April 26-30, 2025
It has been my lifelong dream to visit the ancient Angkor Wat. I have always loved seeing the ruins blending in with the nature, Seam Reap did not disappoint, and even more.
We planned a trip combining Cambodia and Laos, both countries we had never been to. Siem Reap was our first stop. Before arriving Cambodia, we did a lot of research and preparation. The followings were what most useful during the trip.
- Cambodia evisa (apply online a few weeks before arrival)
- Cambodia e-Arrival app (download & fill in before arrival)
- Loca taxi app (download & make account before arrival, taxi fee can be confirmed before and paid online after ride; taxi location can be tracked by GPS)
- Angkor-Pass app (1-day, 3-day, 7-day pass and other passes can be bought online in advance)
Our hotel (Le Water Villa) was located at downtown, about 20min drive from Siem Reap Airport. There were plenty of taxi drivers standing in front the airport, but we had already booked pickup from hotel, so immediately got picked up.
Our hotel was small but very clean and comfortable. The young guy at the check-in counter was very helpful, immediately helped us to join next day’s tour, and arranged rental bike for the next few days. The check-in guy even brought the rental bikes inside at night, and slept at lobby at night.
Since the night market and Pub Street were only 10min walk away from our hotel, we immediately walked over there for dinner. We did not choose any restaurants on Pub Street, because they were noisy and full of people. Instead, we crossed the river to a local street, ate dinner at a quiet cheap local restaurant. Locals often cooked with instant noodles, but still tasted good. My favorite dish was “morning glory leaves stir-fried with garlic”. It was available almost in every restaurant.
Also, fruit shakes were extremely popular, cheap and tasty. We can get a big fruit shake as cheap as USD 1, made with mostly tropical fruits (mango, coconut, passion fruit, dragon fruit…), ice, milk and sugar. They were very refreshing and rich favor. We usually requested for “no sugar”, so they only added a little bit condensed milk and a little milk, mostly fruits.
Angkor Wat actually consists of many Sites scattered around over large areas. They were built during different periods of time, by different kings. Each has their unique characteristics.
It was impossible to visit them all with our 3-day pass. Therefore, we chose to visit the nearby ones (Small Circuit) by a day tour, and visit the further ones (Grand Circuit and nearby areas) by rental scooter ourselves.
Indeed, the day tour was extremely very effective and fruitful. It was a group tour but only less then 10 people because of off-season. Our guide could speak good English, and he explained the historical background along the way, which made it very interesting. However, even travelling with the A/C minivan, the sight-seeing of Angkor Wat was tiring. Perhaps due to the unforgiving heat and humidity during the day. Also, even the minivan drove us from spot to spot, we still had to walk quite a distance inside each site. Although the tour provided ice-cold bottle water and wet towels, by afternoon I was already exhausted and hungry.
At the end of day tour, we visited Neak Pean which had to pass a huge rectangular reservoir, with very long bridge and lotus blooming along the way. It was beauiful.
Next day, we woke up before dawn & rode our scooter out of town, in order to see the sunrise in front of the Royal Palace. It was difficult to look for parking lot in the dark, but as soon as we got to Angkor Thom, there were already some tourists walking towards the same direction in the dark. Some people already sat in front of the south baray waiting for the daybreak. The view was indeed so peaceful and breathtaking. The garden was huge, took long time to walk to the Entrance. Inside was endless hallways and open ground, totally a maze with wall sculptures everywhere. The temple at the center was extemely tall. In the old times, monks would had to walk up narrow tilt dangerous stone stairs to the top entrance, but now there is strong stairs built on top of it. It still took like 10min just to climb up these stairs.
It was so hot and sweaty that we could only visited max. 2-3 Sites per day. By late mornings, we returned to hotel for shower, then went to restaurants or shopping until late , and returned for shower again and afternoon nap.
The downtown of Siem Reap was also full of life. We were 10min walk from the Old Market, where we bought many thin cotton clothes, which were the best solution for this extreme weather.
Also, there were many stores and cafes selling fruits and drinks. There were many high-quality yet low-priced cafes and restaurants, probably opened by foreigners. Some other nights we ate dinner in restaurants on the Pub Street, because they were higher quality. Some of them even provided traditional dance show during dinner time. The followings were our favorite restaurants and cafes:
- Amun Bar & Restaurant
- Amok Khmer Cuisine
- Maybe Later Mexican Bar & Grill
- Mex’d Up Bar and Restaurant
There were also several Outlet Shops in the downtown, selling Export -quality clothes at very good prices. As it turned out, many fashion brands actually had their clothes made in Cambodia.
Some Angkor Wat sites may take 30min, an hour one way by bike, so we could not visit many sites. But some further sites were more unique and much less people, so they were more memorable. The followings were my favorite sites:
There were actually many more interesting ones, but we simply could not visit them because they were too far away.
One day, we even walked up to the hilltop to watch sunset, among with many monks and local people. Cambodia is a Buddhist country. Many children or young men were sent to become a monk only for a limited period of time as training. They eat and play like normal people. When they grow up, they would return to society and grow their hair back.
Another day, we went for a short hike to see a waterfall, but it was dry. However, we did see some sculptures on the big rocks along the riverbed. It shows that buddha really is in their everyday life and mind.
This trip to Siem Reap was eye-opening not only because of the extensive scale of Angkor Wat, but also other amazing qualities of Cambodia environment and people nature. Despite of the extremely harsh weather, Siem Reap was surprisingly safe and relaxing, a heaven for travelling. Both the foods and shopping were much above our expectation.
We enjoyed Cambodia so much that we did not want to leave, but after enjoying breakfast at our favorite cafe, and had a really nice Mexican lunch, we headed to airport for our one-hour flight to Luang Prabang, Laos.
