Since we only spent a week in Cambodia, it is hard to give an overall impression of the country, however, I’d like to talk about the things we did do a little bit.
We spent our entire time in Siem Reap, as we wanted to see Angkor Wat – the biggest temple complex in the world. Before I dive into that, I wanted to mention that we were really surprised when we arrived there and you could literally pay with USD anywhere – they even favoured it over the Cambodian riel when it comes to bigger payments and in some shops, on the street though, you typically get a better rate paying in riel. So, when visiting Cambodia, make sure you have some USD with you, but I would still change some money to the local currency for your day-to-day payments.
Visiting Angkor Wat
This huge temple complex is truly amazing and has a lot of different places to offer, among others the shooting site of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. We went there with a tuktuk driver only, so we did not have a guide during our time in the temples, which is fine, but if you want to know more about the background, I’d recommend getting a tour guide. There are actually a lot of them standing at the entry of some of the temples, and we saw many groups being guided in a wide variety of languages, so finding someone should be rather easy. What put us off asking someone is the price. A 1-day entry ticket to Angkor Wat is 37$/person, so pair that with the tuktuk driver, who wasn’t cheap either, we were already way over budget, which had hit us by surprise, as we thought, Cambodia would be cheap.
Tonle Sap lake and the floating village
Another thing I wanted to see was the Tonle Sap lake. When we arrived in Cambodia, we got told, that it’s not worth seeing this time of the year, as we were there in the middle of the dry season (late March). Thus, the lake had little water and the floating villages aren’t floating. However, we decided to still go and it was definitely worth it. We booked our tour online with a company and therefore had a guide with us, who showed us a local market (so many dead fish, no good for hardcore vegetarians or people with a weak stomach, interesting to see though), a at-the-moment-not-floating floating village (you could still see an authentic way of life there and the people are very nice) and finally the lake itself by boat, which was a little adventure, as the boat gave up on the way back and we had to be pulled by another boat to make it back to the bus.
Siem Reap itself
Staying in Siem Reap our days were mainly focused on food. So naturally, we found the street with the cheapest food (which is here) and enjoyed going there for almost all meals. Apart from that, there is a nice night market there. We found the better-known Pub Street to be overpriced and way to loud and busy to enjoy, but that is obviously just our preference. In the area, you will be offered Marijuana, so be careful, what you say yes too (funnily enough, only David got it offered to him or maybe I just have really bad hearing, who knows).
Overall, we had a good time exploring Siem Reap, I would recommend going there during a less hot time of the year, such as winter or late autumn, just after the raining season is over.
What do you think? Would you like to explore the temples of Angkor Wat? Or go to a floating village, even if its not floating at the moment? Let us know in the comments below!
xxx
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