What to do in Siem Reap in 4 days

Then it was time to change place again, this time to Siem Reap, the city of temples. We had planned to visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom and some other temples. The sunrise and sunset at the temples should be the thing to do. 😉 

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

We had bought bus tickets from our hotel and the travel time was estimated to be about 10 hours. First we jumped in a small van that took us just a bit before we changed to a another van. Luckily this had air condition because the first one didn't and it was really hot in the van. It took about four hours to Phnom Penh where we had to change to another buss. There was a Dutch girl, Abi, in the same bus and she was also going to Siem Reap. When we arrived to Phnom Penh, we were taken to a bus station and put to a local bus. It looked like it would break down any time. Well, we had been driving for two hours but managed to get further only 50 km, and, YES, the bus broke down...😈 

Just few people on the bus could speak English and after a while we heard that it takes at least 1,5 hours before a new bus comes. Say what!!! We had been waiting already for 1,5 hours in the hot bus, and outside as well, but it was difficult to find shade. Then we heard that it would take at least another hour before the bus would come... Come on! Then a small suv backed towards us and the driver asked if we were going to Siem Reap and if we needed a lift. We asked the price and he said 10$ each and he barely finished his sentence when we said that we come with him! 😂 Then we started to fit our stuff and ourselves in the car. That was quite interesting because there were already the driver, three women and a baby and we were three with big luggage! 😅 Edda shared the front seat with one woman and Markus and Abi went back with the two others and the baby. It was only a four hour drive so it went quite well especially when Edda's seat friend didn't start to eat the worms she bought on a market where we stopped. 😅

This is how it looked inside the bus

In the evening we just checked in to our hotel and went for dinner at Artillery as it was close and we knew we would get good food from there! The funny thing with our check in was that when we came to our hotel, the receptionist asked "where is the driver"? Not welcome or something... 😂 This was because they sent an email that we should call them when we arrive so they would pick us up from Siem Reap's bus station but we had told them that we didn't have a local sim card so we couldn't call. They had called the bus company and asked when we are there and sent the driver to wait for us, but, well, we didn't arrive with the bus. 😅

The next day we just walked around and Markus tried a fish treatment. It was tickling a LOT! When the first tickling shock was over it felt quite funny. After a while we continued walking and went to and handicraft place, Artisans Angkor to see how the locals make wooden, stone and other handicrafts (mainly religious figures). They are really talented and the sculptures are very detailed. Artisans Angkor hire and teach people from poor backgrounds and also handicapped people. They can be blind, deaf or lost an arm or leg to a mine or bomb from the wars. They are supposedly paying also a relatively good salary to the handicrafters. They offer a "free" (tour guides salary depends on tipping) tour around different work shops and tell what they are doing ad briefly how they do it. 

Markus having a fish treatment

We got to try to shape soap stone

After Artisans Angkor we were hungry and Edda had checked that there would be a vegetarian restaurant close by so we went there. As we already know, Edda likes ice cream just a little bit! 😂 So, after our lunch we found an ice cream "grill" where one can buy "grilled" ice cream! All the ingredients are mixed together and it's liquid first. It's pored on the grill that freezes it and they make it to a thin layer and then make rolls with a spatula. They used real fruits and it was delicious and Edda got her daily portion of ice cream. 😅 

We found also a temple on our way back to out hotel. It was nice to walk there and there was also an interesting temple in a hole that supposedly should be a lagoon, but just the water was missing. In the evening we met our tuk-tuk driver and planned where we want to go. He was a bit all over the place but still ok. We Booked him for the next three days and the first "tour" day would include visit to a silk farm and sunset at a temple.

