Siem Reap—pronounced seem rrip—is a capital city located in the province of Siem Reap in the northwestern Kingdom of Cambodia. Its name is derived from the words Siam Defeated, which points to a period in its history where it defeated the people of Siam—present day Thailand.
It is the gateway to the Angkor Archeological Site, a series of 9th to 15th century Khmer temple architecture that’s inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, including the famous Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom.
The area is a favorite backpacking destination for tourists around the world due to its number of historic temples and thriving night life. The fact that a stay in the area is inexpensive is a bonus.
This Siem Reap travel guide is for both new and returning travelers to the city. The area has so much to offer, that unless one is staying for weeks on end, you probably won’t be able to cover all the temples in the province. A travel itinerary is also provided for on the last part, flexible for both short and long stays.
Angkor Wat, the name evokes a combination of Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, and books. I have read and heard about this temple during my History of Architecture classes way back in college, have memorized its name for exams. And now finally, years after, I’m gonna see it with my own two eyes and feel its rough stone columns with my own bare hands.
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| MORNING AT ANGKOR WAT |
The first time I laid my eyes on Angkor Wat was on a late Sunday morning. It was during the early month of February, it was a holiday. Instead of stopping and walking along its 190-meter long sandstone bridge and crossing over its mighty moat, I instructed our tuk-tuk driver to speed on and proceed to our next temple. There were just too many people. Hordes and hordes of visitors making some sort of pilgrimage to a tourist Mecca.
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| ANGKOR THOM TOUR WHAT’S INSIDE? • Phimeanakas • Baphuon • Prasat Bayon ► BOOK DISCOUNTED SIEM REAP TOURS |
A man carrying a twisted wooden staff and wearing a shiny golden dress emerged from one of the stone towers of Prasat Bayon. I doubled back, are we on a movie set?
We were on our last leg of our Angkor Thom tour. Having previously visited three out of its eight major sites, we were dead tired. That weariness, however, quickly wore off as we emerged on the upper deck of the Bayon temple where massive, serene stone faces greeted us.
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| LOK LEK FOR LUNCH AT ANGKOR THOM |
The sun was at its brightest as we went out from the makeshift eateries near the Leper King Terrace inside Angkor Thom’s enormous complex. We’ve had our fix of lok lek for lunch and were rarin’ to do the daunting Angkor Thom tour. The complex covers an area of 145.8 hectares; it was simply impossible to do this on just one afternoon.
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| SIEM REAP ANGKOR + LITTLE CIRCUIT TEMPLE TOUR WHAT’S INSIDE? • Angkor Wat • Banteay Kdei • Ta Prohm • Angkor Thom ► BOOK DISCOUNTED SIEM REAP TOURS |
It was our third straight day of temple hopping and to be honest, we were quite templed out. We’ve really had enough of temples dedicated to Shiva and the millions of Hindu gods out there. But this was a special day. Today we get to visit Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Two temples I’ve read with wonder on my History of Architecture book back in college. Today we get to see them in real life.
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| TA PROHM TEMPLE, AMAZINGLY DEVOID OF TOURISTS |
Together with our ever reliable tuk-tuk driver from Happy Guesthouse, Nga, we again zipped through the forest roads of Siem Reap. Our target, five temples—Angkor Wat, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm. and Angkor Thom’s Phimeanakas, Baphuon and Bayon temples. Our tour is actually a combination of two tours, the Angkor and Little Circuit Tour. We left out some of the temples on the Small Circuit tour—Prasat Kravan, Srah Srang, and Ta Keo—to accommodate the massive Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom temples of the Angkor Tour.
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The salt water pool at Sokha Angkor Resort was heaven. It almost made us forget the Little Circuit Temple Tour that we’re supposed to be doing that day—spending too much time swimming and goofing around the hotel’s huge pool after breakfast. It was our second time in Siem Reap and this time, we decided to splurge a bit.
► BOOK DISCOUNTED SIEM REAP TOURS
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| SOKHA ANGKOR RESORT GRAND LOBBY |
Coming from an overnight bus ride from Thailand, we arrived at Siem Reap at quarter past nine. We hailed a tuk-tuk and were dropped off at the Sokha Angkor Resort’s driveway in a few minutes. We knew, as we entered its expansive lobby, that we’re gonna be in for a treat.
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