Travelblog#1: Angkor Wat and our lovely Tuk Tuk driver!

After living/travelling Thailand for 3 months we moved to Cambodia and Siem Reap was our first stop.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat temple

Maybe if Cambodia is in your list is due to Angkor Wat. Most of travelers come to Cambodia mainly to see the incredible ruins of Angkor temples and without a doubt is a place that you must visit at least once in your life!

We are budget travellers so we made it to Siem Reap by bus from Bangkok, it took us a ~8 hrs journey. Crossing the border wasn't a problem because we pay an extra 5 dollars to the bus crew to do all the paperwork for us! So it was really smooth.

Siem Reap

We booked 5 nights at Siem Reap Pub Hostel, a really nice place with good vibes and pool! January is really hot in Siem Reap so mind to book a place to stay with pool! Your visit to the temples will be very exhausting so having a pool to finish the day while drinking a beer it is the best advice I can give to you.

Make sure to walk around the town center. The pub street is a walking street where you have tons of restaurants and bars. For those on a budget maybe is not the cheapest place to eat but you can still drink a beer for less than a dollar! Also there are some night markets, if you haven't been to one before it's not a bad idea to visit but if you have been you are going to see the same as other night markets... a lot of people offering you massages, souvenirs, clothes... a lot of!

Pub Street, Siem Reap

Angkor Temples

For sure Angkor temples is the reason why Siem Reap is in your travel itinerary. There are tons of way to do the temples so just get as much info as you can a plan your visit. You can take a guided tour, hire a tuk tuk driver, rent a bike or a motorbike. You can do the small tour or the big one or maybe you just want to see the main temples. But be prepared to avoid tourist! Oh god! you will find plenty of chinese groups moving all the way around... just ignore them! Maybe this is the reason why some people plan their visit to temples having in mind the 'typical routes'. Most of the people likes to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, so there is very high chance (100%) that if you visit any other temple at that time it is going to be almost empty! Be sure the get as much info about Khmer Empire before your visit the temples, most of things will makes sense if you know a little bit of khmer empire, buddhism and hinduism!...

Faces, Bayon Temple

Roots, Ta Prohm Temple

Tuk Tuk

We decided to hire a tuk tuk to do the temples and it was one of our highlights! If this is your plan just walk around near pub street talking to tuk tuk drivers and hire the one that match you. There are some drivers that speak english very fluent there are some others that just can barely speak with you. But at the ends every driver is going to offer almost the same route and services, some offers free cold water and this is very important because it will be hot even on cloudy days! If you are going to do the temples more than one day hire the same driver for every day! You are going to be with your driver several hours a day so day 2 is better if you have build some relationship with your driver on day one! Try to ask him about his life, about Cambodia and how the Khmer Rouge impacted his life. We asked our driver a lot of things even to know his home and family! We eat lunch at his home and it was a really nice experience!

Mr Ty family and us

Mr Ty

Our driver was mr Ty, we met him on our way to buy the tickets to Angkor Temples! Make sure to make it before 17:30! One day tickets sold after 17:00 are valid for the next day!

We recomend a lot mr Ty as tuk tuk driver because he is a really nice man ans speak a very well english! if you want to contact him this is his mobile number 0978351881, it charge us $15/day with free cold water! Have in mind that tuk tuk driver does not enter the temple with you so you should learn about the temples before! Mr Ty likes to study english while he waits for you!

all pictures are from my google nexus! no copyright no copyleft!

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