Temples Take Two

Trip date: January 2018


Just like the day before, Kong was waiting outside our Airbnb in the morning, ready to take us back out to the temples. I can't stress enough how great it was to have such a reliable driver who was friendly, interested in sharing info on the region, and also spoke English. My #1 tip in this area, hire a driver the first night and if you like them, book them the entire time!

Today's trip, although it would be a shorter day, would cost us $30 as we were going further outside the Angkor area. To start though, Kong drove us to the village of Preah Dak for a traditional breakfast of num banh chok or Khmer noodles. These homemade rice noodles are served with either a fish broth or chicken curry style sauce. It's a simple dish until Kong showed us all the herbs and chili options and how to build our noodles to our tastes. It was a great way to start the day!

Banteay Srei is 20-miles from Siem Reap, which doesn't sound too bad but when you are in a tuk tuk it takes a while. No worries as the countryside was pretty and it wasn't too hot yet. The temple dates from AD 1000 and is a shrine to the Hindu god Shiva.

When they refer to this temple as a little jewel, they aren't kidding. The carvings are absolutely amazing! And the sandstone sculptures are a slightly pink color. It was also only discovered in 1914! It was absolutely beautiful and there weren't too many people visiting. A favorite of all of ours.

Another thing about Banteay Srei is that you can take the trails that lead around the area for a gorgeous walk. It's a really nice area to explore.

From here Kong drove us to Pre Rup, which is right on the road and super easy to explore. It's small, just 5 lotus-shaped towers, and you climb straight up the front steps to the top.

This site dates from 962 and was widely thought to have been a crematorium. It was another really interesting site. They are all so different from each other!

Our final temple was the well known Ta Prohm, or Tomb Raider Temple. The temple is famous for the aptly named Strangler Fig trees, which have wrapped themselves around and over various structures at the site. It's pretty amazing, it was also the most crowded of the temples we visited.

There's a lot of preservation going on, including bracing up roots of trees so they don't topple entire buildings!

Of course the temple is also known as a location shoot for the movie Tomb Raider, we couldn't pass up having a photo in front of the famous doorway!

I had read about the animal carvings throughout the complex, including one of a dinosaur! We didn't leave until we found it (no small feat)!

And with that we finished our 8 (out of 70 in the area) temple tour!

Unfortunately we ended up exiting on the opposite side of the complex from where Kong was waiting for us, and it is a very large area with no easy way to cut back. So we negotiated with another tuk tuk to take us over to the other side and found Kong who had cold beers waiting for us, just what we needed after a hot, sweaty jungle adventure!

I saw so much more than I expected in the Angkor area. An absolutely fantastic bucket list adventure!

All photos from the Angkor area temples here.

Other posts from this trip:
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part One
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part Two
Cruising the Mekong River
Sailing Away; Vietnam to Cambodia
Ringing in 2018 Phnom Penh Style
Wat a First Day
Stationed in Siem Reap

Wat A First Day

Trip date: January 2018

When Angkor Wat is the least interesting thing you see in a day, you know it's been a good day!

Don't misunderstand, the entire day was amazing! But we saw other temples that we loved even more than Angkor Wat, which I think is really saying something about the area!

Our private tuk tuk driver, Kong picked us up in Siem Reap for our first day exploring the temples of Angkor, the ancient capital of the Khmer people. He would drive us around all day for $20 (total, not each!) as well as give us tips at each temple, and have cold beers/water waiting for us when we returned.

We stopped at the ticket office for our 3-day pass ($62) and then drove straight out to Angkor Wat. We hired a guide at the site for $6 each, but ultimately he had limited information to share, and was extremely long winded about it, which was tough in the heat.

It's undeniable that the Khmer architecture and sculpture at this temple, dating from AD 1080, is shockingly impressive. It is just also the largest and most trafficked, which can take away some of the mystique. It was incredible to see this bucket-list sight!

This area actually is home to around 70 temples of varying sizes, Angkor Wat is obviously the most well known, but we were excited to explore some of the others as well. Kong took us to a nice little noodle place for lunch, the restaurants are in palapa type buildings, and then we took off for Preah Khan. 

Walking from the parking area near the lake to the temple of Preah Khan, we had many little children trying to sell us an assortment of things for "just $1!". It was hard not to just give them $1 but education is free in the country and we all really felt that handouts like this deter families from getting their little ones into school. Hopefully, so that they can use an education to do something other than hawk souvenirs. Things to think about while in third-world countries...

