has travelled Asia

សៀមរាប

Restless as I am I already made it to Siem Reap the very next day. This was also the first day I had contact to the police during my travel. First a journalist, who was canvassing police stations, distributing his news papers picked me up. Later when I got another hitch on a jam-packed pickup an officer nudged me with his baton to then point on a bus with it. Fortunate we were moving that time so I didn’t need to explain myself to him. After five more hitches I ended in my most exclusive ride, a taxi which two Dutch rented to go from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap at 150 km/h which is amazing down here!

Siem Reap itself is a rather small city but because of Angkor Wat very touristy and has therefore some metropolis flair. I rented a bicycle and got up at 4:30 am the next morning to see the sunrise in Ta Prohm. Actually I was unlucky with the sunrise because it was cloudy but Ta Prohm is amazing and had it all for myself – Staff and visitors came only 1.5 hrs later. And there are so many animals and noises because they didn’t restore but just left it as it was. It’s definitely my favourite! Later I went down to see Angkor Thom (incl Bayon etc), Preah Kran and for sure Angkor Wat. Having breakfast near the Bayon I saw some monkeys and went seeing them, and actually they made my day – and not Angkor. They were amazingly cute and so nice, playing with each other but also with me: pricking and biting, but so carefully it wouldn’t hurt! They also climbed me and tried to delouse my hair – they weren’t lucky (; It was great and carefully others (locals and tourists) approached. So I got to know Hester from Holland and we spent the rest of the day together, watching the monkeys and exploring Angkor.

If you wanna go to Angkor Wat: One day is enough to see the most important temples and get an idea of Angkor. But you can also easily spent a week there! Hester and I found the remnants of a circular temple in a forest and it was an impressive atmosphere there! Locals can go for free and they do so, some just for a picnic, others even live in the temple complex. But as far as I know you need the ticket only for some temples. I would therefore advise everybody to first go and get to know the location and those temples you can visit for free and only later buy a one day ticket and then do all the ‘must see’ requiring the pass.

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