Cambodia - Siem Reap

Siem Reap is the second largest city in Cambodia. It is the gateway to the Angkor ruins of the Khmer Kingdom from the 9th to 15th centuries. We arrived on December 16th. 

How did we get here? OMG! It was hysterical. We were both already stressing about traveling to a new country. Rob downloaded the Grab app (similar to Uber/Lyft) ahead of time as that is supposedly the best way to order a taxi.  Well, we check out early and want to be out front when he attempts the app. First attempt fails. Can you imagine the language being used? Just sayin.  Second attempt sort of works. He says a Honda is picking us up. Imagine the look on both of our faces when the "Honda" turns out to be a motorbike. Secretly I am rolling on the ground.

It gets better. The third attempt works. Oh wait. It didn't. Seems there are no taxis in the area. The language has gotten so much better, lol. Luckily there is a van sitting out front of the hotel. I think they just dropped off the couple that was checking in as we were leaving. The driver noticed us wheeling our bags and offered to take us to the airport for a whole 200 baht ($5.72). Yes please! It keeps getting better... We arrive at the airport and our flight is delayed by 45 minutes. Ordinarily no big deal except our connecting flight is scheduled to leave about the same time as our arrival. Luckily we were at the very front of the plane. All we had to do was be the first ones off ✔,  run from the domestic terminal to the international terminal (where we weren't sure where it was) ✔, go through one passport check point frantically trying to find our electronic boarding passes ✔, go through an Immigration exit station ✔, race to and find our gate at the very end of the airport! ✔,  scan our boarding passes and make it onto the shuttle seconds before it is leaving for the plane. Pretty sure we never would have made the flight if we had check-in luggage.

First flight from Krabi

Boarding second flight

Our first view of Cambodia

Once we arrived in Siem Reap we now had to go through Customs. First person took our passports and sent us to a second person. The second person took our money and waved us away.  We watched 👀 our passports being passed to probably 8 different men sitting side-by-side before finally given back to us at the end of the line. Luckily, we were the first ones off the plane and "breezed" right through at the speed of government. Next we had to clear Customs who took our photos and fingerprints and stapled a piece of paper to our Cambodia passport page.

Our hotel sent a driver to pick us up from the airport. Sweet! 

Where did we stay? Central Suite Residence for 7 nights for $494. Our check in was amazing. They took our bags straight to our room, brought us cold washcloths and honey lemon tea. They presented us with scarves made in Cambodia. Escorted us to our room on the third floor away from the noise of the street.  

Our room was a junior suite with a king size bed, a tub, shower, and a balcony.

What did we do? Our first full day we booked a cooking class. We found this is the best way to learn about the local cuisine.  Our class was through the Paper Tiger Restaurant located in the Pub Street area. They claim to be Siem Reap's first cooking class. It was also recommended on the web and they were #2 on Trip Advisor. 

We started with choosing our dishes to prepare. We could each choose a starter and a main course with one dessert. Before beginning to cook we walked to the market where our instructor, Sinuon, explained the different spices, fruits, and vegetables.

 

We had Sinuon and the classroom all to ourselves. She showed us how to slice and dice and then we began cooking.

We also learned how to plate and decorate our food for a nice presentation. Can you guess who made which carrot flower?

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It was fun making dessert.

No David I did not set off the 
smoke detector!

Time to enjoy our gourmet meal! 😋 😋 😋 

Fresh veggies spring rolls

Green mango salad

Beef loclak

Fish amok

Fried bananas with passion fruit sauce

The carrots did you guess correctly? 1) Sharon 2) Robert 3) Sinuon

Amazingly delicious food and so much for 2 people 🐷  🐷 🐷. Sinuon was a great instructor. She also told us about her husband who is a Tuk Tuk driver. We gave her our hotel information and the time we wanted to start our tour the next day. It was no big deal if he didn't show up because there are hundreds of tuk tuk drivers but we were so glad he did.

Our second day we walked outside and Sok Samat (Sinuon's husband) greeted us right out front -- pressed black slacks, button down tunic and shiny dress shoes. We took off in his tuk tuk for a "long tour" of the temples.

Pre Rup was a Hindu temple. It was built as the state temple of Khmer King Rajendravarman in the late 10th century.

