Our first encounter with Cambodia was the little town of Siem Reap in the North of the country, home to the mother of all temples, the mighty Angkor Wat. Even before visiting the temples, we fell in love with the atmosphere of this place. Siem Reap is the hip, young and cool place to be in Cambodia, full of cool bars and restaurants with an amazing vibe… You will love it!
What did we visit?
Temples of Angkor
Eager to see the so famously spoken off temples, we rented our favourite mode of transport – e-bikes – as of the first day and started exploring the many temples of Angkor surrounding the village. Each temple was more beautiful than the previous one; each with a different story and different design but all of an incredible sophistication and level of detail. We kept the most beautiful temple for last, the temple of Angkor Wat, one of the most impressive temples we have ever seen (and we have seen many!). Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and it took 30 years to build! It is the pride and the symbol of Cambodia, even appearing on its national flag.
The temples of Angkor are an incredible testimony to the wealth and power of the ancient Khmer empire, home to more than one million people, at a time when most European capitals were still only small peasant fortifications!! We spent 3 full days admiring the beauty of the temples and the detail of the stone carvings.
Where to stay?
- Lub’d hostel: this place represents the future of hostels! 4 star rooms, an outdoor pool with its weekly pool parties, an amazing bar which organises games and activities and a great restaurant – all at an affordable price!
Our favorite mode of transport
- Green e-bike rental place (on Central Market): we HIGHLY recommend visiting the temples of Angkor with an e-bike instead of renting a car or taking a taxi in between each temple. This way you are free to go wherever and whenever you want, AND it’s better for Mother Nature 🙂
Trees growing on top of the ruins in Angkor
The city is surrounded by different gates which were used to enter the city
We had to climb on some of the ruins to get a better view
Jean taking the climbing to the next level
Another gate
Inside the ruins we discovered old wall carvings – so beautiful
Jean finding the most remote spots – trees are literally growing out of the ruins!
Taking a break
Some of the temples were built on the water
Lookup to this strange nature, with two particularly strange trees on the left and on the right
Had to cross some lakes like this one to see the temples built on the water
Monks looking for some cover under the trees from the scorching heat
Here it is – the mighty Angkor Wat
The stone carvings inside – an incredible level of detail…
… and so well preserved!
DYING of heat
One of the many internal squared of Angkor Wat – this place is huge!
Taking cover from the heat – it was surprisingly fresh inside!
The temple of Bayon with the many faces – thinking this might be where the Game of Thrones produces got some inspiration…
This place was insane – huge stone faces everywhere we looked – like they were looking straight at us!
As always, our favourite ever trusted tourguide 🙂