A bit low on water

The silk farm was a 30 minute tuk-tuk drive away from Siem Reap. We were prepared and had our buffs with us to cover our faces. There is a lot of dust and exhausts in the air so it's nice to have at least some kind of filter for breathing. The tour was in the same way "free" as at the Artisans Angkor, but we found the silk farm more interesting, and especially Edda when she is more into fabrics and clothes. At he silk farm they make everything by hand from growing silk worms to dying the yarn. We got to see silk worms munching on leaves and then growing a cocoon in a spiral-shaped wooden form. From there, the cocoons were either sun-dried or boiled. We saw how the workers spinned silk thread from the boiling cocoons. A slow and hard work! We were showed different plants and fruits that were used for dying the yarn and finally we saw people weaving silk scarves on looms and oh my gosh - that is some detailed work! The weavers use chop-sticks for the process - they wrap the silk yarn around each numbered chop-stick and put those through the warp. Every time you have to be sure you use the correct chop-stick not to ruin the pattern! And there can be over 100 chop-sticks used for one scarf!! Whoa, that is some talent!

On our way back, we stopped to the war museum. Here we got more information about Khmer Rouge, the bombings by USA, the war with Vietnam and a bit of the after match with all the landmines and other bombs. The tickets were 5 usd and included a guide. A short brief of Cambodia's nearby history: During USA-Vietnam war USA bombed both Cambodia and Laos to stop the supply lines of Viet Cong and North Vietnam army. After this Khmer Rouge made a revolution and begun the years of terror and genocide. Their leader Pol Pot attacked Vietnam and Vietnam attacked back, ended the era of Khmer Rouge and occupied Cambodia for many years. Khmer Rouge continued with guerrilla war against Vietnam and when Cambodia became free again, there was a civil war in 1997. it was relatively peaceful after 1999 but in Siem Reap, the guerrilla war continued with the lead of a loyal officer to Pol Pot until 2001 when he was assassinated. The guerrilla groups and Khmer Rouge used also child soldiers that is very sad and should not happen. War is terrible but both here in Cambodia and in Laos there legacy of war is still present whit its landmines and bombs. Only in Cambodia there have been close to 65,000 casualties and 25,000 amputees after the wars according to NGO The Halo Trust. The landmines by Khmer Rouge, Vietnam and other groups and cluster bombs by USA make the life of these people difficult and dangerous. Only around 50% of the land is cleared of the landmines and bombs.

This is a normal sign and sight in the rural areas in Cambodia, unfortunately.

Creative way of carrying mortar shells

Of course we had to eat lunch again. Now we went to a restaurant Edda had found and Abi recommended as well, and it was nice. It was a bit off the main street but we found it easy. Banlle Vegetarian Restaurant had delicious food and we were totally full after it.

Look at that huge coconut!

When our tuk-tuk driver came in the afternoon, we went to buy the ticket to the temples. One can buy a 1 day for 37$, 3 days for 62$ and 7 days for 72$. We had heard that if you buy the ticket after 5pm you can enjoy the sunset the same day and then you have the whole next day. We did that because we hadn't planned to use all our time at the temples, or rock piles as someone could say. 😉 We had talked that we don't like to go to the totally crowded spots to see the sunset so our driver told that Prae Roup is nice at sunset. We went there and it was not crowed. There were other tourists but we could walk freely and even take pictures without others! 😎 We climbed on the top of the temple and we could see a beautiful sunset. The sun went behind the jungle and its million trees.

Prae Roup in evening sun

Abi had met few girls who had been to a local restaurant the day before and they told Abi that it's good and that it's worth to visit. In the evening, Abi lead us there but she wasn't totally sure where it was and because it was far from the main roads it was quite dark. After a while we found it and it looked really cozy. It is called Mlob Home Café & Bar. It is not found online but you can find it on Google maps. We ordered food and drinks and the owner came over to have a chat with us. He was a very interesting person and he had interesting stories. He had been working in the Cambodian army and he had been escorting tourists and other people through the mine fields and protecting them from the guerrilla groups. Then he had been working in the tourist industry for years and now he has built the restaurant himself and employed poor young (teen aged) kids from his village. Even if it sounds that he employs just young people, he seems to be a really kind person. If the kid is not going to school, the kid is not getting any work at the restaurant. He has basically built the restaurant to help the poor kids and encourage them to go to school. He also taught them how to run a restaurant. Also the food was delicious! And on the final price for all three of us was about 7,5$.

