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat. The driver came together with our guide (our guide couldn't make it as he is still occupied in Phomn Penh so he sent his brother here) at around 5am. There are other groups waiting at the lobby with their guides and all ready to make that trip to the temples.

After buying the tickets, we enter the temple. It was so dark that I couldn't see the surroundings at all and I had to use a torchlight. The day was pretty cloudy so there wasn't much of sunrise to see. So we went back to the hotel around 6.30am for breakfast before meeting our guide at 8.30am to continue our adventure in the temples.

Angkor Wat is just one the temples on the whole area. The place is simply too huge and consists of so many temples, sculptures, carvings etc. Our guide carefully explained the stone carvings on the temple walls which unfolds a story of the ancient wars between the different reigns of kings and emperors. You can see evidence of Thai influences because they were once invaded by Thai which is why the name Siem Reap. Siem - an ancient name of Thailand in Khmer and Reap means defeat and together it means Thailand was defeated. There is also the french influence after being colonised by the French in the 19th century.

The guide took us through the various temples and explains the rich history behind the temples. You can feel the magnificence of the place when it is in its glorious days. You can also find a lot of cambodian kids near the temples peddling stuff like guide books, fridge magnets, post cards etc. They can speak very fluent english and some even spoke in mandarin to me. I was told that we should not get anything from them else they would think it's easier to earn money like this and refused to go to school.

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant near the temple and had the local fare as well but this time round, it costs us USD22. After lunch, we continued our journey to Ta Phrom where the first Tomb Raider was shot. You can see a lot of tourists trying to take pictures there. As the day past, I can feel tiredness settling in. Finally, we ended around 4pm after a shopping trip to the center market where we bought some sourvenirs and an oil painting of the Angkor Wat. We signed up for an apsara (known as celestial beings in their culture) dance and buffet dinner that evening. The dancers are all quite pretty especially one of them with big round eyes and a lovely smile. The buffet was so-so only.

The next day was a relaxing one. Started the day late and went around the old market. The old market only operates during the day. It's like our wet market in Singapore where they sell vegetables, live produce etc. There's even makeshift stalls on the cement floor where I saw a stall selling shoes next to a stall selling fish. Interesting sight. After more shopping, we went back to the hotel to have a nap before going out for dinner. We had dinner at this place called Angkor Palm near the pub street and the owner seemed to be a local chinese as he spoke to us in Mandarin and showed us the website he is surfing which is on his restaurant reviews. Apparently, his restaurant is listed in the lonely planet as well.We tried the angkor platter at his restaurant which consists of honey ribs, vegetables, fresh spring roll (like vietnamese paper rice spring roll). It was not too bad. I guess overall I quite like the food in Siem Reap.
That more or less conclude our trip to the ancient city. I must appeal to all to help to preserve the temple and do not attempt to take any piece of the place home with you.

The uploading of pictures to the site is not working properlyso I can do much uploading here.