Temples of Angkor

After our relaxing days on Koh Rong Samloem we decided to continue straight to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor. If you haven't been to Angkor, you haven't been to Cambodia. It is the sight and pride of Cambodia. From Phnom Penh, where we stayed one night to break the whole journey into two legs, it was again a long bus ride to Siem Reap. Here in Cambodia you have to be careful when it comes to trip duration. 300 km on a bus can take easily up to 5 or 6 hours. National highways are two-lane streets without any shoulder. From Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville or Siem Reap vehicles drive like crazy. They overtake and as long as the coming vehicle is not bigger than your vehicle people continue overtaking. The small vehicle has to go out of the way. Poor scooter riders! We don't want to think about poor cyclists.

When the bus arrived in Siem Reap there was again the same spectacle like in Phnom Penh. A horde of tuk-tuks and scooters followed the bus and people tried to offer their service at the same time. Funny! Our tuk-tuk driver who took us to our hotel and with whom we visited the temples of Angkor wasn't that type of aggressive tuk-tuk driver. He was a very polite person and told us about this life. He didn't earn enough to stay in the city center of Siem Reap. So he and his family had to move to the suburbs because he couldn't afford to spend 60 USD a month. Education for his children wasn't possible either but all he wished for was that his children would get a well-paid job in the future. Poor tuk-tuk driver life! When it was time for lunch, he took us to a restaurant and wanted to go away immediately but we forced him to stay and eat with us. While we were sitting at the table one of his friends showed up and said in Khmer "Hey, good catch today! They even pay for your lunch." Our driver flushed and answered that we do understand Khmer. His friend's eyes became wide, he flushed and went away without another word. When he came back he only smiled at us. Ha Ha Ha

Our day in Angkor started very early. We arrived in Angkor around 6:30 am. Surprisingly there were already some tourists. The real wave of tourists arrived around 10 am and in the afternoon. With 2 million visitors per year you can imagine how crowded it was. We started with Angkor Wat, the main temple. However we liked Bayon and Ta Prohm even more. These two temples are smaller but were more fascinating. Have a look at the photos. These massive and heavy stones, what an effort it must have been to bring them here!

In the evening we met up with a friend of ours. When we moved to France, Phong moved to Luxembourg and later to Singapore. We haven't managed to meet at home in Europe in the last four years but have to travel thousand kilometers first to see each other.

We had a great time in Siem Reap, but left the next morning already to go back to Battambang. So it was a short visit, but we are sure that we will be back one day!

---