cambodia
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Time to go to Asia! One of my closest girl friends needed an escape from her life and suggested a trip to Cambodia. To be honest, Cambodia was never a major bucket list item but after having gone, I highly recommend pushing this to the top of your list. With one month to plan, I figured: YOLO! We booked and planned the trip 4 weeks before taking off. We spent 5 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia before flying to Bali for the next 4 days.
Cambodia is definitely a 3rd world country. There's tremendous amount of political turmoil and poverty. However, since Siem Reap is a tourism hub (drives a majority of the country's economy) we felt very safe the entire trip.
Hotel
We stayed at Hari Residence, which was within walking distance of pub street. Our stay at Hari included breakfast every morning, a 30min free massage, a complimentary dinner and a free shuttle to and from the airport. We stayed for 5 days but in retrospect, 3 or 4 days would've been enough. That being said, it's because we jam packed our first 3 days in siem reap. Take a look at our itinerary:
Itinerary
Day 1: Temples
Day 2: Angkor Wat Sunrise Tour & Temples
Day 3: Temples, Floating Village, & Phom-Kulen Waterfall
Day 4: Spa Day & Rent Scooters
Day 5: Explore Siem reap downtown & Leave
We booked our 3 day tour through Sam's Tour. It does not include: 3 Day Temple Pass $62/pax, the Boat Trip Fee $20/pax, or Meals.
DAY 1
8:30am : Pick Up
TEMPLE: East Mebon
TEMPLE: Preah Khan
Lunch break (in one of restaurants nearby Banteay Srei area)
TEMPLE: Banteay Srei (the Lady Temple)
Landmines Museum
TEMPLE: Banteay Samre
6:30pm : Sunset at Pre Rup
Day 2: Angkor Wat
Wake up call 4:30am
Pick up at 5:30am for Sunrise at Angkor Wat
TEMPLE: Angkor Thom
Lunch break (in one of restaurants nearby Srah Srang "Ancient Royal Swimming Pool")
TEMPLE: Ta Prohm
TEMPLE: Ta Nei
DAY 3: Floating Village, Waterfall & Temples
Pick up at 7:30am
Roluos Group (this site is the earliest temples during the Angkorian era which was founded by The king Jayavarman II, the Angkor-founder and originally called Hariharalaya) - Lolei - Preah Ko - Bakong
Chong Kneas Floating Village on Tonle Sap Lake
Phnom Kulen (65 km from Siem Reap, the quarry of sandstone for building the temples, the birthplace of Angkorian Era) - the carving of 1000 lingas - the giant-reclining Buddha - 35m high waterfall in Tomb Raider movie (if you'd like swimming please bring bath towel with you)
NIGHTLIFE On the 3rd night, we decided to go out into town. We hit these 3 bars:
Red Piano
TEMPLE
Ankgor Wat?
Day 4: Spa Day & Rent scooters!
Spa day @ Lemongrass Spa. For $48 I got a facial, a 1 hour full body massage & manicure/pedicure
Rent scooters: it only cost 10$ a day! we only needed it for a couple of hours so they only charged us 5$
Day 5: Relax!
On Day 5 we explored Siem Reap...in the afternoon we flew to Bali!