Siem Reap itinerary (temples and ruins)

The temple and city complexes of the Khmer kings tend to get clumped together in public consciousness as Angkor Wat, though there is far more to see than just that famous behemoth. And seriously, although you will suffer temple fatigue after a while, there is a lot to be said for taking your time to explore the greater area beyond the Big (Grand) and Small (Petit) circuits of the central Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom complexes. And this means setting aside 3-5 days and forking out for a 3-day pass. Although my guide book says the days must run consecutively, I think that it is possible (perhaps with a higher cost) to buy a 3-day pass for non-consecutive days. A great way to enjoy "Angkor" to the maximum and be kind to your senses and feet!

Here is my itinerary with a glimpse of what I saw. The photos are all organised in a similar way on Shutterfly. The links here are to the Lonely Planet website. I used the tuk-tuk driver who took me from the bus drop-off in Siem Reap to the hotel. I didn't really haggle with him, so over the three days I paid $15, $30 (?) and $20. Maybe I could have got it cheaper, but he was reliable, friendly, and like so many Cambodians spoke English well. The lunch stops he took me to were well-priced and he was just happy to have the work.

Day 1:
Angkor Wat For a long time now I have wanted to come to Angkor Wat - meaning the gigantic temple complex of that name as well as having a more amorphous idea of other temples. Finally here I was, taking in the immensity of it all and feeling ... well, for some reason a little bit underwhelmed by it!

I'm not saying don't go, and I'm not saying you won't appreciate the architecture, art and scale of it. Angkor Wat really is top of the list. I think maybe it's just that I didn't find it to be breath-taking in the manner I had anticipated.

Bayon is where all those faces are looking down on you and out on the world. This was the second place on my itinerary and the start of a personal feeling of incredulity that we are permitted to tramp all over most of this irreplaceable heritage. Can you do that to other major architectural historical sites around the world?

Baphuon is a great example of how life can interrupt art. It was under a full-scale restoration, which had commenced by pulling the entire temple apart (the anastylosis method) and recording how each piece fitted together, when the civil war of the mid-1970s forced the team out of the country and led to all documentation being destroyed. Now, amazingly, the restoration is almost complete.


Thommanon, Waterwheel and Chau Say Tevada
Thommanon is a small temple, and is one of the places that I liked immediately. There are a few buildings with some fine stone carvings set in a grove of trees. Nearby is a large waterwheel. Chau Say Tevada is a companion temple to Thommanon although in worse repair.


Ta Keo is a very different structure to many of the Angkor temples because it was not finished, and so does not have the stone carvings found at most other temples. It is a steep but rewarding climb to the top to reach the central tower and has some good views over the land around.


Ta Prohm is different again because a lot of the jungle remains, although discreetly trimmed back . A great place to imagine you are re-discovering the temples! Ta Prohm also featured in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.



Banteay Kdei and Sra Srang. I came to Sra Srang twice: at the end of the first day and then again at about 5am the next morning to wait for the sunrise. A peaceful place and a good alternative to battling the crowds wanting to see sunrise at Angkor Wat, especially on a cloudy morning. The pool allowed for some fantastic reflections and amplifications of the light.

Day 2:
Kbal Spean is a unique piece of architecture because it is not a building, but instead a natural temple created by carving directly into the rock beds and boulders of a stream. A long trip from Siem Reap, I combined it with sunrise at Sra Srang and made it to Kbal Spean for breakfast at about 7.30am. We set out so early that I was the first visitor to arrive. From the parking and restaurant area it is an uphill walk for about 45 minutes to reach the carvings that start at a bridge across the stream and then work back down the stream to a waterfall.

Banteay Srei - another favourite place for the carvings and the use of pink sandstone, Banteay Srei is also unusual because it is all very low to the ground. There are no towers or enormous platforms supporting the structures here.

Cambodia Land Mines Museum (see Museums: Cambodia)






Eastern Mebon












Ta Som and Pre Rup













Day 3:
Preah Khan and Preah Neak Pean
Preah Khan was one of those places where I just kept taking photographs. It is one of the largest complexes - one reason for the photo-overdrive - but it also has many corridors and great carvings.

Nearby is Preah Neak Pean a small temple which consists mainly of five square pools. I was lucky enough to arrive when the water was still and again benefited from using the water as a mirror.

Preah Ko, Bakong and Lolei are known as the Roulos group of temples and are some of the oldest large, permanent temples built by the Khmers. During my visit to Preah Ko and Bakong I met with a local man who works on the restoration of these temples. He showed me some of the work that he has been doing in replacing bricks and some carved stonework as well as the materials that are used to create the mortar, in the same fashion as was used originally.

Kompong Phhluk and Tonle Sap (see Water - in more than form!)

Water - in more than one form!

I travelled to Cambodia - without knowing about it - on the last day of the Water Festival, only learning about it through some eavesdropping on the bus from Ho Chi Minh City. Over the three days of the festival the population of Phnom Penh, usually about 2 million, can double with visitors drawn to the major event of boat races on the Tonle Sap River. The races are in honour of the twelfth century Khmer naval victories achieved under King Jayavarman VII, but the event also marks the return of the normal flow (into the Mekong) of the Tonle Sap river, and the draining of the Tonle Sap lake.

