I arrived in Cambodia through Siem Reap airport, connected to Bangkok via several companies including the cheap Air Asia. Surprised by the numbe of blonde hair in the airplane - this is a touristy destination. To get into Cambodia, you need a visa, which you can either get online or directly on arrival. The price is around 30USD. Then you get a tuktuk or a taxi to go to the center.. First impression was a shock : the amount of tourists in Siem Reap !! After Myanmar, I didn't expect that big of a difference. Siem Reap serves as the host for all people wanting to visit Angkor Wat, the fablous World Heritage forgotten city, who receives over 2 millions, yes two millions, tourists a year. In Siem Reap, accomodation ranges between 3 to 7USD for a bunk bed in a dorm. For 5 USD, my brand new hostel included aircon and swimming pool. Food in Cambodia will also be around 2 - 7 USD depending on whether you eat local or western food. Important for travelers to know is that the USD is king here in Siem Reap, and useful everywhere in Cambodia. The local currency, the Riel, will often only be used to provide change, for things below 1USD. Stock up with your small USD bills before getting there! On the next day, my good friend Benny joins me from Germany and will be my travel companion for the upcoming two weeks. We've already traveled for 5 weeks in Argentina and Chile in 2014 together so we know we get along as travelers. Angkor Wat:
Not to sound to Wikipediesque, but Angkor Wat deserves a bit of history catch up. Its name means Temple City and what It is, is a gigantic temple complex constructed by the Khmer Empire as early as the 12th Century. Obviously it grew through the decades to follow, first built as an Hindu temple and then transformed into a buddhist temple. But what's fascinating about this particular site is its ancient glory, and how 900 years later, it's complexity and level of refinement is above most things constructed in Cambodia. By now, the jungle has reclaimed parts of the complex, but as it was never entirely abandonned, it remains in a good state. The moat acting as protection. In 1992 it became a UNESCO World Heritage site, to ensure its preservation and support the afflux of tourism.Featured in the very successful video game series Tomb Raider in the 90s, it quickly became one it's one of the most visited site in the world. All in all, I was impressed by what I saw - and I encourage you to take a guide to get a bit of history on what you're seeing when you 're seeing it. It requires at least two days to see most of it, but some would spent much more and discover more hidden temples. To be honest, after Myanmar, my tolerance to temple started to weaken.. after a while, I'm done and so was Benny. Be mindful of the amount of chinese tourist, specially if you to go during chinese new years - try and do their cycle in reverse order if zou can... At the end of our tour we tried suggesting to our Tuktuk driver he should improve his english a bit and get some history about the temple to make more money instead of just bringing people and waiting/sleeping most of his day. His reaction was a testimony to the Cambodian people fear of change : "No, I'm a TukTuk driver". More on that particular aspect of the Cambodian culture later.