What nobody told us before we visited Siem Reap, is how far away the ticket office is from the Angkor archaeological site they also failed to mention that the Angkor Wat is just one temple in a 400km2 site of places to explore. We found out the hard way.
We got up bright and early, keen to set off on our day of adventure before the sun was too high in the sky. We made our way over to the local bike rental, where we rented, admittedly for hardly any money at all, the worst bikes I have ever seen. The suspension was non-existent and if we changed gears too excitedly the whole chain would fall off, looking back, antique rocking horses may have been an easier form of transport - quicker too. With no time to complain, we set off, weaving through the constant Siem Reap traffic over to the nearest entry road into the site, only to get stopped.
"Where are your tickets?" the gate attendants asked. "We thought we could buy them here?!" we countered, more than a little confused. "No" they responded, and that was the end of that, we dejectedly turned back around heading back into Siem Reap to find the ticket office. It wasn't anywhere logical, I'll have you know, situated about a 1km out of town on the way to nowhere. After forking over $62 each for a three day pass, we once again headed off to Angkor, realising when we arrived at the first temple that we'd already cycled 8km and it wasn't even 11am yet.
Once the centre of the Khmer kingdom, the site is now one of the most important archaeological sites Southeast Asia. There are not only examples of differing Khmer architecture styles in the many temples, there are also different examples of urban planning - shown by the variety of canals and , reservoirs to ensure ample water could be accessed in all seasons. According to UNESCO "Angkor is ... a major site exemplifying cultural, religious and symbolic values, as well as containing high architectural, archaeological and artistic significance."
Rather than bore you of the play by play of every ruin we visited, I'll leave you with some photos and advice. If you ever go to Angkor, make sure to visit the Angkor Wat, there is a reason why this majestic temple is famous world wide. We spent over an hour wandering around this temple alone and we still didn't see it all. While you're at the Angkor Wat, climb to the very top, the stairs are scarily steep in places but the view is more than worth it. I would reccomend a few other of the most famous temples such as the Bayon, and "tomb raider" temple but apart from that head out to the places few can be bothered to go. Find the small ruins with no one about, enjoy the peace and ability to feel like you're really exploring. Oh, and watch out for the cute monkeys, they steal money from your pockets, then attack you when you take it back... or at least that's what happened to me!... don't worry, the monkey looked very sorry afterwards!
Safe to say we were absolutely knackered after our first day of exploring, having clocked in 35km of cycling. We decided to wait a few days before we headed back to the site again, luckily we had a whole month in which to use our tickets so this was no problem at all! After our second day of exploring the Angkor archeological site we'd had enough, of course there was far more to see but as this was our 4th or 5th major archaeological site we'd visited within the past 9 months, two days of exploring was more than enough!
In total, we spent 8 days hanging out and exploring Siem Reap, it is a vibrant and chilled town that it's easy to lose time in. Hours were whiled away just sitting outside our favourite bakery, watching the world go by and getting fat on delicious French pastries. Also, we'd managed to luck out with a quiet, out of the way hotel meaning that we could cool down in the pool whenever we needed, most the time just by ourselves. At the end of our time in Siem Reap, we was feeling pretty relaxed and lazy but ready to head off to the next destination.
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