We passed some gorgeous relics on our walk, and passed over a bridge where the river was clear and beautiful on one side, murky and spooky on the other, before entering the temple grounds.

There were hardly any people at the site which was amazing. There are trees growing over buildings, they look like they are grasping them with their roots. And the apsaras, which line the Hall of Dancers, were gorgeous!

This is what we had come for! Crumbling temples with amazing bas-relief, in the middle of the jungle! We all loved this stop! An absolute must in my opinion.

It was a really short drive over to Preah Neak Pean where we had an easy walk across the reservoir to a grouping of ponds. This monument sits in the middle of the largest pond with coiled snakes at its base.

When we finished walking around, we found Kong and drove into the entrance of Angkor Thom.

This was the last capital of the Khmer empire, and is a large complex with four entrance gates. There are a variety of sites to explore here, similar to Angkor Wat, including the Terrace of Elephants.

But the most well known, and incredible site in Angkor Thom is The Bayon. A temple which rises up with 54 towers, all with huge smiling stone faces! Truly an incredible sight!

You can climb up and around the towers, into small turrets, and past walls of intricate carvings. Awesome. We were suppose to check it out pretty quickly, as we still had one more stop! But we all loved it so we ended up being a little late in getting a good spot at Phnom Bakheng for sunset.

Once Kong dropped us off at the trail we had a bit of a walk up to the top of the hill, we didn't take the elephants as others did, but the views were lovely. One thing to note is that there are no bare shoulders or knees allowed at any temple sites. When we started to walk up the hill, there were "spotters" who sent people back. You can buy scarves and paros but make sure you have them with you!

Only a small number of people are allowed at a time on the temple, which looks out over Angkor Wat and the lake Tonlé Sap, so sunset is prime time. And although we didn't get a spot at the top, it was still a very pretty way to end the (very full) day.

All photos from the Angkor area temples here.

Other posts from this trip:
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part One
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part Two
Cruising the Mekong River
Sailing Away; Vietnam to Cambodia
Ringing in 2018 Phnom Penh Style
Temples Take Two
Stationed in Siem Reap

Ringing in 2018 Phnom Penh Style

Trip date: December 2017


Dec 31, 2017 we checked into the beautiful Pavillon Hotel, a recommendation from a friend, and a great one at that. We entered the gate off the busy road into a lush and tranquil garden with two beautiful pools, a spa, a restaurant, and bar.

We were greeted with cold towels and refreshing juice before being shown to our rooms. Caitlin and I had a big suite with a king sized bed outfitted with mosquito netting. All the spaces were fantastic!

We were waiting to hear if our friend James was going to be able to come into the country and join us for the New Year's Eve celebrations. We decided to spend the afternoon at the pool with a few bottles of wine, sunning and swimming. It was about 5pm before he texted that Cambodian officials would not accept his passport, as he was 3 days short of having a full 6 months left before expiration. This was a huge bummer! James ended up flying home while we got ready for the evening's festivities.

We started with champagne on Forest and Thibault's balcony and then had a few drinks at our hotel bar which was having live entertainment.

Unlike in Vietnam, here there were many tuk tuks for getting around town, so we all piled into one and set out for Wat Botum Park and the nearby Independence Monument. It was already busy with street vendors and people getting ready for the firework show.

We had dinner at Malis which had a special $60 tasting menu for NYE including wine pairings.  Our 4-course meal was good with a nice shrimp and pork salad, soup with tamarind, roasted quail, and banana ice cream. Our main disappointment was that there was a lovely outside courtyard dining area but we were only able to sit inside.

After dinner we joined the revelers back out at the park for fireworks. We weren't really expecting much but it was a pretty good show! Happy 2018!!!

Breakfast was included with our room reservations so we all met outside at the hotel restaurant the next morning. There were fresh breads, fruits, eggs, and fried rice. It was all delicious!

Caitlin and I spent the morning exploring the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda complex . The grounds are absolutely beautiful and even though there are many resemblances to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, it is much smaller and more intimate.

Besides the temples, there are various exhibits depicting everything from royal history, uniforms, musical instruments, and palanquins.

We had a great time exploring, and it wasn't busy at all which was nice. It was however extremely hot so when we were finished we headed back to our hotel with our pool in mind. Walking back we passed lots of street vendors setting up for lunch. We also passed what seemed like an entire street lined with tables of meat drying out under the sun!

It was so nice to have lunch in the shade of the trees and next to the pool. And my spring rolls and spicy herb salad were both delicious!

