Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap is a refreshingly clean, slow paced tourist centered city with 50 cent beers, and good food for all budgets. The city was recently ranked the #1 city to visit in Asia for 2015 by TripAdvisor (and the people are quite proud of it). The biggest pull to Siem Reap is not the cheap beer or the vibe but the ancient temples and Angkor Wat. Dozens of temples dating back hundreds of years are scattered throughout the jungle and tuk tuks are easily hired for the day to shuttle eager tourists around in the blinding heat.

Taking a nap while he waits for his patrons to return from a temple. 

I arrived at 7 am after a terrible night bus experience from Phnom Penh (after an even worse mini bus from Kampot). In hindsight, mini buses as well as night buses are not worth it in Cambodia. The cheap night buses, like the one I took, are not exactly designed with consideration for westerners. I felt like I may have well have been in seated in the storage compartment with the luggage. There were two semi-reclined fixed "seats" on the left and singles on the right. There was bottom and top as well. I was on the bottom left so I had to share a space with a stranger, on the floor with no leg room and no window. I barely slept. 

The dusty streets of Siem Reap, Cambodia

The daily board at The Siem Reap Hostel. Tomb Raider at 9!

It was all good when I saw the amazing Siem Reap hostel. This place may be to date the best hostels I have ever stayed in. It had a covered pool to avoid the midday heat, 50 cent beers from 5-8 PM, an air-conditioned cinema, great staff and a great atmosphere. However,  I had to wait until 2 PM to check in. I explored the block and grabbed some white rice and chicken with a table full of locals at a street stall. I then crashed on a couch by the pool for 3 hours. After finally checking in, I met my bunkmate, Tomer, a fun, laid back Israeli. I quickly knew we'd get along great. I then tried to get to Angkor Wat for sunset because if you buy your pass the evening before, they let you in for free for the sunset and your pass begins the following day. However, right as I convinced Tomer to join me, it started to rain.

The 50 cent beers were flowing

That evening we walked around pub street and the night market and then grabbed food at would be our favorite neighborhood place, Natalie's. It was a cheap, local place right around the corner from our hostel. It was something in between street food and a local restaurant. She had noodles or fried rice with chicken or beef for $1.50, fruit shakes for $.50, cheap coconuts, beer and even free wifi. I made friends with people simply for showing them this place. I ate there at least once a day and everyday I brought a new person along with me. However, Alex gets all of the credit for finding this gem. She told me about it before I even got to Siem Reap. 

That night I signed up for a shared tuk tuk on the board at the hostel to do the "small circuit." The small circuit is $15 for the tuk tuk. There were 3 of us signed up so it was $5 each. The following day myself, Echo and Danielle (who were staying in my 6 person dorm) headed out at 5 AM to get our passes and catch the sunrise behind Angkor Wat.

That evening I met Sam from the states and Romana from Austria. We went to Natalie's for dinner and recruited Romana to join our tuk tuk the following day to Banteay Srei, the temple with intricate carvings. It was about an hour and a half away and we left at 8 am.

Later that afternoon, Sam, Romana and I headed to one of the temples for the sunset. The sunset was a dud but it was a good climb/walk and we had a great view of Angkor Wat from afar.

That night we headed to pub street for a late happy pizza dinner. Happy pizza is pizza with marijuana cooked into it and it is all over Cambodia. It seemed like the thing to do so we peer pressured each other into it. They had 50 types of pizza to choose from (all happy). Romana and I split an $11 large and that was a good portion for 2 people. We didn't notice anything different and it seemed just like regular pizza.

This is the place. 

not so sure

Happy Pizza at Happy Special Pizza in Siem Reap, Cambodia

However, after eating happiness, we walked around the night market for a while and within about an hour we started feeling pretty happy. I got in the zone with my photography and was determined to capture everything.

That next day Sam, Echo and I left for the big circuit of temples at 7 am. This was the day when we saw some of the coolest temples with ancient trees engulfing the temple walls with their roots.

My friends Sam and Echo on our way to day 3 of Temples

A local and his son fishing in the moat of a temple near Siem Reap, Cambodia

We returned just in time to say goodbye to Tomer and Romana, who both had flights to Bangkok that afternoon. I hope I have a chance to see them again. Come visit NYC guys!

After finishing my 3-day pass, I spent time relaxing in the pool at the hostel and watching afternoon movies in the AC. I finally met up with Alex on that Friday afternoon as she didn't have class. She was volunteering teaching English in a village 4-5 kilometers away. She borrowed a motorbike and met me at the hostel. We spent the afternoon on Saturday together as well, swimming and eating at Natalie's. We even watched Interstellar in the hostel cinema. It was a great ending to an incredible week in Siem Reap. The next day at noon, I checked out and we hopped on a bus to Phnom Penh. 

Next stop, Phnom Penh.