An epicenter of power and influence for 6 centuries , land where everyone from a god-king to Khmer Rouge guerrillas have ruled, a home to more than 7 ethnic tribes and some awe-inspiring architecture which can put any technological advancement to shame, it’s a marvel.As a person who is set out on a journey to explore, learn and tell the world more about such magnificent promised land of our glorious past, I planned to travel to Siem Reap in the month of September, 2015.

Especially when you have travel mates who share the same excitement and attitude for Travel, you just go for it and things also work in your favor when you are located in travel launchpad destination like Ho Chi Minh City.To bring plan to life, my friend Khushal and I decided to travel and learn from the lives of people in South East Asia.We started to chalk out the plan 2 months before what we called #MonsoonRunOfSouthEastAsia and given the constraints of being a working traveller, we could invest meager 15 days in return for all the life learning we are going to have.

What started as a google doc with some random data, it evolved into a one stop guide to travel in Siem Reap, Luang Prabang and Halong Bay.After skimming through more than 20 blogs/articles, we started collecting information to keep our travel hassle free.In the end, we had an amazing experience that will stay with us for a lifetime.Keeping up with the true traveller’s tradition, I decided to share our experience report from Siem Reap.

Nuts and bolts of travel plan:

First we started looking for visa options and to add to our delight we came to know that Cambodia offers VOA facility for Indian citizens and we can simply show up with our passport with 6 months of validity, a passport size photograph, your hostel/hotel details, 35 USD for visa fee and a pen ( trust me it’s a long ordeal when officials don’t give you a pen and you wait 20 mins for a elderly tourist group to finish filling forms and they still hand it over with a menial look on their faces) .We found many conflicting visa fee amount on internet but that’s what we paid just last month.

Most costly affair of any trip , the flight cost.We booked our ticket around 2 months in advance and I paid 175 usd for one way flight from Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap with Vietnam Airlines.Early plan could have saved us some extra money.What I was not prepared for was that the plane is a ATR-72 Turbo Prop . It was the smallest plane I ever flew with and it was different , yeah ! .It’s a 1:20 mins flight to Siem Reap.

September is a rainy season in Cambodia and we were little apprehensive about the weather woes, however we were expecting not to have any challenges with the accommodation.We had some surprise waiting for us, as we started looking for hostels we saw they were filling up fast( blame it to rising population and global warming 😉 ), so we quickly booked our hostel in Siem Reap .With the start of our journey we were in for sharing some stories with fellow travellers, comfortable room and experimental food.What kept our fun quotient going? this..

Another important thing to keep in mind is the currency.Unfortunately due to their unstable economy and reigning corruption , they accept USD for all small/big transactions instead of official Riel.Just make sure to keep mix of small and big bills unless you are willing to deal with pile of local currency in exchange(1 usd = 4091 Riel).You can also withdraw USD from any ATM in Siem Reap. To help you with some cost estimation, Tuk-Tuk ride from airport to city(~6km) will be 5$ and local Angkor beer is 1.5 $.You got it, isn’t :).

It’s a fly-day:

We were ready with our backpacks and all the prep-kit items we put together before starting the journey.Since Khushal was flying in from Bangkok, we were scheduled to meet at Siem Reap International Airport.As soon as we landed , I walked towards VOA counter.Immigration officer directed us to grab the visa application forms, I filled the forms and submitted it with passport at one of the counter.They asked me to wait and in 5 mins, officer at the last counter called me and handed over my passport with singly entry 1 month tourist visa. Woohoo…!!.

I crossed the immigration check and stepped outside the airport.There were hardly few people at the airport.There is no restaurant or eatery. Khushal’s flight was landing after 2 hrs so I decided to wait at the arrival gate.There is a taxi booking counter , a money exchange counter and few counters where you can buy a sim-card.I reckon no one ever waits at airport in Siem Reap.I went to sim card counters and enquired about the rates and after comparison bought a Metfone sim with unlimited Internet for 5$ valid for 30 days.As soon as Khushal arrived we were off to Siem Reap city in our decorated Tuk-Tuk.

We checked-in our hostel around 12 pm and saw that there were backpackers from every part of world having good time at the pool and the bar.We grabbed a Siem Reap map at the reception and as soon as we entered our room we started refining our initial itinerary for next 3 days.Our day 1 was looking set and then we walked outside to grab some food. What’s better than some local authentic food, Fish Amok with sticky rice at Khmer Kitchen Restaurant, it was just delicious.

