The Khmer empire was the greatest empire in South East Asia. The Khmer empire ruled a big territory around the Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam region from the 9th -13th century. Before then, were the Funan 1AD-6AD and ChenLa empire from 6AD – 13th century who ruled the areas.

Angkor Wat is actually just one of the many temples in the big Angkor Archaeological Park.

A loop around the Angkor Archaeological park is around 30km. A one day pass cost USD$20, 3 day pass cost USD$40 and one week pass cost USD$60.

Rented a bicycle (USD$2) and go around the park for the day.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a river

Angkor Thom

Bayon

Since the economy of the city revolves around tourism, many people are trying to sell things and provide services to tourist. Many kids are trying to sell souvenir, food and drinks to tourist. This reminded me of Egypt with a lot of hassling at tourist but at least Cambodia is still not so bad yet.

Some talkative kids trying to sell stuffs.

Cycled for probably more than 40 km for the day and the hot weather doesn’t help.

View of Angkor Wat from the river

There are direct buses costing 450 Baht from Khao San road every morning at 7.30am from Bangkok to Siem Reap, however I read about some bad presses about the bus where they are trying to rip off tourist by delaying the trip.

Decided to cross the border on my own, took a public bus number 3 (20 Baht) at 8.15am to Mochit bus terminal at the north part of town. It took around an hour to get to the bus terminal and then got on a 10am bus to the border town of AranyaPathet.

Arrived at AranyaPathet around 2.30pm after a 4.5 hours bus ride. Since casinos are banned in Thailand, there are many casinos

at the border of Aranyapathet, Thailand and the border town of Poipet, Cambodia.

Welcome to Cambodia

Crossing the border was pretty easy and the whole process only took 30 minutes. Got on another bus towards Siem Reap at around 3pm. The ride to Siem Reap should cost USD$9 which is around 280 Baht but I paid 350 Baht to get on the departing bus so I don’t have to wait for the next bus.

Cambodia seems to be a pretty dry country

The bus arrived at Siem Reap at 7.20pm which was already dark and dropped everyone at Hilton Guest House. It seemed like the guest house paid the bus to do this on purpose because the bus stopped for a break for almost an hour.

The guest house is located at the east part of town which is a little far off away from the center. Walked west to Wat Bo road which has more guesthouses and closer to the city center. It’s around a 30 minutes walk. Finally stayed at Home Sweet Home guesthouse (USD$5).

3 main currencies are accepted in Siem Reap, USD, Cambodian Riel and Thai Baht. However, most things are quoted in US dollars here. However, most people quote 1USD to 4000 Riel and 1 Thai Baht to only 100 Riel, and the cross rate of USD to Thai Baht is 1 to 4 which is pretty bad for Thai money. The official exchange rates are actually 1USD to 4200 Riel and 1 Thai Baht to 130 Riel.

There are tons of hotels and guest houses. Tourism is the main industry in this city.

Noodles for dinner (USD$1.75)

Night market

Cambodian traditional dress

Bar Street