Besides breakfast, our reservation also came with complimentary foot and back massages at the hotel spa, so that is where I headed next! Absolutely a fantastic day; sightseeing, swimming, spa'ing!

In the evening we did a bar crawl around town. First up was a tuk tuk to the Elephant Bar at the Raffles Hotel.

The bar is gorgeous and the drink list was really fun. They have 30+ gins, which is a very big selection for SE Asia, but sadly they were out of the Raffles Gin made for them by Sip Smith. I survived anyway!

From here we walked past the American Embassy, decorated with Christmas lights, and Wat Phnom, the highest point in this very flat city. The wat was closed for the night be we could still explore the grounds (for a fee).

While Caitlin and Forest headed off to our next cocktail stop, Thibault and I walked past street vendors selling shellfish, grilled frogs, steamed buns, noodles, etc. We decided on bao and noodles :)

We met the girls at Chinese House, which had both a very cool inside space as well as a great outdoor space with tables, couches, and a Budha. We chose to have our drinks outside!

Our last stop of the evening was also the most Western in style. Le Boutier has a really interesting cocktail menu that tells stories about Cambodian music, the family the bar is named after, favorite locals, etc. It's fun and playful and most importantly serves great drinks.

We took our drinks upstairs and sat at the open windows, watching the scenes on the street below. Some guys hanging out with their friend who had a food cart. A stray dog, hoping for scraps. A young boy, barefoot and pantless, taking a piss in a puddle on the street.

The next morning we boarded a tourist bus for our 5 hour drive to Siem Reap. I loved watching all the activity in the streets as we drove out of town!

All photos from Phnom Penh here. 


Other posts from this trip:
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part One
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part Two
Cruising the Mekong River
Sailing Away; Vietnam to Cambodia
Wat a First Day
Temples Take Two
Stationed in Siem Reap

Sailing Away; Vietnam to Cambodia

Trip date: December 2017

Technically we were still on our Mekong Eyes River Cruise Tour but we had left our boat, were picked up in Cái Bè and were on our way to Chau Doc, Vietnam via minivan. After about 2 1/2 hours we stopped for lunch at Cá Sáu Long Xuyên, a crocodile farm and restaurant.

We had a really interesting tour and learned all about this very sustainable resource. The crocodiles are huge. And scary! We also saw some of the babies. Super cute and still scary. We even saw crocodiles having sex. Hot and scary! And then we had lunch. One guess as to what was on the menu!

We had another 2 hour drive to Chau Doc, a small town near the Cambodian border. We weren't expecting much when we checked in to the Victoria Hotel as it was a part of our package, but the hotel was excellent! It sits right on the Bassac River, which is a tributary of the Mekong, and is colonial in style.

We changed into our suits, met down at the pool, and relaxed with some beers and a view of the river.

As we explored the small town that evening, it seemed that everyone was out and taking advantage of the cool evening. Kids were practicing martial arts, families were strolling, and everyone was eating street food!

We wandered past lots of vendors, and I finally had a chance to buy some dried squid, which is a snack often had with beer. Quite good! We also bought some bao, bowls of delicious stir fry, and "Vietnamese pizza". All super tasty!

Unfortunately I lost my debit card somewhere along the way, luckily I had another card with me for the trip. The bigger issue, we learned when we returned to the hotel, was that our friend James would not be able to join us for the journey into Cambodia the next day. Turns out that he was 3 days short of having the required 6 months left on his passport before it expired.

In the morning 4 of us boarded a riverboat while James was taken to Ho Chi Minh City airport to see if he could get them to allow him to fly in. It was a gorgeous day and the boat was small but comfortable for our 5 hour trip. We made stops at customs on both sides of the border where we were fingerprinted and presented the visas that we had purchased through our boat operator.

Once we were on the Cambodian side of the river, the poverty was really shocking. The little shacks were surrounded by mainly dirt and debris, and they looked as if they would fall into the river at any moment.

We had brought beers on board, and the operator served us a little lunch. The rest of the time we just hung out on the stern of the boat and watched the scenery.

We arrived at the harbor in Phnom Penh just after lunch and were picked up by an arranged taxi and taken to our hotel. It was New Year's Eve and the party in Cambodia was about to get started!

All photos from the Mekong River here.
All photos from Phnom Penh here. 


Other posts from this trip:
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part One
Ten Things To Do in Ho Chi Minh City: Part Two
Cruising the Mekong River
Ringing in 2018 Phnom Penh Style
Wat a First Day
Temples Take Two
Stationed in Siem Reap