Day 1, Life of Indiana Jones :

It was looking set to visit Angkor Wat, Bayon and Phimeanakas on day 1.We talked to some tuk-tuk drivers night before and after some Indian-style negotiations we found our man who agreed for 8$ for one way trip to Angkor Wat. Next morning we started at 8 AM to APSARA office to buy the tourist pass.It was little steep to pay 40 $ for a 3 day pass but we were on roll.After 15 mins of  breezy ride through the road crossing the forest area , we were looking at a welcoming view of lake running around the majestic Angkor Wat.The Temple complex we only saw in travel guides, movies and documentaries was standing right in front of us.

We stood at the small staircase which marks the entrance to the complex and set our eyes on what truly looks like a supernatural phenomenon.It wasn’t crowd-less but it wasn’t a army of tourists ready to take down the empire.Angkor Wat complex is the biggest temple in the entire Khmer capital.We spent around 3 hrs marveling the architecture and landscape.The reliefs, including thousands of female dancers, are carved into the walls of the enclosure of the temple.After taking some great shots with Go-Pro we started walking out thinking “You can’t capture the beauty of history “.

It was already around 1 pm and it was getting humid, we looked at the map and asked out tuk-tuk driver to take us to Bayon, which was around 3 km from Angkor Wat.We were riding along the lake and rainforest for next 10 mins and massive stone faces of Bayon started appearing like a window to Khmer world. Bayon stands at the center of ancient capital Angkor Thom.Our mind already started living the adventurous life of Indiana Jones.There are 216 gigantic faces on the temple towers which according to some theory resemble king Jayavarman VII but some hypothesis suggest they belong to Bodhisattva.We started from the two galleried enclosures and  slowly moved towards the upper terrace.On the gallery, there are bas-relief depicting historical events an scene from everyday life of Angkorian Khemer.Upper terrace is home to the famous “face towers” of the Bayon, each of which supports two, three or (most commonly) four gigantic smiling faces.

As I was walking around the bayon terrace, a local guide started talking to me about how much he know about India, how Indian culture has influenced their life for centuries and his career as a guide.He told me that his family were Hindu but converted to Buddhism 20 years ago.He also shared some insightful details on the history of Bayon without any fee 🙂 . After walking around for 2 hrs we decided to move to next temples , Phimeanakas and Elephant’s Terrace but we were so mesmerized that we lost our sense of time and came to know that temples will close at 5 pm.There wasn’t enough time to explore so we decided to head back.We grabbed some coconut water on the way with size contemporary to those massive temples and then took our tuk-tuk back to town.

As it started getting dark, we saw Siem Reap city turning into a party capital of Cambodia.You can’t miss the exhilarated and fun-loving people on the streets on both side of Sivatha Road.The most compelling is the Pub Street, it is laid back and empty in the day but colorful and crowded in the night.There are pubs and restaurant with amazing live music and delicious food from all the parts of the world.

All of a sudden we were looking at a transformed Siem Reap with people celebrating and dancing on the streets, hustle bustle of night market selling souvenirs and people trying to capture the moment in their cameras.We went to night market and bought some t-shirts and flags to depict our travel timeline on the backpacks.It was an amazing day without any rain playing spoilsport.

Day 2, Bicycle Adventure: 

Traveling with tuk-tuk was not our budget friendly so we decided to take bicycle on our second day and explore the temples of Angkor Thom. We found some shops renting bicycle on the Samdech Tep Vong street jut 2 mins walk from our hostel.We took our bicycle and grabbed some quick english breakfast. Khushal was looking all set for some awesome video shots with his head mounted go-pro.We started off from market area and it took us 30 mins to reach the Ankgkor Wat and 15 min further to Bayon.It’s fun riding bicycle in a cool windy weather.

We stopped at Bayon for few mins to capture some photographs in better daylight.Next destination was Phimeanakas and Elephant’s Terrace.These temples are located further west 1 km behind the central compound of Prasat Bayon. However, when you have bicycle you don’t hesitate to take some rough terrains to reach your destination, life of adventure seekers.We went into direction of some unrestored ruins of Angkor Tham riding north of Bayon on a dirt road full of loose stones and potholes.Enduring that ride was fruitful when we reached north gate of Angkor Tham complex with mammoth stone faces similar to Bayon.It was not restored yet and rocks were in rickety state.We stopped to catch some breath and saw some local boys coming out of a narrow trail entering the jungle ahead, they told us to carry on and you will meet the Siem Reap river.

