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Made the bus trip up from Pnom Penh to Siem Reap, the jumping off point of touring Angkor Wat, and once again, the bus ride was interesting. This time merely Cambodian music videos and comedy shows, which isn't bad, but at full volume for 7 hours, it becomes a bit much. Exiting the bus also proved a challenge as all the westerners were greeted by about 50 touts, all screaming (literally) "come to my guest house, cheap," while jabbing flyers at you. At one point, I stopped to shove some books into my pack, I literally had to push signs for guest houses out of the way to put things into my pack.

Angkor Wat and Friends

Peter Wyant
2007-02-05 21:21:14

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Made the bus trip up from Pnom Penh to Siem Reap, the jumping off point of touring Angkor Wat, and once again, the bus ride was interesting. This time merely Cambodian music videos and comedy shows, which isn't bad, but at full volume for 7 hours, it becomes a bit much. Exiting the bus also proved a challenge as all the westerners were greeted by about 50 touts, all screaming (literally) "come to my guest house, cheap," while jabbing flyers at you. At one point, I stopped to shove some books into my pack, I literally had to push signs for guest houses out of the way to put things into my pack. The only thing I could do was laugh at the absurdity of the situation, it was quickly sorted out and I was off with some friends on a Siem Reap Moto, which is a two wheeled covered trailer pulled behind a moped. After booking a room, a group of us made plans to head to Angkor Wat the next morning at 8:00 am. However, we then proceeded to go out a little bit too late, so began the day with some serious bags under the eyes, but nothing a greasy breakfast and coffee couldn't clear up.

From the 9th century to the 12th century an empire ruled from modern-day Cambodia, with the capitol city near modern day Siem Reap. This empire was massive spreading across most of Southeast Asia, including all of modern-day Thailand, Laos and Southern Vietnam. As the empire declinged, the sacking of the capitol convinced the emperor to move to a quieter neighborhood. Before the move, various emperors left their mark by going on a building binge, which has left ruined temples and walls spread out over a several hundred square miles. Interestingly, the city was truly abandoned, and after the move nobody stayed in the area. Locals thought it was an area haunted by evil spirits and stayed away, it was until the early 20th century that the French colonialists stumbled upon it while hacking through the jungle and began clearing out the area. The scale of the buildings is jaw dropping, purely ...