Angkor Archaeological Park

Nora is a graduate of the Austria Peace Program.  We did not have a semester together, but met when I graduated.  She had the opportunity to visit Cambodia (and me!) on her recent trip to Thailand.  While in Cambodia, she was able to come to Wat Opot for a few days and taught the kids how to make little seed bead animals!

We then spent time in Phnom Penh before heading to Siem Reap and to the Angkor Temples.  I have been to Siem Reap a few times and visited the Temples with my friend Mark a couple of years ago, but realized that I had never posted about it.  Angkor Archaeological Park is outside the city of Siem Reap which is about a 6 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh. This particular bus we took to get there was a first for me.  I have taken sleeper buses before, but this bus gave a whole new meaning to it.  Actual bed-ish seats!  We left around midnight and arrived around 5:30am.

It wasn’t the greatest night of sleep (mainly because the air conditioning was on full blast!) but it could have been worse; from the stories I have heard about bus trips…yes, it could have been worse.  When we arrived, it was still dark out and with my trusty map in hand, we decided we would walk to the city; as according to what I read, the bus station is not far outside of it.  Long story short, what I read was wrong and after walking for over an hour and a half (sun came up eventually) in the countryside we finally found the city.  Seems that there are 2 or more bus stations…silly me for thinking the station in Phnom Penh where we bought the tickets would give me the accurate arrival information.

By the time we found a hotel we were wide awake and figured we should just go to see the temples after getting a little breakfast.  After securing a tuktuk for the day we were off.  No need to regurgitate information about the place, so to read up; click here!  I quickly realized Nora’s camera was about 1000 times better than mine, so I stuck mine in my backpack and let her click away!  Here are some of the amazing shots.

The main attraction: Angkor Wat

Ta Prohm Temple - made famous from the first Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie.

We spent 2 days at the Angkor Temples, complete with sunrise at Srah Srang; a temple on the water.

More photo's with Nora's Sony Cybershot DSC-HX20V.  I had to put in a plug for that camera - the zoom is amazing and the photo's are the best I have seen.  They have the camera in Phnom Penh, but it's $100 more than in the US...but I may just have to pay the difference...unless someone is coming to see me in the very near future!

Gate entrance to Angkor Tom

 Phimeanakas Temple

Thank you for coming to see me Nora, next I'll have to meet you in Jordan.