Siem Reap – Sam and Martha's travel blog

Goodbye Cambodia, hello Vietnam (again)

Today we left our lovely hotel in Siem Reap and Cambodia and flew to Da Nang in Vietnam.

Martha – I liked the tuktuk rides and we went to lots of temples. It was hot and very busy. I would like to go back again.
Martha

Angela – Cambodia was a place I had never visited before, I’m so glad that it was part of this trip. It was such a great experience to live in Phnom Penh and ‘go to work’ whilst I was volunteering for SpeechTherapyCambodia, followed by our Angkor Wat explorations – loved it!

I liked Cambodia because of the new food and the temples. I also liked the swimming pools at the hotels.
Sam

Mike – I didn’t know what to expect with Cambodia but from what I have seen, I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The highlight for me was our visit to the Angkor Wat area, which was amazing.

🎵 At first I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never survive this tuktuk ride; But then I spent so many trips thinking yes we can get through that space, and at a pace, and I learnt the tuktuk is ace… 🎵
Angela (to the tune of ‘I will survive’)

Pub Street

Pub Street – the name says it all! Filled with pubs, restaurants and shops, busy with visitors from all over the world, it’s very different from where we would normally go in the evening.

We’d just eaten at a really yummy Italian restaurant and had a wander afterwards to take in the sights on our last night in Cambodia!

Cambodia Landmine Museum

This museum was a revelation! I would thoroughly recommend it if you are in Cambodia in the future. It was really interesting and helped us to understand the ongoing effects of conflict long after the ‘actual’ war has ended.

The audio guide really held the children’s attention and they came away with a much deeper understanding than if they had trailed around after us.

Of course it helped that Sam being Sam is fascinated by the mines and loved the video of how the teams locate long buried mines and blow them up.

Angkor Thom and Bayon

I went up to Ankgor Wat again early on and then walked the few kilometres to the Angkor Thom area, visiting more sites along the way.

The walk was fine apart from a downpour of rain where I had to take shelter under some trees. When the weather improved I carried on to Bayon where I met Angela and the kids who arrived later on. (Angela says: We recognised that perhaps our enthusiasm for the temples was slightly more than Sam and Martha’s so I stayed and played with them and we got a tuktuk later on to meet Mike at Bayon. Bayon turned out to be my absolute favourite of all the temples, just love those faces).

Bayon was built in the 12th century and contains many towers decorated with faces. This was to be our last temple in the Angkor area so the plan was to stay for sunset and get some nice photos.

Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy but we still got some great shots.

Angkor small circuit

Today we visited lots of temples:

Banteay Kdei – good hide and seek spot and big trees
Sras Srang – it was a calm lake
Ta Prohm – ancient trees around ancient temples
Ta Keo – very steep steps, lovely views
Terrace of the Elephants – beautiful carvings
Phimeanakas – small but great
Baphuon – narrow bridge leading to massive temple

We did a lot of walking and running around. It was very very very hot. We played hide and seek a lot. There were some steep bits that we went up and down on our bums.

We had a tuk tuk for the whole day and the driver took us to all the temples. The last few temples were in the Angkor Thom area.

Water Festival

It was the Water Festival today and we walked along the river and saw lots of boats. They were having a race and went really fast.

We also saw a dunk tank and a boxing over water game.

In the evening we saw fireworks and then went to ‘Jungle Burger’ for pizza and delicious burgers!

(Note from parents: After having lunch in Siem Reap today we went down to the river as we were lucky enough to be there for the Cambodian Water Festival. The festival, also known as Bon Om Touk, is one of the largest and most celebrated in the country. It usually occurs in October/November over 3 days and marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap River and the end of the rainy season.)

Angkor Wat

The Angkor region in northern Cambodia is an archeological, UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering more than 400 square kilometres. It contains the remnants of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century.

One of the most famous and important capitals is Angkor Wat, a temple complex that was built in the early 12th century.

It was originally built as a Hindu temple during the reign of Suryavarman II (1112 – 1152) and was dedicated to the god Vishnu. It became a Buddhist temple by the end of the 12th century.

It is the world’s largest religious structure – and it’s pretty spectacular!

Martha’s day

Today we went to Angkor Wat. It is a temple over a thousand years old.

First we went on a floating bridge over the moat. Then we saw massive temple walls. Me and Sam played hide and seek.

We then had to walk to the inner temple. There were lots of pillars, statues and pictures on the walls. Inside there was a temple but me and Sam couldn’t go in.

Sam’s day

Today we went to Angkor Wat. There were lots of ancient temples which we looked at and climbed over. It was very hot.

Martha and I ran around and played hide and seek.

It was very big and on the inside there were steps that were really steep. Me and Martha weren’t allowed up so mummy and daddy went up separately.

There were lots of passageways everywhere so it was perfect for hide and seek.

Then we went home because we were all tired.