Cambodia 2008 - Day 1: Around Angkor Wat

My first trip to Cambodia ended up as the trip I loved the most so far. Travelling alone gave me the liberty and choice to see things at my own pace - I call this luxury. I booked a single ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap, and another single ticket from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur, I couldn't have planned it better except I wished I had more time, because I felt I have seen the best of both cities in a short 5 days.

2008-10-09 (Thursday)

The tuk-tuk driver was already waiting for me at the airport when I touched down at 8am local time. His name was Mr Sron - whom I was expecting as it was arranged via email by the guest house I was going to stay. Mr Sron, a very friendly Khmer and all smile - with his ok English, took me straight into Siem Reap town to check in to the guest house.

The guest house was called Ei8ht Rooms, as it literally had 8 rooms. Pretty simple guest house but the staff members were warm and friendly, rooms are simple but clean, quite tastefully done with some ethnic + IKEA settings. Later I learnt that the owner Jason apparently was from Singapore, I didn't meet him the entire stay.

No time was wasted in Siem Reap. I checked into my Room 7, I took about an hour to wash up and settle down. Then I came downstairs to speak with Mr Sron - obviously he knew I was going to use his tuk-tuk for the next couple of days. Mr Sron, suggested the itinerary for the 3 consecutive days with price tag of each - I simply agreed to it, only altered one or two for the 3rd day. And of we went to start the Angkor Wat visit in the late morning.

You would need a pass in order to visit all the Angkor Wat temples. A one day pass cost USD20, however I paid USD40 for the 3 day pass as it would fit beautifully to my schedule. I was comfortable with my driver's suggestion to visit the smaller temples on day 1 as we started the tour only almost at midday. Then we worked towards the highlight on 2nd day to Angkor Wat.

So, the first stop was Prasat Kravan. It was totally without any tourist. As soon as I came off the tuk-tuk, three or four local women and kids swarmed to me, "Buy t-shirt from me", "Buy scarf sir", "You want any books ...", "When you come back, you buy from me ...". I spent a very short time at Prasat Kravan, snap a couple of shots then came away. Never said to these ladies that you would buy from them when you came back, this is the wonder I learned from the Internet, they were good to make you feel guilty by saying things like, "but you promised to buy from me".

We moved on up, Mr Sron stopped me at Sras Srang. Which is a lake opposite of Banteay Kdei. Great view. I learned after my trip, apparently Sras Srang was one of the most underrated place to see sunrise. So if you ever planned a trip, take note of this. A couple of local kids followed me as I walked to Sras Srang. One of the girl who was selling books impressed me with her command of English, I bought 3 books from her for USD20. Later as I walked around, I realised I could actually get them in a fraction of the price! Anyway, still cheaper if I were to get them else where. (Ok, that was just to comfort myself. Ahem.) And the little girl who was like 9 or 10 saw that, insisted that I bought something from her. So, my compassion got the better of me, and she was actually quite a sweet little girl except that she threatened to cry if I didn't buy from her. So, there went another 5 dollar bills for some key chains. Ok ok, I know but I knowingly overpaid.

Walking across to Banteay Kdei, there were a few tour buses. Darn, a guy approached me for the same Angkor Wat book I bought from the girl earlier for only USD4! It didn't get better from there, because I heard it went to 1 dollar at one point - for the same freaking book. Oh how my wallet hurt my bum! Banteay Kdei had a relatively nice entrance, the oh-so-Bayon Buddha head figure on top on the arch. I'm not good in describing the structures, buildings, carvings etc that I saw, so I am just going to leave that out to the guide books.


Next stop, Mr Sron took me to Ta Prohm - the famous Lara Croft Tomb Raider temple. It was extremely interesting to see how the nature would seemingly try to swallow up structures build by man. The overgrowth of figs and cotton trees on top of some of these temples made them looked mysterious, as if the nature has declared their victory by conquering these structures under their roots. I think I spent a long time in this one. And after that, met up with Mr Sron at the other side or other entrance, and of we went to get some food.

Being a lone traveller, it was nice to have your tuk-tuk driver sitting and dining with you. So I basically looked after my tuk-tuk driver quite well, as he ate what I ordered. Lunch at around Angkor Wat was not cheap for Siem Reap standard. They could be charging the same tourist price as in Siem Reap but you'd be eating under the shack. Anyway, lunch was good. We had tomyam chicken and the famous amok fish. At first it looked like too much, apparently we underestimated ourselves, we managed to finish them all.

After lunch, Mr Sron took me to Ta Keo. I was glad that I had lunch, I assumed the lunch got digested quickly after the challenging climbs at Ta Keo. These steps were not made for man I thought. Why would anyone want to make such steep steps? You literaly had to clutch on the stone and steps above you to climb up. And don't get me started on climbing down. But it was a much needed long overdue exercise for me.

I decided to get back to the guest house as my camera battery would not have lasted me until sunset. However I did stop my tuk-tuk driver as we were passing Bayon. I knew Bayon was in the next day schedule but I just couldn't resist. It was just way too beautiful to miss at a 3pm sun. In fact, I had expected heavy downpour everyday before I went to Cambodia as October should be the month with the highest rainfall. But I was fortunate to have the best sunshine for my first 2 and a half days in Siem Reap.

Back to the guest house. Took half an hour to charge up the battery. Then at 4:30pm, off we went again for the sunset! I did wonder why so early. It seemed the sun set around 6pm at Cambodia, of course, local time. So the first sunset for my trip was to be seen at Phnom Bakheng, which we had to walk up a hill for a good 15-20 minutes. The steps at Phnom Bakheng at the top of the hill were no less challenging. But at 5pm, it was full of tourists already, all trying to get a good spot to sit and watch the sunset. However, the sunset was not a particular successful one. It got pitch black quickly as we walked down the hill.

Mr Sron was able to find me in among all these tourist in the dark. Then he drove me back into town, dropped me the Old Market. And the evening was all mine. Happy Hour. I picked one of the restaurant, sat down and had my Buy 1 get 1 free cokctails for USD3. What a good way to end a tiring day and quench my thirst. After some cooling down, I walked around streets in Old Market, Pub Streets. And since I left my shades back in KL, I reckoned it was best I got myself a cheap pair - so I picked one for USD3 to protect my eyes when I travelled in tuk-tuk.


Then came dinner time again. There are no shortage of really nice looking restaurants on Pubs Street. I chose a half-splurging looking one called Cambodian Soup & Real Local BBQ Restaurant. Ordered amok fish - yes, again!! And draft beer. I am ashamed now because after all the drinks - cocktails & beers - I was not able to finish my dinner. :p

After dinner, I figured my way back to the guest house without any problem. It was a well utilised first day at Siem Reap. Now I had to get up at 4am to catch the sunrise. Oh great ... I fell asleep with TV on.