We arrived in Siem Reap !!!! First city of Cambodia !!! wooo wooo !!! We walk through one of the main streets in search of accommodation, the city is a hive, people everywhere and tuk-tuks heavy! We asked in several places, the rooms are either too expensive or too dirty … we finally found a great place !!! Day Star Hotel. For 7 dollars we rent a clean, modern room with a bathtub !!! Above, we had air conditioning until they noticed and lowered the differential from the reception … The receptionist was quite strange … a little unpleasant, and we always tried to sell a tour or tickets for anything … very heavy.

Inspecting the center of the city we saw that it did not have much appeal. The walk by the river is of colonial style, like some buildings more. The most peripheral areas are more local and you can see Cambodia a little better, although Siem Reap is the most visited city in Cambodia thanks to the ruins of the Angkor temples … so this city has nothing to do with the rest of the country.

Here we can find supermarkets in almost every corner, western restaurants, or the typical Cambodian dishes, such as Amok, Lok Lak, Khmer curry or Lap Khmer soup, well listed so that the tourist does not have a hard time understanding it …

A tourist attraction are the performances of the Phare social circus Ponleu Selpak. As we were going to collaborate with them in Battambang we asked them to give us tickets to see a circus show. We were able to attend the Sokha show, an artistic vision of the biography of one of the founders of Phare. This work shows the suffering of a dancer during the horror of the Khmer Rouge and their liberation through art. It was very beautiful and inspiring, a mix of dance, acrobatic circus, trapeze and juggling.

For lunch, we found our little corner in a small local food restaurant called Sita Sousday. It has simple but good and cheap dishes, between 4000 and 6000 rails (1-1.5 dollars). It was also our work office for a couple of days.

We also went to dinner at Star Rise restaurant, which we had read in some blogs that made the best Amok in Siem Reap. It cost us 2.5 dollars and it was great! The only problem was that during dinner we had to put our feet on the bar of the legs of the table because certain rodents were running around … And as an alternative to local food, at the pizzeria Sata Ankor & Pizza Roma made a 2×1 , so the pizza went for 4 dollars, and it was very good!

But to Siem Reap you come to what is coming … The city of the temples of Angkor Thom !!! Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992. That is why this city is shaped for tourism. The price is quite high, one day costs 37 dollars, three days 62 dollars and the whole week 72 dollars. We took a single day to save … and maybe three days we would have had enough … I’m sorry but we’re like that … We rent bikes for 1 dollar each to make the visit. And at 8 am we jump on the road towards Ankor.

We had read that the ticket offices are not in the temple, so we looked at the map and there we went. After 4 km we arrived … but it was not there, the ticket offices were where Pedro lost his mother … 3 km of the road already done and 2 km to the right … uff, this was not going to be easy, both km with a rusty Dutch urban bike … this was not going to be easy … Finally we got to the box office !! A large building full of tourists … The administration of the temples of Ankor has been given to a South Korean company and for that reason the ticket offices are centralized and set apart in a modern building, to control every dollar that is entered, and to avoid the common Cambodian corruption …

Once with the tickets, come, to pedal the 11 km we have to the first temple, the Ta Prom, where Tom Raider was shot … The temples of Ankor were discovered by a French botanist, named Henri Mouhot, who, in the second half of the nineteenth century. We made the following tour: Ta Prom, Bayon, Baphon and Ankor Wat. In this way we visited the most emblematic temples, and on the way we could stop at others of less importance.

– Ta Prom: Temple of the late twelfth century Bayon style, the last “great period” of Khmer architecture. Originally called Rajavihara (“royal monastery”), the temple served as a monastery and Buddhist university for Mahayan monks. Unlike the rest of the temples, due to their beauty, the French did not eliminate the signs of colonization of the jungle over the temple. The roots inserted in the architecture is incredible, prominent roots falling down the stone walls, huge trees, but really huge, coexist with the construction stone, one of the most beautiful images we have seen, as nature shows its majesty without excluding human creation.

– Bayon: it is a Buddhist temple built at the end of the 12th century, it was finished during the reign of Jayavarman VII. It is known for its 54 towers and about 200 enigmatic faces, faces that belong to the king who had it built. Touring its towers and corridors do not stop seeing faces everywhere, there is no corner where you do not feel observed, it is disturbing … In addition, the stone worn by time, worked in every span, is like being in another world, a place that invites to release the imagination.

– Baphuon: immense pyramidal mountain temple with five floors and about 25 meters high, which represents Mount Meru and was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. It was built in the 11th century under the rule of King Udayadityavarman II. It is an archetype of the Baphuon style. The temple had a first Hindu period and a second Buddhist. Imposing temple with a long entrance gateway, endless stairs that lead you to crown a temple with beautiful views … a pass of place .. and surrounded by imposing jungle.

          

– Angkor Wat: it is the largest Hindu temple and also the best preserved of those that make up the settlement of Angkor. Initially dedicated to the god Vishnu It was built in the 12th century by order of Suryavarman II. It was the political and religious center of the empire, as main temple and royal palace. It is considered as the largest religious structure ever built and one of the most important archaeological treasures in the world.

And after enjoying one of the main wonders of the world … we leave Siem Reap, the western oasis for the enjoyment of the temples of Ankor, a spot for tourists in Cambodia. We head to Battambang, one of the largest cities in Cambodia where we expect a magnificent experience in the Phare social circus Ponleu Selpak.

The bus from Siem Reap to Battambang cost us $ 5 and we took it from the Capitol company, its station is a bit far from downtown. so there we go … See you in Battambang !!!!