Explore Mysteries of Angkor Wat -【Cambodia】🇰🇭

see the world with parents- fam trip in Siem Reap, Cambodia

For travelers, Angkor is a somewhere must visit in a lifetime. As I saw the big sale of Siem Reap flight, I booked tickets with no hesitate!

There are 3 common routes to visit Angkor wat- Big tour/circuit small tour/circuit  and long distance tour. Since we only had a short period, 1 route per day was the best option for us. In addition, the hostel we stayed provided those tour in a really reasonable price. All we needed to do was to follow locals and enjoyed this amazing place.

Our schedule was as below:

Day 1: Big Tour by Tuk tuk

Day 2: Long Distance Tour by car

Day 3: Small Tour+ sunrise  by Tuk tuk

Tuk tuk is the most common vehicle in Cambodia and south east Asia. It is a scooter-based taxi. In my opinions, tuk-tuk is a scooter connected with a “chair” or “sofa”behind.  For my parents, taking tuk tuk was a brand new experience for sure. The rain was quite heavy those days, but the canopy can cover whole tuk-tuk to prevent from rain. The traffic in Cambodia really scared me! There are no traffic lights in some corners. I am really glad our local driver was professional enough in this crazy traffic.

What to see? 

Tooo many stuff to see in Cambodia! The first thing you need to do before starting your trip is to get a ticket! There are 1-day, 3-day and 7-day tickets to buy. Within this ticket, you can visit all places in Angkor Wat. As I mentioned above, there are 3 different routes to go. And here are what you can see in each route :

1. Big Tour : Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan.

Big Tour is to see palaces scattered around Angkor Wat. Among those spots, Neak Pean was my favorite. Neak Pean is a temple on an artificial island. It sits in the middle of four lotus pattern pool, which represented the element of water, wind, earth and earth. The path to the temple is surround by pools. The view here is totally different from other spots.

2. Long Distance Tour : Banteay Srey, Banteay Samre, Kbal Spean (Thousands lingas), Roluos Group (Preah Ko, Bakong, Lolei)

The raining season in Cambodia runs from May to Oct. It rained heavily that day since the early morning. Weather in Cambodia was crazy! When it rained, the water was like pouring. The road were flooded and muddy. However, the rain stopped in a sudden and became sunny. After a while, heavy rained came back again. Whole day was in this routine. Thanks god that we chose Long Distance Tour that day. At least, we could hide in the car if needed.

3. Small Tour : Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom ( South Gate of Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphoun, Phimeanakas, Terrace of Elephants, Leper King, Sour Prat ), Chau Say Tavata (Devata), Thommanon, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei, Srah Srang (Royal Bath), Kravan.

This was the best part of the trip. Small tour is the main palace and temple of Angkor Wat. The architecture , sculpture and stone carvings are totally incredible.

What To eat?

 There is a huge night market in Siem Reap. I am pretty sure you can find something cheap and delicious there.

My final note..

 Cambodia was way beyond my imagination. The scale of those temples are much larger than what I thought. Every temples and buildings are all so different and surprising. If I can understand stories and histories behind each buildings well, must add on more colors on this Angkor Wat trip.

I really enjoyed traveling alone. During those trips , I became more independent, had great experience and met new friends. However, this year I invited my parents to travel with me and I pretty like it – show them how beautiful this world is and different lifestyles. Can’t wait to start our trip in 2017 !

Rachel xx