In the afternoon of my first day in Cambodia I got dropped off in the riverside area by a tuk-tuk driver. It was impossible to drive all the way in because of vehicles and people everywhere. As I wandered along the riverbank, with no particular destination in mind, I got into conversation with a young guy who had come into Phnom Penh for the festivities from his home town back out on the National Highway 1 towards Vietnam. While we were talking the skies darkened and we experienced the water festival in a different way, as storms from a typhoon that had crossed Vietnam earlier arrived. The deluge persisted for hours into the evening, and we were effectively trapped under the awning of a temporary food stall, continually tipping water off the roof so that the structure didn't collapse.

Finally, I figured that I would have to make a break for it, regardless of getting soaked (again), and experienced the interesting situation of tuk-tuk and moto-drivers not knowing the city outside the tourist areas very well! (The second time this happened I had a better idea of which direction to go than the moto driver!)

While in Siem Reap I visited the waterways leading into the Tonle Sap lake near Kompong Phhluk village. At the time of this visit, the water of the lake was still high as the flow out and into the Mekong had just resumed, but when the water is lower it is possible to see the flooded forest . Although our boat was nominally under the command of an adult, his two young sons took the wheel for the first part of the journey along the channels into the floating village (actually mainly built on stilts).

Beyond the village is the wide expanse of the Tonle Sap - really an inland sea at this time with depths of up to 9m. The dry season depth is only 1m. There are some photos on Peace of Angkor website which show how high the houses have to be to cope with the differences in water level - truly astounding!

Phnom Penh: Tuol Sleng

It's too easy in Vietnam and Cambodia to be aware only of the present time; the recent prosperity (for some), the relative invisibility of the poor (the majority); the similarities to our own 'home' environments with the local twist. It's too easy to let slip away an appreciation of how recent these things are, and a recognition that these societies were in very different circumstances not so long ago.

Tuol Sleng Museum - Security Prison-21 in the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge regime - is a difficult place to visit. It's quietness and ordinariness don't prepare you at all.

You arrive with only an academic understanding of the horrors that took place here. But within minutes of glancing, even walking into the detention rooms of Building A you feel heavy with the souls of the tortured and dead. This feeling stays and stays... as you look bleakly at the rooms and rooms of photographs of inmates or contemplate the schoolrooms turned into tiny, dark cells.

Perhaps this was not the best place to start a holiday, and it certainly is not a place to consider visiting lightly, but I think, however dark its history and presence, that what Tuol Sleng Museum preserves is necessary for an awareness of what people have been capable of doing to each other. The personal recollections of a Danish man who visited Democratic Kampuchea between 1975 and 1979 as well as his later reflections on what he believed he was being shown and the photographic record, are a strong lesson about the dangers of political idealism detached from social conscience.

Blogger's block :(

It seems an age since I was journeying in Cambodia and the north of Vietnam. Each week since returning to Vung Tau in the last week of November I promise myself that I will write here about what I've seen ... Each time that I don't makes it more difficult to get started. And the intensity of teaching life - concentrated weekends and marathon sessions preparing - is warping my perceptions of time. The last 3 weeks seem to have had no beginning that I can recall.

So ...

at what points in time and space did my travels begin and end? My route proper began in Ho Chi Minh City on 2 November. I travelled by bus to Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, through the Ba Vet-Moc Bai immigration posts just to the south-west of Tay Ninh, and arrived in Phnom Penh for the last day of the water festival. I stayed in the city for two days before travelling on by bus to Siem Reap, and the ancient Khmer temple complexes, of which Angkor Wat is the most famous. I stayed for a total of five days/nights and then flew to Hanoi, arriving in the evening of 10 November.

At this point all pre-arranged plans ceased. I knew only that I wanted to go to Sapa in the northern Hoang Lien Son mountains close to China, and that I expected to catch up with some of the teachers who used to work at ILA in Vung Tau. Beyond that my objective was to focus on visiting places that I hadn't been to before.

Hanoi wound up becoming a base. I travelled up the Red River to Lao Cai (closest town to Sapa with a railway station) by overnight soft sleeper, after two days and nights in Hanoi, on a tour that included one night in a hotel and one night home-stay in a Hmong village. After returning to Hanoi by train (again overnight) I decided to pack a small bag and travel 100km south on National Highway 1 to Ninh Binh. This area of Vietnam is dominated by limestone karst mountains similar to Ha Long Bay and features the Tam Coc caves as well as the Hoa Lu ancient citadel. It's possible to fit all this into a one-day tour - and I used this as a means of transportation to reach Ninh Binh. However, I wanted to take my time and also to arrange a trip to Cuc Phuong National Park. So I stayed in Ninh Binh for two nights before returning to Hanoi once again, from where I then set out by overnight train to Hue. And eventually back to Vung Tau via a plane to Ho Chi Minh City on 24 November.

The hyperlinks I've put here are to Wikipedia entries. I've organised my photos on Shutterfly to roughly follow the itinerary that is set out here.


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