 

East Mebon Temple is a 10th century temple.

Ta Som Temple was built at the end of the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII.

Neak Poan or Neak Pean is an artificial island with a a small Buddhist Temple.

Preah Khan Temple was built in the 12th century. 

Palilay Temple was built early 12th century.

We enjoyed having Sok Samat as our driver so we hired him for several days. On our third day we walked outside and Sok Samat was already waiting for us for a "short tour" of the temples. 

Our first stop was Angkor Wat. This is the temple most tourists come to visit.  As we walked to the entrance we were accosted by people wanting to give tours. This one gentleman was relentless and pretty much followed us all the way to the entrance. He was very personable and we finally gave in and hired him to give us a tour.  

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. 🌎 It covers 402 acres. Angkor Wat contains the remains of the different regimes of the Khmer Empire.

The temple walls tell a story. These are the military parade of King Suryavarman II. The carvings are amazing especially for as old as they are.

Center of the Universe 

Our tour guide 

Phnom Bakheng Temple was built late 19th century.

Banyon Temple was built late 12th century.

Khmer Army March

Woman giving birth

Commanders riding elephants

Khmer Army in boats 

Terrace of the Leper King was built late 12th century

Ta Prohm Temple was built late 12th century. This was our favorite temple of all the temples we have visited. There was something secretive and mystical about it.

Who is the real Tomb Raider?

Banteay Kdie Temple was built late 12th century.

So the short tour has more temples than the long tour. The difference 🤔 is in the distance traveled.  We opted not to see 👁 several more temples.

On December 20th, Sok Samut was already waiting for us to take us to Tonle Sap Lake to see 👀 the floating village. We went through small villages and past rice 🍚 paddies, down a dirt road to stop and buy a boat tickets and then on to the boat ramp.

All three of us took a boat ride through the floating village. We made a stop at one of the villas where we saw crocodiles 🐊, women waiting to row you through the trees and you could purchase food. Afterwards we headed out to the lake.

Our last tour (day 4) was the City Tour. The city tour took us along the river, to a Lotus farm, Phnom Kraom temple, and the Royal Independence Gardens.  

The Lotus Farm was very interesting. They employ women from the local villages in order to give them a job and to teach them about textiles. Lotuses are more than just beautiful flowers. The women pain-stakingly remove fiber strands from the stalks and create a sort of yarn that is woven into fabric. Turns out there are a lot of uses for lotus plants.

Lotus 

Phnom Kroam 

The railing had names and donation amounts

Much easier going down

The view at the top

The Royal Independence Gardens

The best part of the day! Sok Samat took us to his home and we were able to meet his 3 children, his mother-in-law, brother-in-law and an aunt. His wife Sinuon (our cooking instructor) invited us to stay for lunch. How could we refuse!?! When we arrived she was cleaning tiny fish that they had caught while at the rice paddy.  We wish we would have remembered the name of the dish. The home has an outdoor kitchen with four small 'fire pits' for cooking. Kind of a four burner stove. There is a 2x2 meter (maybe a little bigger) table that family and guests sit on. We all sat together and enjoyed a delicious meal. We felt rude taking pictures so we didn't.

Lina cutting a freshly picked
mango served with a dipping sauce

Salad and crispy fried fish

Cooked in banana leaves

Of course always time for relaxing, massages and chores. 

Pedicures and a 

manicure for one of us

Drinks by the pool

Coffee on the balcony

Laundry

Haircut 

Pool time with freshly painted red toes

Not relaxing, very weird

What did we eat? Everywhere is 'same same'. They hand you anywhere from 1 to 6 menus and are ready to take your order immediately. The best was the huge 'phonebook' that we just barely opened.

Palm fruit cake made in a local village.

Shrimp with vegetables 

Onion rings

Noodles with chicken

Fried rice with shrimp

Chicken burger

Chef Salad

Curry

Pizza

Pho with chicken

We enjoyed Siem Reap and definitely enjoyed meeting Sok Samat, Sinuon and their family.

If you are looking for a book to read we both read First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung. A very good and chilling read about a young girl during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 70's. The country is still recovering.

It sure is rice to be here!