Siem Reap

Siem Reap
Day 1
Wow what a journey to get here! The sleeper bus started in Sihanoukville and departed at 6pm. To begin with, this bus had ‘double beds’ if they can call it that! The beds were tiny and Lewis and I were squished all the way. Unlike other journeys we have been on, this one seemed to have limited air con too and it was so hot! To makes matters worse, we had to change buses at around 3am just as we managed to nod off. Oh the joys of sleeper buses! Well at least it got us here in one piece!

We stayed at Naga Angkor and it was only £7 a night for the room so £3.50 each. Suprisingly, it was so good! We had a private room and bathroom, air con, mini fridge and it was pretty clean. Also, in good location so all in all a great find. The first thing we did is freshen up and head out for some breakfast. We both ordered eggs and a shake. I think my smoothie obsession has increased since travelling. After, we had a stroll around to see what Siem Reap was all about. Needless to say, it seemed like such a cool place! Its weird how different all of these towns and cities are but also so similar. We decided to get a tuk tuk for £5 for 1 hour to explore Siem Reap and I bought a couple of cans of beer along for the journey. The driver took us around the quieter, less touristy places, which is always a bonus! We arrived at this beautiful temple where there were young children playing around on bikes and we got chatting to them. I adore talking to the young children here. It’s heart warming to see how happy they are and how eager they are to chat with us.

As the evening approached, we had a curry and then checked out pub street – the main street for backpackers with manh bars and clubs! The place was heaving with people and practically booming! Colourful cubes hung from up high too, which added that extra cool vibe to the place. We sat in a bar and had a beer or two and watched the world go by. When we arrived earlier, we booked a sunrise tour to Angkor Wat in the morning so we had an early night in preparation for the early start.

Day 2
3.45am wake up call! Wow I felt like I hadn’t even slept. Usually, at home, I go to sleep quite early but since being away I’ve been going to bed late so unfortunately for me, it was hard to fall asleep. Anyway, we were so excited to go and visit Angkor Wat. The tuk tuk picked us up at 4.30am and it was complete darkness. On the way, we stopped off at the ticket office. It cost around 40 dollars for a one day pass and we even had to have our pictures taken for the pass! Within 15 minutes or so, we were at Angkor Wat waiting for sunrise. We found a spot with the lake in front of us as we had seen some beautiful pictures of the temple reflecting onto the water. It did not disappoint! Around 5.30am the sky began to turn purple and then pink. It was truly magical. We stood there for around an hour and a half gazing at the sky until the sun had fully rose. If you ever go to Angkor Wat, I would definitely recommend to turn left at the lake and watch the sunrise from there. After, we walked around the Angkor Wat complex whilst taking many photos! Also, we were lucky enough to be blessed by a monk! They threw holy water at our faces as they blessed us. What an experience!

Angkor Wat is made up of many temples and the whole complex is HUGE. It was originally a Hindu temple then later transformed into a Buddhist temple. It is the largest religious momument in the whole world measuring 162.6 hectares! Therefore, we decided to hire our tuk tuk driver for the day to take us around to each temple. Again, something I would definitely reccomend. All of the temples were beautiful and full of so much culture. Most of them had monkeys running around too! We visited Angkor Thom, Bayon, Ta Prohm as well as the main Angkor Wat. The stories behind the temples were fascinating and I throughly enjoyed exploring them all. Ta Prohm was where Lara Croft was filmed, which was pretty insane! It is crazy to think that Angkor Wat is the biggest religious momument in the world!

Around 1pm, we started to crash. With only a few hours sleep, A LOT of walking in such high heat, we decided to call it a day and head back. We had pretty much seen the whole complex or at least the main temples. It was a fantastic morning and I am so glad we went for sunrise. One thing that bother me was the local children as young as 6 and 7 walking around trying to sell magnets to tourists. This broke my heart that the children had to do this. I was watching their faces when tourists turned them away and they looked so upset. No child should have to face that. We even saw one children head back to the parents shop crying and the parents looked angry. It saddened me to think that he was getting told off for not selling any.

When we arrived back, we fell asleep for a couple of hours! I never nap at home so this proved how tired I was haha. Feeling refreshed after, we headed out for some street food. Today, we ate a stall that was practically on the bike of someone’s bike, crazy! We both had beef noodles, which was so delicious. Although, we went a bit O.T.T on the hot sauce oops and it was pretty entertaining watching Lewis try to eat his!

After, we had another walk around and then headed to the umbrella street (that we had seen on instagram). It took us ages to find it – the things we do for pictures! But it was beautiful and such a hidden little photo spot. We finished the day continuing to stroll around. It was such a vibrant, busy place and very touristy but in a good sort of way. After I had my eye on them all day, I got some ice cream rolls! Mango and passionfruit was my favourite.

Day 3
After a lovely lie in, we had some breakfast at our hotel. Breakfast was also included for £3.50 each! We missed it yesterday as we were up too early so we made sure not to miss it today. It was time to get our clothes washed again at the hotel so we handed them in ready to pick up later.

We had a bit of a chill morning and lunch time: sorting our bags out, researching the next place, booking transport etc. It has to be done! It was early afternoon when we headed out. We had a mooch around some of the markets and I eyed up all of the bags and jewellery haha. I had seen a pizza happy hour deal for early evening so guess what we had for dinner? It went down a right treat! It’s crazy how much we appreciate ‘normal food’ after having Asian food for so long.

To finish off the night, we went to pub street and had a dance in one of the clubs! Some of the locals were having a right good boogie with some fab moves! We needed to take inspo from them!

Day 4
This morning, we leave for Bangkok. The plan wasn’t originally to go back there. However, the next part of our journey was the Thailand islands and it worked out easier and cheaper to get a bus to Bangkok and go to the islands from there. Here we go for another 10 hour or so journey! Getting closer to the Thai islands eeeek!

Laura and Lewis x