Siem Reap: 900 years old temples, a very authentic local market and the best Khmer food.

Whenever the alarm rings at hours like 4am, my first thought is: I don’t want this! Why do I do it? I don’t even like that… And “that” can be anything. Nothing is wow enough to leave the bed so early. Not even a huge bucket list wish like sunrise at Angkor Wat… Then I remembered the tuk-tuk driver. I met the day before, when we planned that 2 days tour through Angkor Wat, he was coming to pick me up from a village 1.5h away. He’ll wait for me a long time only to end up going back home to his 5 small kids, sad and with no money for that day … Ok… up!

Day 1:

One day before

6am : I opened my eyes. It was day outside. The bus has stopped. My whole body was in pain after a night spent on the road. The large leather reclining armchairs in the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap were great, but still far from a bed. Night buses are a popular and cheap option in SE Asia.

– Border crossing!

We left the bus and walked the few meters from Thailand to Cambodia. Outside the Immigration office where I got the visa, in a dusty crossroads, tens of tuk-tuks were waiting. We were immediately outnumbered by the tuk-tuks drivers offering rides and tours. I left with the first who came towards me. He wore a blue short sleeved shirt and a sincere smile. He grabbed my trolley before I said ok. I was too tired to protest and they all had the same price anyway. He proposed a three days tour to Angkor Wat and around Siem Reap and we had a deal.

11:30: I was in my room already. Huge place with a large bed and a big terrace with two white columns and a ratan round table and chairs, facing the dusty busy street in front. This was my home in Siem Reap for the next days.

 Across the street, Khmer Cuisine Watbo restaurant. I heard the local food was so praised and I was curious to try it. And hungry as hell.

A lady was selling green coconut in front. I took one from a bucket of ice, cold and huge, and I sat at a table outside, in the shade. It was a hot noon. I ordered a soup served in a coconut. It was dense, full of flavors, similar to Tom-Yam but much thicker and full of fish and shrimp. I paid almost nothing. I was starting to really like the country.

Tour to Angkor Wat

14:00: I met my driver and his improvised tuk-tuk. These vehicles look better in Thailand, while in Cambodia anyone with a motorbike and two handy hands can built one. The result looks like a functional improvisation. And that’s exactly how mine looked, but it did the job!

We left behind the streets of Siem Reap and I was enjoying the ride, absorbing everything with curiosity. Cambodia seemed less developed than its neighbor Thailand, but somehow this made it even more fascinating in its authenticity.

After only 30 min ride we were in the middle of a pouring rain. It took a few attempts to convince my driver to stop and a few more to get him inside the tuk-tuk with me before getting all wet. Sometimes the respect this people have for guests is too much!

We were covered by a curtain of water that turned the red soil of the road into orange rivers and orange water ponds. Buddhist monks at the back on motor bikes, under black umbrellas, people in tuk-tuks. Life has stopped like a moment frozen in time by the heavy shower dropping down from the sky.

– What season is now? I asked, already knowing the answer.

– Dry season.

We both started laughing.

My first photo in Cambodia is with me sitting on a wooden gate, on the side of the red soil road, with my feet ankle deep in the orange water of a long water pond as the last drops of rain were still falling. The sky cleared up and life restarted and so did our tour.

I wanna mention something first: when someone says they saw Angkor Wat, well, that’ll be pretty much farfetched in most cases. The complex of temples reunited under one name, the name of the main temple, Angkor Wat, spreads on 162 hectares and is the largest religious structure in the world, included in Guiness Book for that. Add to this image 72 major temples and over 1000 buildings. So what I can say is that in 2 days I saw just a part of this massive and mind-blowing site.

First temple: Preah Khan

The entrance was epic: a wide bridge of stone, with the sides showing the remains of what used to be, hundreds of years ago, two parallel rows of stone statues, now all beheaded by the harsh history. Three towers at the other end, we passed through the middle one. My head was spinning around. Surrounded by lush jungle, it looked like a passage to another time and so it was. The heavy rain before and the steam still raising up from the ground made all look so mysterious and I was thinking: Am I really here?

We stopped and continued on foot. A few small kids were playing in a water pond. The air was fresh and very humid, it smelled like wet soil and plants. In the front I saw it rising, the silhouette of the temple rising from the mist, surrounded by high trees with their tops still hidden in white clouds. I stood still, I was mind blown… I looked around as if I tried to see more, all those details. Another visitor was standing in front of the steps, as if he was under a spell. Just the three of us and the temple.

I realize now, writing this and looking at the photos, that describing Ankgor Wat is a mission impossible. All those carvings, the ornaments in stone, the columns, the imposing structures now taken over by nature with massive trees growing through stone, conquering what man once built in this land of jungle. What a thrill to see it! I was like the man before, under a spell.

My now friend guide brought be back to reality with a green coconut and something I never had before or since then: Asian Palmyra palm tree fruit – a few pieces of white gelatin sold in a small plastic bag.Very good and juicy. He went to buy it so I can have the price for locals.

After a tuk-tuk ride through a jungle road, we walked again, crossing the long wooden path over Jayatataka Baray pond, now dry, to Neak Pean temple.

We reached a large square pond, bordered by steps and surrounded by four smaller ponds. In the middle, a small circular island with a stepped base. Elephants sculptures were placed on the four corners in its glorious times, one was still standing.

As we crossed the bridge back, a local man was hand catching fish in the small water pond, the last trace of the now dried pond. “Diner”, my guide smiled. The sky was getting pink shades. It was coming: the sunset.

Pre Rup temple

From the base, those steep long steps of stone looked intimidating. Two lions carved in stone were facing the horizon at the top.

Built to honor God Shiva, the temple consists of a three-tiered pyramid-shaped structure.

From the top, views to Phnom Bok in the east and the towers of Angkor Wat in the far west. No sunset that evening, for me and the rest of visitors ending a wonderful day there.

Later that evening, when I went to sleep and I closed my eyes, the memories of the day developed fast like in a resume. What a rich day it was! And what a wealthy day was coming…

Next: second day at Angkor Wat and Siem Reap