Day 69 – Siem Reap

Day 69 – Siem Reap – March 14

Meeting our guide at 7AM seemed like we were sleeping in late after our 4 AM wakeup call the previous day.  We skipped breakfast and headed straight to the lobby, joined up with Rick and Margaret and headed out to the van.

Ta Prohm

Our first stop is Ta Prohm, which was made famous by being featured as a location in the 2001 movie Lara Croft “Tomb Raider.”  If you haven’t seen the movie, the iconic feature of Ta Prohm are the trees that appear to grow out of the temple stones themselves.  The various trees you will find here include:  silk-cotton, thitpok, strangler fig and gold apple.  In addition to Ta Prohm, Tomb Raider also includes Phnom Bakheng (spot for sunset views), the Bayon Temple we visited yesterday, along with Angkor Wat which was “moved” in the movie to appear on the banks of a river.
Ta Prohm is not restored as many of the other temples have been, but there is some work in progress by companies from India.  There isn’t a lot of vertical elevation like at Angkor Wat, but there are many times you must walk “10 steps up – 10 steps down” to cross a threshold or enter a room as you move from area to area.
We arrived at 7:45 AM and we beat the crowds, so we had the place to ourselves for most of our visit.  This is where an experienced guide is very helpful as he can plan your visit to avoid the peak periods, which vary from temple to temple.  Many of the pictures you see here would have been impossible if we arrived an hour later as the place would be jammed wall to wall with people.

As we were passing through one of the rooms, we came across an older woman named Yeay Tam who was making and selling “thread bracelets” which are typically made from cotton and then worn until they wear out and fall off.  They are supposed to bring you luck.  Yeay Tam was making her bracelets from an acrylic thread which makes them last longer.  Judy remembered Yeay Tam from our visit in 2016 when she bought a bracelet from her then as well.  We learned that Yeay Tam is 80 years old.

After about 90 minutes we finished our tour of Ta Prohm and headed back to our van.

There are plenty of clean bathrooms throughout the Siem Reap temple complex and most of the restrooms are co-located with small craft markets.  We stopped at one as we left Ta Prohm and Judy picked up some nice silk scarves with interesting designs.  Here is a picture of the scarves we took once back on the ship.

Elephant Ride

When we were here in 2016 we noticed the elephants that were available for rides around the Angkor Thom and the Bayon Temple.  The rides are only available from 8-10:30 am in the morning.  We had planned to ride them yesterday, but we took longer than planned at Angkor Wat so we missed the 10 AM.

We arrived at the Bayon temple a little before 10 am and paid the $20 per person to a person sitting at a small table who gave us a commemorative ticket.  No one would ask to see or collect this ticket.  We headed over to a ladder that climbed up to a platform where we would board the elephant.  There was about 2 couples in front of us and after a short wait we climbed aboard our elephant named “Kita” who was 45 years old.

Once we were seated, we headed off for one lap around Bayon Temple which would take around 15 minutes.  The ride was very jerky as our basket would sway up and down with each step of the elephant.  Before we boarded the elephant, we handed our camera to our guide, Nom, who took a few pictures and then handed our camera to our driver who returned it to us.

As we made our way around the temple, our driver would stop every few minutes to we could take a photograph from our elevated vantage point without the motion of the elephant.

The elephant rides were wrapping up as we returned to our starting point and climbed back down the ladder to meet our guide and walk back to our waiting van.

Over our two days in Siem Reap we passed several groups of cyclists who were on organized tours around the temples.  This must have sounded better back at home in your air-conditioned house as I can’t imagine cycling around Angkor Wat in the heat and humidity we experienced during our visit.

Banteay Srei

Our final temple visit for this trip would be Banteay Srei nick named “The Lady Temple” which is located about 15 miles (40-minute drive) northeast of the major Angkor Wat temples.  This temple is in remarkably good condition and has some of the best preserved reliefs in the area despite the fact that it is 200 -250 years older than Angkor Wat.  This temple is made from rose colored sandstone which gives it a completely different look than the other temples in the Angkor Wat area.

There isn’t much traffic outside of Siem Reap and you will make pretty good time on the two-lane roads.  A modern visitor center with a café and numerous small shops will greet you on arrival.  There is very little climbing or steps here, so this temple is a good choice if you want to avoid steps.

I won’t give any detail about the various temples as there is so much information available for those interested in learning more.  I recommend a book called “Guide to the Temples of Angkor” available here.

We spent about 90 minutes here including about 20 minutes walking thru the shops near the visitor center.

Our guide, Nom, amazed us all when he captured a Cicada that was sitting on a nearby tree.  He was able to show us how this insect makes such a racket before he released it, unharmed, back into the wild.

Leaving Siem Reap

Our flight wasn’t until 6:20 and we planned to leave for the airport around 4:15 PM.  We arranged for a late checkout, so we had a chance to take a shower after we returned to the hotel around 1 PM.

We spent 8 hours touring the first day and 6 hours the second day.  There were more hours in the day available for touring, but I would caution against doing much in the afternoon unless you are confident in your ability to have a good time while enduring high heat and humidity.  My advice is to limit your time out and about to 6-8 hours daily.

The hotel staff all gathered to bid us farewell and take some photos before we headed off to the airport – 15 minutes away.

We arrived at the airport around 4:30 PM.  We completed our airline check-in and all the departure immigration checks and were in the departure lounge by 5 PM.  Remember to have your departure card, the one that they gave you before landing in Siem Reap, filled out and ready to go.  If you don’t, then you will have to stop at the counter before immigration and fill out another one.

The international departure area has a large duty-free shop area along with a convenience type store selling soft drinks, snacks and souvenirs.  There was also a couple of fast food restaurants and a café.  The airport has free and reasonably fast Wi-Fi.

The aircraft all park outside on the ramp, a couple of hundred yards away, so you must walk outside some distance before you get to the parked aircraft and then board using mobile aircraft boarding stairs.

Singapore

Our flight to Singapore left on time and landed 2 hours later.  Along the way we were served a hot meal along with our choice of beverages.

Clearing immigration in Singapore was a breeze.  Their airport is very modern, well organized and well run.  It took us 25 minutes from the time we got off the plane until we were in the taxi line.

The taxi line was ten minutes and we were soon on our way in a very modern taxi with an English-speaking driver.  It took us 18 minutes to get to the Marina Bay Cruise Terminal and cost $27 Singapore Dollars.  We paid cash, but they accepted credit cards.

The Marina Bay Cruise Terminal is very modern but there weren’t any shops and not much reason to spend any time here.  There were some folks using the free Wi-Fi, but I didn’t bother to log on and find out if it was very fast.

We had a great time on our overland to Cambodia and the entire trip went off without a hitch.  We enjoy Cambodia very much and will be visiting again in the future.  The Cambodian people are very friendly and Angkor Wat is fascinating.  There is much more to explore on future visits.

It was nice to be back on the ship.