A River on a hot humid day, sounded like a great proposition :).Soon we realized it’s going to be a bumpy ride , 1 meter wide trail full of dirt, river sand and woods was testing our stamina and hope to see some water.After 15 min of intense riding we reached small opening to Siem Reap river.Unfortunately the water was muddy due to silt flowing with strong current.However, we found some cleaner spots , washed ourselves and started our ride back.Was it worthy? Not sure! Testing our direction sense, we took a diversion on our way back expecting to hit the main road.After 10 mins of ride we reached Victory Gate located on north side of Angkor Thom complex.

We started moving towards Elephants terrace.The 350m-long Terrace of Elephants was used as a giant reviewing stand for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king’s grand audience hall.The terrace is named for the carvings of elephants on its eastern face.We parked our bicycle near parking area and started walking along the elephant’s terrace.It was a beautiful view standing atop the terrace with ruins of ancient temples protected by giant tropical rainforest sprawling in-front-of your sight.Soon we encountered our first rain of Siem Reap, it started bucketing crazily and we were not carrying our raincoats on that day 😦 . We took shelter under a giant tree and waited around 20 mins for rain to go away.

We walked towards another majestic temple mountain, Baphuon.Its a 34 mtr tall temple complex adjoining the enclosure of Royal Palace.It took 51 years for archeologists to complete the restoration of this temple.We took the steep wooden stairs to upper chambers and sat at the top of the wall facing the gateway and relaxed while witness the world beneath pass by.

Baphuon is part of the big royal enclosure and north of it stands the 3 tier pyramid ancient Hindu temple of Phimeanakas.This temple was in slightly neglected state with carvings and stone stairs completely eroded and lots of water surrounding the structure.Rain made it even difficult to ascend from the western side where stairs were in better condition.As the legend goes, the king spent the first watch of every night with a woman thought to represent a Nāga in the tower, during that time, not even the queen was permitted to intrude. Only in the second watch the king returned to his palace with the queen. If the naga who was the supreme land owner of Khmer land did not show up for a night, the king’s day would be numbered, if the king did not show up, calamity would strike his land.

It was 3 pm when we walked out of Royal enclosure. Since we had some time in hand and the age holding us together to do some more cycling , we decided to head towards Preah Khan temple.We were all set for some more monsoon bonanza as it started raining again but we decided to carry on in our 1 $ poncho which already started falling apart as wind was gushing through the polythene.We reached Preah Khan after 30 mins of ride and fortunately rain also stopped as we were entering the complex. Considered a institution which combined the roles of city, temple and Buddhist university: apparently there were 97,840 attendants and servants, including 1000 dancers and 1000 teachers.This vast flat temple is largely unrestored and has a causeway over the moat with nāga carrying devas and asuras similar to those at Angkor Thom.

A large part of complex is still overrun with a particularly voracious vegetation and quite ruined.You can follow the central path to cross the hallways and enclosures to see the Hall of Dancers and House of Fires.There is also a two storeyed structure with round columns which bears resemblance with greek architecture seen at Parthenon.We also met some Buddhists monks at the temple and talked about their lives and how they maintain the sanctity of these temples.

We stayed at Preah Khan for about 2 hours and evening started setting in.After riding through the rain and dirt road we were in a messy condition with all our clothesmatching the red soil.As we ride back towards the city, just before Angkor Wat complex we stopped at the base of Phnom Bakheng, it’s one of the favorite sunset point in Angkor.We made a unplanned halt at this site, before climbing the stairs to the top of the mountain we had some noodles and beer to keep the momentum going.

It took us 20 mins to climb to the top while wading our ways through army of sunset watchers.Nevertheless, It was a beautiful view from the top with plains, jungles and east barray reservoir ornating the glory of Khmer.

We continued our muddy ride to our hostel, took a bathe and a quick snooze. We were done and dusted.Late in the evening we headed for our favorite night market and pub street area.We did some pub hopping that evening, treated ourselves with delicious ice-cream at Gelato Lab,  enjoyed some live rock music and called it a day.

