Siem Reap, Cambodia

On our way to Tonle Sap Lake. A kid was waving at us.

Floating Village

Sunset at Bakheng Mountain

Angkor Wat back view
Angkor Thom Bayon
Elephant Terrace

La Phrom

Happy Guest house, front view

Yellow Fried Noodle

Thy, at his favourite beef noodle soup shop

cambodian pancake with kuchai

Angkor night market

The old market

Pub Street

Siem Reap was totally remarkable. From Kuala Lumpur, it took 2 hours and a half to arrive Cambodia. The first thing I saw when I was on the plane, several minutes before landing was Tonle Sap Lake. It was totally huge. REALLY HUGE.

At the airport, a guy called Thy waited for us. He’s a tuk tuk driver from the backpackers lounge we were about to stay. He speaks really good English; at one glance he looks like tan Jamie Oliver, sincere and pleasant.
We stayed at Happy guest House (backpackers lounge) only for USD3 per person /night. The place was so clean and the people were welcoming. The food was okay, a plate of fried rice cost around USD 1, cheese omelet cost around USD 1.60. Basically, the food price at happy guest House will not cost you more than USD3.

Tonle Sap Lake really amazed me. We hired a tuk tuk to drive us out of town towards the river and took 2 hours boat ride (cost: USD20 per person) to Tonle Sap lake, which joins the river in shrinking and expanding dramatically with the seasons, thereby causing villagers to move their floating houses to different points.
In the evening we climbed Bakheng Mountain to watch the sunset. It was truly amazing.

On the next morning, we went to the amazing Angkor temple. It cost USD20 per person for one day pass. The place was enormous. I stumbled in front of Angkor Wat, I just can’t imagine how people can build such a powerful Angkor empire with a great architecture in a middle of a jungle. We spent almost one day for temple hopping (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Elephant Terrace, Pre Rup, La Phrom ). At Angkor temple, I saw a lot of Cambodians speak Japanese, Germany and French glibly to communicate with the tourist. The sad part was, Cambodian Government sold the place to the multi national Vietnam Company. WTF right. I mean, Angkor temples are one of the reasons why people want to come to Cambodia, and the corrupted politicians sold it, to fatten the coffers of their breeds. What a selfish asshole!

The other 2 days, we just spent our time by cycling around the town. The town is modest, which you can find a lot of Old French Quarter, with a bit of Chinese inspired architecture. Most of the people look a bit like Malays, with dark skin. Unlike Vietnam, most of Cambodians are very fluent in English. I love the food, especially beef noodle soup at the stall. We’ve spent only USD4 for 3 big bowls of the delish beef noodle soup, lots of ‘char koay’ and jasmine tea for 3. We also went to Angkor Night market, old market, road side stalls and the Pub Street. During happy hour (3pm-6pm), a draught cost around USD50 cent a mug. Damn cheap.

I would love to go to Cambodia again.