Siem Reap
Siem Reap is a bustling town surrounded by farming, and prosperous from the tourism which comes from sitting next to a world heritage site – the temples of Angkor (meaning capital). The temples cover a massive area, about 350 square miles containing many, many temples, including the pinnacle, Angkor Wat.
We used the whole of our three day entry pass just to explore a handful of them. We visited the oldest complex, an area where one of the kings lived, river beds with sculptures, a terrace of carved elephants and many other temples. Most were built between 800ad and 1100ad. Of course, we also woke up super early for a sunrise view, then guided tour of, the newest (but not that new) Angkor Wat (1150ad)!
The size, scale and craftsmanship of everything in the Angkor area was incredibly impressive. At its height, this empire had millions of inhabitants, when the population of London had only about 50,000! If you can make it to Asia, have this on the list.
The Cambodian food used many of the same ingredients as Laos, except they used coconut milk in many of their dishes. We had some excellent vegetarian food and “amok” curries. They also had the best fresh spring rolls we’d tried! We also discovered an excellent bakery called Blue Pumpkin -which makes yummy ice creams and brownies.
As well as bustling markets, Siem Reap’s centre is a close knit of well kept and decorated streets filled with bars and nice restaurants. The only worrying sight was the occasional child beggars. The children were not clean and it was upsetting.
We later found out all schooling needs to be privately paid for at all ages and some poorer families just cannot afford it. The flip side is that there are the smiling faces of children everywhere you go, simply saying hello, or selling souvenirs and snacks, or playing amongst themselves. As lovely as they were, we wish their families had enough money for them to be at school instead.
The majestic Angkor Wat at sunset
