Temple trekking starts now! — Siem Reap, Cambodia
Where I stayed
Gloria Angkor Hotel Siem Reap
Gloria Angkor Hotel Siem Reap
I originally wanted to visit the temples in chronological order of when they were built, but time and logistics limitations made this a bit impractical.
So the plan was to visit the temples away from the main Angkor Archaelogical Park area first, then work my way towards the major sites of Angkor Thom and Angkor Way.
The day started with the Rolous Group of temples, about 15km away from main Angkor site. This was the site of the first capital city of the fledgling Angkorian empire from the 9th century.
Preah Ko and Lolei were almost identical in form and design, and Bakong was the very first temple mountain.
I noted some design elements already present, which were carried over to all future temple mounts: moats surrounding the temple to represent the ocean, 5 levels with each successive level getting narrower, apsara,naga, and other motifs for decoration.
1.5 hour tuk tuk ride later, I arrived at Beng Mealea. This temple is unique in the fact it has thus far been purposely left unrestored. As such, visitors would climb on and off fallen sandstones to get into hidden galleries, couryards, and dried up lakes. It was like a playground for adults!
The guide was relatively expensive, but I would never figure out my way around the piles of rocks without him, so I think it was still worth the price.
Lunch followed at an overpriced restaurant just outside the entrance. Not much choice here unless I wait 2 hours to get back to Siem Reap city, and even then it is still usually more expensive than Phnom Penh. I miss Phnom Penh prices!
Returning to Siem Reap in the afternoon, I visited the 3 most significant temples in Siem Reap: Wat Bo (literally "old temple") was the first Buddhist temple in the city, then Wat Damnak, and Wat Prom Rath.
Before the end of the day, I asked my driver to take me 10km south of town to Phnom Krom, a hill temple at the each of Tonle Sap Lake.
While the temple was somewhat interesting, the main purpose was the sunset.
Unfortunately, the clouds followed me south, so I was not able to see the actual sun, but all was not lost. There were breaks in the clouds which allowed me to catch some twilight colours over the lake and floating villages.
Finally, after sunset, I went back to town and had some high class Khmer cuisine at Amok Restaurant. Obviously, I had to order the amok fish! Amok is similar to Thai curry, but not as spicy, and more delicate due to a lot of spices used, a distinguishing feature of Cambodian cuisine.
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