Cozy Mlob Home Café

The next morning we had an early wake up. We had to wake up 4.30am and our driver was supposed to pick us up at 5am. When he wasn't there 5.05pm, Markus luckily found his number on his FB page. Markus called him and woke him up... WHAT! He just said to "wait 5 minutes". There was another tuk-tuk driver and he said that he can take us to the temples if our driver is not coming. We waited until 5.15am and jumped to his tuk-tuk but at the same time we heard someone shouting from behind, "wait wait". Our driver came. We jumped to his tuk-tuk and said that he is late and he just said "it's only 15 minutes". Well, in the morning and when going to see sunrise, 15 minutes is a long time. We drove off and after 300-400 meters the tuk-tuk shut down. He run out off gas! 😠 At this point we got quite mad. We said that we are taking another tuk-tuk and jumped of the tuk-tuk in the middle of a intersection. We got lucky, a tuk-tuk with two tourists came and we stopped them and asked if we can jump in. They looked a bit surprised. We assumed that they were also going to see the sunrise. We paid their driver 7$, which is a bit rip off, but we didn't ask the price when we jumped in and we had to get to the temples to see the sunrise.

When we got to Angkor Wat, it was already light but the sun hadn't risen yet. We went inside the temple straight away when we were allowed. We walked around and it was nice when there were not many people. We had been a bit worried when Abi had been the previous day there and she said there were a LOT of people. Well, it was weekend when she was there and we went on a Monday. We got few nice shots and then we noticed that the sun started to rise so we decided to go back outside the temple to see it.

The pools in front the temple were quite dry but we could still get an OK reflection of the temple. We were quite hungry so we decided to have breakfast at the old library. We got a breakfast box from our hotel after small problems because they had forgot that they had promised the box to us. We got some hungry friends next to us when we started eating. Two dogs came in a hope of some food from us. We were actually quite happy about it, because the dogs are usually friendly and wait for food. We had seen monkeys at the temple and they are not so friendly. They come and just take the food, so as long as the dogs are there, monkeys are probably not coming. After the breakfast we wandered around the temple for a while and saw few monks. Few of them were also in the modern smartphone era. 😂 Not the typical image of monks. 😉

Smartphone monks 😂

A more traditional picture of a praying monk at Angkor Wat

Then it was time for morning coffee and a small planning time. We had to find a new tuk-tuk driver. We hoped that there would be some nice drivers at the parking lot. We walked there and the first driver who was lying on his tuk-tuk, just said with a lazy voice "tuk-tuk" and we answered "yes". He jumped up and looked surprised. He asked "really?" Then he took us around temples to Angkor Thom, Bayon and to Ta Prohm (the tomb raider temple). The temples are amazing, interesting and stunning. We enjoyed the stone piles and took way too many photos. Our driver Mat, was always waiting for us where he said he would be. He was friendly and seemed to be reliable so we decided to ask if he could take us around the next day and he agreed. The small temple circuit costed 15$ and floating village trip planned for the next day would be 20$ .

After the temples we went to Marum for lunch and Markus took a local dish with red wood ants. They were quite sour. It was nice to try it but wouldn't maybe take it again. We had read that there is a place with miniature temples. It was close to the restaurant so we decided to check it out. Well, it was not maybe the best place we visited, but if you're next to it why not to check it out. The yard was dirty ad messy and there were miniatures of only three temples. They were made really well and it had probably taken ages to do it. We had heard that the man who had built them had passed away few years ago and the people living there now are charging 1,5$ for admission but have forgotten to take care of the place.

Crispy ants

Then it's time for food again. Yes, a lot of different restaurants and pictures in this post! This time we went to a Japanese restaurant that looked fancy. The place looked nice and we got good service. The menus were made in a weird way so it was difficult to check what you want. We found after a while what we want. The food was delicious again and we had enough of it. 

