Visiting the Temples of Angkor

February 12, 2017 Kelly

We spent 4 days in Siem Reap to check out Angkor Wat and the other temples in the area. After our few days of temple hopping in Bagan, Myanmar, our favorite stop of the trip to date, we were excited to see what the famous temples in Cambodia had to offer.

The best way to get around the temples is by tuk tuk (pictured below). It cost us about $20 USD per day to hire someone to take us around. Before we arrived, we thought we might bike or even walk to some temples but it was HOT and tuk tuk emerged as the best, most comfortable option. Our driver even brought a cooler filled with cold water for us to drink throughout the day!

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is the most famous of Cambodia’s temples. It’s the biggest religious monument ever built and is absolutely beautiful. We came to see it at sunrise and during the day; it was really special both times.

*Posing in front of Angkor Wat and the reflection pool.*

*Everything we know about Angkor Wat we learned from our self-guided Lonely Planet tour. Here, John’s reading to us about the carvings on the wall.*

*Monks posing for a photo in front of Angkor Wat. They’re just like us!*

Bayon

Bayon was our favorite of the temples we saw. It has 216 faces carved into the temple, making it really unique. Rumor has it the king had the faces built so that outlying villages would know the kingdom had an eye on them.

*One of the many faces of Bayon Temple.*

*John posing under the central tower of Bayon Temple.*

Ta Phrom

Our other favorite temple was Ta Phrom, made famous by the movie Tomb Raider (which I’ve never actually seen but am even more interested in now)! It’s covered in trees that seem to be taking over the temple. It gives you an idea of how powerful nature is, taking over giant manmade structures with seemingly little effort.

*Posing with Jen in front of a tree at Ta Phrom.*

*We loved Ta Phrom so much we went back for a second visit!*

Banteay Srey

Banteay Srey is about a 45 minute tuk tuk ride from the rest of the temples in the Angkor complex, but the drive is scenic and the temple is really beautiful. It’s known for having the most intricate carvings of any of the temples in the area. Some archaeologists and historians think it must have been built by women because of how delicate some of the artwork is. We also loved that there is a really nice walking path and a lake around the temple here.

*Posing under a beautiful carved doorway.*

*Close up of the carvings at Banteay Srey.*

*The view from the walking path around Banteay Srey.*

Other Temples

We also visited a handful of smaller temples around the area, including Preah Khan and Ta Som. There are over 1,000 temples in the Angkor complex in various states of repair, so there is a lot to see. We stuck to the biggest temples with a smattering of smaller ones thrown in, but the big ones are popular for a reason; they are really unique and well-preserved.

*Hanging out at Ta Som, one of the really nice less popular temples.*

Siem Reap

Siem Reap, the jumping-off point for any adventure to the Angkor temples, is absolutely a backpacker town. There are lots of cheap hotels and budget restaurants and “pub street” comes alive at night, pumping club music out into the neon-lit street.

When we weren’t temple-hopping, we enjoyed taking in Siem Reap. We loved lounging by our hotel pool, checking out some of the local restaurants (including a few that offer job training to at-risk villagers), shopping, and getting these bizarre fish pedicures!

*For $2, you can have fish eat the dead skin off your feet (and get a free beer)! This was a very weird experience.*

Our 4 days in the Siem Reap area (3 of which we spent exploring the temples) definitely felt like enough time see the main sights and didn’t leave us feeling like we had missed out on anything. If you’re a major history or archaeology lover it would be possible to spend more time here and see additional temples, but we felt happy with the length of our visit.

We wish we had gotten to see more of Cambodia – we have heard good things about Phnom Penh, the capital city, and would have liked to make it to some of the beaches which are supposed to be fabulous. However, we’ve had to make tough choices all along about where to spend our time and ultimately decided to move on from Southeast Asia in favor of some other parts of the world. Up next – coverage from our time in Sri Lanka!