We also had plan to visit Angkor Wat for sunrise and do some touristy chores next morning.We talked to a tuk-tuk driver for early morning visit to Angkor Wat next day and he agreed for 10$ return trip.

Day 3: Not taking it any easier, more ride with more chilling out.

 We planned to leave at 4:45 am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat but rain played a spoilsport one more time and it rained heavily till 8 in the morning 😦 .We started our day late (thanks to aching legs..) and decided not to go for temples on our 3rd day but visit some place to explore the local life and food.We talked to some local people and they suggested Tonle Sap lake and floating villages.We did some research and learnt that it’s not worth given that you have to take guided tour and reviews about companies forcing people into giving some money to children put us off from this plan.So what’s next? We went to cafe named ” The little red fox espresso” which is run by two english guys, we really enjoyed our bread omelette, carrot cake and coffee, everything was just exquisite.We also did our research over coffee and decided to go to an old reservoir “West Barray” and explore the local life on our way.When we told this to bicycle shop owner, she clearly expressed her doubt over if we will be able to make it.

We decided to go west this time, West Barray is around 17 kms and it took us around 1 hr lazily riding through the city roads and narrow streets of the villages on the way.As soon as we crossed the airport and entered the village area, we were looking at traditional houses, paddy fields and local people busy with their daily chores.It was really eye opening to see the difficulty they have to face even today to live a respectful life. Tourism being the big source of income for most of the families in Siem Reap, it didn’t seem to have improved the life in nearby villages. As we reached a small dam over the Barray, we observed that it was truly a nice easy laid back outing for the local people who were coming to the reservoir shore, drinking beer, eating local food and do some tubing.

We parked our bikes near a shop who was selling tubes , grabbed two tubes and found a relatively free spot for some tubing.It was relaxing and took away all the pain we had to endure to reach here.We were floating in the slow current and wind for more than 2 hrs.We ordered some local food but didn’t like the strong fish sauce taste.After spending 3 hrs at Barray we drove back to the city.It wasn’t a tiring day though.We also got enough time to explore the town and buy some more souvenirs in the Siem Reap Art Center Night Market.On our 3rd day we were much better at negotiating the prices.

You just can’t get enough of Pub Street , we went to another restaurant in night to enjoy some live music and celebration.This was our last night in the Siem Reap and September being an off-season didn’t seem to affect the tourist/backpackers plans to travel to this part of the world.This was an amazing experience so far.

Day 4 : Temple Run and Laos waiting…

Final day of our Siem Reap sojourn started casually with clear skies.On our last day, we went for some traditional Khmer breakfast on Street 11.Our Angkor trip was not complete without making a trip to amazingly spectacular and one of the most photographed destination in Angkor, Ta Phrom Temple.You got it right, this is where ancient trees growing from temple ruins create a magical atmosphere.This is most imposing temple which has merged with Jungle, but not yet to the point of becoming a part of it.

We packed our bags as we were checking out at 12 PM and kept them at the reception of the hostel.Next we took a tuk-tuk and headed straight to Ta- Phrom. Living up to it’s expectation of one of the most visited temple of Angkor , there was a good crowd waiting for us.This temple was left largely as it had been found by French Conservator as a “concession to the general taste for the picturesque “. I also felt proud when I saw Archeological Society Of India role in its restoration as of 2013.Massive trees devouring the ruins is the most distinctive feature of Ta Phrom.You would start living a treasure hunter from Indiana Jones one more time 🙂 .

After shooting some videos and clicking some pics we headed back to our hostel.With our tuk-tuk running full steam leaving behind the glory of Khmer which has survived for centuries, it only left us awe-struck for life.

Fun times didn’t stop rolling as we reached small airport of Siem Reap and went to Immigration check, me and Khushal were standing on the adjacent counters waiting for Officers to verify and return our passport.All of a sudden Khushal’s officer asked for some tip, I heard it too and looked at stunned Khushal while he asked the officer “Sorry what’s that”, in the meantime my officer was feeling happy too.We looked at each other and I handed out a 5$ bill so did my friend and everything went as smooth as silk. We were startled forever.Never mind, the girls and boys at the security check are as friendly as it can get.

Soon we were sitting at the Gate 2 waiting for our flight to Luang Prabang.As someone said “Travel will enrich you yet leave a vacuum to be filled only in your lifetime”.

Leahaey Angkor !!