We hadn't been to the night market yet so we decided to go there. There were a lot of lights and vendors. They are selling the same same stuff as everywhere else. Edda asked about one shirt that had a label "100% cotton" that do they have it in cotton, not polyester (because that's what it obviously was). The seller said: Sorry, we don't have. 😅 Well, at least they didn't try to lie about the material. We found also some weird whisky bottles with some extra flavors (see picture below). The night market was basically just tourist stuff and souvenirs but  also a lot of lights so it looked nice. At one place they sold fish and other sea food, but luckily we had had dinner already... The fish and everything was covered with flies and everything was in the cool 27c degree evening air temperature.

"Fresh fish"

The next day, when we were having breakfast we saw Mat, our driver. Markus went to ask why he was there already. He was 45 minutes early and he just said that we should not have to wait so he wanted to be a bit early. 😊 We had planned to go to a waterfall instead of the floating village. We had read that many tourists had felt bad and uncomfortable driving around the houses with the boat. The tourists had gone a bit too close to the locals so it felt that they intruded the locals' privacy. 

The park ticket to the waterfall was 20$/person but when we heard that the ride to the waterfall was around 50$ and we didn't know what to do. We have seen a lot of waterfalls during our trip so paying 90$ for a waterfall felt a bit too much. After a long discussion we ended up going to the floating village anyway. Mat, our driver was all the time calm and tried to think where we could go and gave some ideas. He didn't get angry or frustrated when we couldn't decide where to go.

When we arrived to the Village we had to buy the boat ticket. It was 20$ each. Well, we hope at least some of the money goes to the local people. We saw that the river was really dry and boats were lying on the dry land. This floating village is Kampong Phluk and it should be less touristic than another village a bit closer to Siem Reap. When we saw the amount of tourist boats we knew that also this place is packed during high season. But now when the water level is low we didn't drive too close to the houses and it didn't feel like we intruded to the locals' homes, so if you want to come here we suggest you come during dry season. We drove on the river for a while until we came to the Tonle Sap lake. It's the biggest sweet water SE Asia. There they had floating restaurants and some fish traps. We saw on the river that all the oils, gasoline and paints are released into the water. Well, it is a poor area and the bamboo houses do not have any sewer so everything goes into the river and lake so Markus said that he would not eat any kind of sea food in Siem Reap. It was an interesting visit. On the way back to Siem Reap we saw a lot of kids in school uniforms, and then we realized that we didn't see any kids in the floating village. It probably means that they are in school and that's a good thing. The village is not exactly floating, but it is built high over ground because during rain season they can drive with their boats under the houses. Quite crazy! 😵

Here is how it looks during rain season. The picture is taken from:

angkorfocus

A heavy load of watermelons. The boat is almost under water.

We found a nice looking cafe Bloom. It's also a NGO and they teach locals to make delicious and beautiful cakes. We had to try a few, of course! 😋 After that we just enjoyed the heat at our hotel pool. It was really hot in Siem Reap the whole time. One day when we sat in a tuk-tuk, it felt like someone is blowing with a hairdryer to our faces. The wind just made the heat even worse. We haven't experienced that before, except in a sauna. 

Delicious and beautiful cupcake 

In the evening we went again to Mlob home-café with an Australian couple. The owner came to sit with us for a while and told again things about Cambodia. We talked about the NGO schools and he said it is good and bad. There are many evil persons who open NGO schools. He told that in 2016 the police had arrested around 160 pedophiles in Cambodia. Every now and then some NGO schools are revealed to be run by a pedophile. This is very sad! Some people are just evil! But most of the schools are good and help the local kids. He also told about some more funny stuff, like when he was asked to help to take care of a gay tour and he had to find all the gay clubs where to go. He told also about luxury tours he had guided when families or other groups have come with their private jet or about a difficult person in a group where it ended up so that the difficult person had his own guide separated from the rest of the group. 

Taking it easy at the pool 😉

The last day we visited a temple and it was quite weird. It looked like it would be abandoned even if it looked like someone s taking care of it. There was no-one except us and it felt spooky. In the afternoon Mat took us to the airport and then it was time for Vietnam and we hoped that it wouldn't be as hot as it was in Siem Reap. 

We got a bit worried when we saw our plane to Vietnam 😅