Siem Reap, Angkor Wat and surrounding...
Mid-North Cambodia on the northern edge of the Tonle Sap River

October 28 - November 07, 2003

Siem Reap

We arrived in Siem Reap by ferry. We took the ferry from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It was 6.5 hours and $22 each. See here for pictures of our boat trip up the beautiful Tonle Sap.

The translation of Siem Reap is interesting. Siem means 'Siam', as in Thai, and Reap means 'where they got their asses kicked'. Siem Reap is apparently where the Khmer held the decisive battle that repelled the Thai incursion.

There's simply too much to cover in one page. I've included links to the various sections based on what day we did them. I'll not go too much into the history, but try to give a little about what I've learned. There are plenty of books, videos and other information out there for those whose interest is truly piqued.

First of all, what we generally refer to as Angkor Wat is only one of many temples, monuments, and ruins in the area around Siem Reap. Angkor Wat is the largest religious construction made of stone in the world. Angkor literally means Capitol or holy city. Angkor is currently used to refer to the Capitol city of the Khmer Empire that existed between the 9th and 12th centuries, as well as to the Khmer Empire itself. 

When you buy a pass to the park, you get access to 10 separate groups of places you can visit, and each group has between 1 and 10 separate sites. The entire area is 200 square kilometers. There is much to see, and you shouldn't plan on walking to each site. We hired motor bikes, but other people were doing the sites on bicycle. The farthest we journeyed was to Kbal Spean, about 50km from Siem Reap. We did see one bicycle tourist on the way out. 50k out, a 1 hour hike and 50k back: nice hike, but a hell of a day.

A word about costs.... Siem Reap is in a prime spot for a huge, booming tourist industry. So far this is the most expensive place we've been in SE Asia. The local currency is the US Dollar, with small change being made in Riel. $0.20 is about 800 riel. We stayed at the Savy Guest House for $6 a night, which is quite reasonable, but our average meal for two in town is $8.

It is possible to spend $500 a night on a room in Siem Reap. The people here are not strangers to foreigners, and we're all rich. There is no shortage of beggars, or kids selling postcards and asking for a dollar. When a third world economy sees the type of money that can come through for a week, spend $500 a night on a room, eat $50 meals, and get plenty of "massages" while they're here, they're bound to feel a bit out of sync, and also to be given a slightly skewed perspective of foreigners. There are also a number of foreigners here with NGOs, and that seems to help.

Tickets to the park cost $20 a day, or $40 for three days. You will need to give them a passport or visa size picture, or they have a facility there that can take it. (I think it's free...)

Siem Reap has been a very enjoyable town, with decent food, great service, and a comfortable, slower pace of life. I'm led to believe that there is a hell of nightlife here. In the park yesterday I had a police officer offer to sell me his badge for a souvenir and then offered to sell me marijuana, because "the salary in Cambodia is no good, so it is no problem for me." We were subsequently offered badges by multiple other police officers inside the complex, so it was apparently not an uncommon thing. I wonder who is producing these badges, and what they think about the consumption of badges in Siem Reap. Later the same evening I walked half a block from the internet cafe to the side road down to our Guest House and I was offered taxi's 10 times, marijuana 5 times and girls 3 times. Some kinda party town when the cops don't care....

Angkor Temples

So here's our Itinerary separated out by day. Our "Day 1" actually started at 5pm the evening before. If you buy a pass at 5pm, they let you in for the rest of that day and you can go climb Phnom Bakheng (or ride the $15 elephant to the top) to see the sunset. It's quite popular and actually quite worth it. It's a nice intro to the area, we were blessed with a lovely sunset, and you'll get your first view of Angkor Wat on the way.

We also went to the local War Museum and the Landmine Museum.

After the sunset hike we went to see traditional Khmer dancing. The first image is Apsara dancing, followed by a dance with a monkey warrior. The last image was hilarious: as the dancers finished and everyone was clapping the Japanese tourists were waiting in the wings, and as the clapping died down they all rushed up on stage to have their pictures taken with the dancers. The dancers stood there patiently, and soon the rest of the tourists ran up on to the stage as well. Kath and I headed for the door...

You think your gas prices are bad? Try this!
(actually it works out to about $0.40 - $0.60 a litre, which is still pretty expensive...)
(This is for Grandma Crawford because she's always asking me the price of gas. ~ Kathy)

Wild monkeys roam the park and keep an eye out for tourists with bananas or other snacks.
(This is for Grandma, too, because everybody knows my Grandma loves monkeys!)

A couple of local monks walking down a side street...

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Copyright 2003, Dana M. Brash. All Rights Reserved.