Angkor Wat - Cambodia's Amazing Temples

After just two days in Bangkok, we hit the road (a very bumpy one btw) to Siem Reap, Cambodia, where the famous Angkor Wat temples are situated. The road from the Thai border to Siem Reap is horrible. It is basically a path of heavy mud with the rare sight of a paved road. And it is swarmed with crazy drivers to make things more interesting. I can only say that if you are rich (get a flight!) or have a pair of wings on your back, you might want to skip this one. Anyway, after a long taxi ride which we shared with a nice Portuguese couple, we ended up in a lovely guest house. Siem Reap seems to be a city of contradictions: it is a very touristy place, with some hotels charging over $500, that almost all its streets are just muddy roads. Also, most prices are in US dollars, although you can pay with the local Riel or the Thai Baht.. very confusing.



Anyway, the temples are quite amazing. They were built in the period between 800-1300 AD, and stretch on a huge area in the midst of a gungle. You actually have to drive around in a tuk-tuk (or bicycles for the more in-shape-travelers) in order to see them all, and even then it will take you few days to see it all. We decided to spend two days over here, the first one with a guide, that speaks lousy English, and the second one by ourselves. It was a good workout walking around, enjoying the beautiful temples, and trying to avoid the hundreds of kids that run towards you, offering umbrellas (yeah.. it was raining), water ("one dollar!"), coke ("one dollar!"), a book ("five dollars!") or whatever (you are right... "one dollar!").





Other than the temples, the city is nice. Nothing too special, but It is full of western food places - so we enjoyed a real burger and apple schtrudel. Next we are going to Phnom Pen the capital.