Travel Notes: Angkor Wat

Why I wanted to visit Angkor Wat – I first saw the temples of Angkor Wat in the film “In the Mood for Love” (starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung). In the last three minutes of the movie, Tony Leung was in Angkor Wat “unburdening” his secret to one of its holes – “I have heard in the old days, when people want to unburden a secret, they go into the mountain and dig a hole to bury their secret there.”

I went there to unburden me of my secret. Naks, madrama.

Where we stayed: Angkor Voyage Guesthouse – It had clean, presentable twin-sharing room with air-con and TV (na may Knowledge Channel, mabuhay ang Pinoy!). It was near the Old Market of Siem Reap and the Night Market. Rate was USD 16 per night. Not bad, not bad at all.

Where we ate: There were lots of food stalls around the temples, but not to be missed were Viroth’s Restaurant and Khmer Kitchen Restaurant. We made it a point to order dishes that had “Khmer” or “Cambodia” in its name or any dish that we had no idea what was on it. Masarap naman lahat at hindi naman sumakit tyan namin.

Top 5 highlights of our Siem Reap Tour:

1. Going around the temples – Siem Reap has 290 temples and we were able to visit seven temples in one day, and that was enough to become fully amazed of the Khmer Civilisation, one of the greatest in the world.

1. Angkor Wat – the largest of all temples, not to be missed of course. 
2. Ta Phrom – the temple being eaten by the jungle, featured in Tomb Raider. 
3. Ta Keo- a temple  built out of sandstone.
4. Bayon Temple – marvel at how the 261 giant faces around the temple were carved.
5. Baphuon
6. Preah Khan –a very quiet temple because it receives very little visitors, worth dropping by if you want to get away from all those tourists.  
7. Phom Bakheng – a hill temple overlooking the whole Siem Reap including a nicer view of Tonlesap Lake.

2. Tasting Cambodian dishes – We ordered dishes that have “Khmer” or “Cambodia” in their name. And we weren’t disappointed at all and no stomachache either. We tasted a Cambodian soup, which is like a combination of Tom Yum and sinigang.  Don’t miss the amok fish dish being served at Viroth’s Restaurant.  

3. Tour around the Tonlesap Lake – This is the largest lake in South East Asia. It’s different from all the lakes that I have visited because an entire village leaves on the lake. Everything here is on water – the houses, the hospital, schools, the talyer, grocery stores, restaurants and souvenir shops. I can’t imagine myself living here though, I’d get nauseous everyday.   

4. Watching the sunset from Phom Bakheng Temple – Phom Bakheng was the last stop of our one-day tour around the temples. Phom Bakheng was a hill temple so we had to walk for 15 minutes to reach it. It was also the last stop for the day of most tourists, so there were over 100 tourists who congregated in the hill temple to watch the sunset, a nice moment to end a wonderful day.

5. Riding the tuk-tuk to go around the temples. The temples of Siem Reap are surrounded by forest so going around the temples is a breezy and cool experience. Next time I visit, I will bike around the temple, masaya yun!  

How much we spent (in Siem Reap): Air fare: Less than USD300 for a round-trip ticket, Air Asia flights from Manila to KL and Siem Reap, and back to Manila. Food – we allotted USD 15 per day for food, nabusog naman kami. Lodging: USD16 per night, twin sharing room. There are of course higher end accommodations in Siem Reap pero di kaya ng bulsa namin yun, hehe. Tours: The tour around Tonlesap Lake costs USD15, one-day pass around the temples is USD20, and USD25 for a one-day tuk-tuk ride around the temples. Travel tax and terminal fee – PhP2,250 (Clark aiport) USD25 (Siem Reap airport). 

For more info, visit these sites: 

http://www.siemreapcambodia.org/ and http://www.lonelyplanet.com/cambodia

Enjoy your trip!