There are more temples in the 400+ square km Angkor Wat Archaeological Park near Siem Reap, Cambodia than I can count on our map. With a $40 three-day pass, we visited 15 of them. There are countless books, websites, documentaries, and films about this place and as we aren’t going to pretend any sort of expertise, I suggest you find one of those if you want history. We did a little homework and hired a guide for our day at Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm, and Banteay Kdei but mostly, we just basked in the glory of these structures, awed by the work that went into creating them.
We spent our time in Siem Reap with the two lovely South African women with whom we explored Battambang. Having two other people to share costs with was tremendously helpful to our bottom line but more importantly, we had a ton of fun together.
Because these temples are truly incredible and because we aren’t Khmer history buffs, we’re letting the photos run this post. More words next time!
Like this one:
While Ta Som gave us this:
In addition to the temples of Angkor Wat, we took a $30 tuk-tuk ride (roundtrip, bargained down from $35) to Beng Melea. The trees have truly taken over here and it’s the one temple where you can really crawl around and explore. If you arrive without a guide, one of the guards will show you around, taking you off the beaten path and sharing as much knowledge as his English allows. A tip is far more affordable than the cost of a guide and a visit is well worth the $5 entry fee plus the 75+ minute tuk-tuk ride each way.
Vines at Beng Mealea beg to be swung on, hung from, and otherwise enjoyed.
Looks awesome! Great pix!
Thanks, Scott! It truly is an amazing place!
As awesome as advertised!
Thanks, Megan!