Top Things To Do In Siem Reap – Travel And Review

Explore Angkor Wat Temple

Date: Early 12th century

Reign: Suryavarman II

Highlights: there is around 2000 apsaras and many of bas-reliefs in the temple. It is the world’s largest religious Temple with the total area is almost 200 hectares.

Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument and is considered as a masterpiece of humankind which was built during the reign of Suryavarman II, in the first half of the 12th century. The total area is almost 200 hectares. The temple combines 2 major features of Khmer’s magnificent architecture: a pyramid and concentric galleries.

Angkor Wat was constructed as a funeral temple for King Suryavarman II and oriented to the West while most temples in Khmer face to the East. Recently, there are a lot of explanations about this, one reason is because the temple is dedicated to Vishnu who is the God of West. The other explanation is that the temple is an association with the direction of death.

To me, a day is not enough to explore the Angkor complex. I spent 3 days there, which gave me more time to learn about the history of Angkor’s dynasty. There are 3 types of passes available that you can consider which one is suit your journey.

• 1 day pass: 37$
• 3 day pass: 62$
• 7 day pass: 72$

Please refer back to this article for your further info Angkor Wat Travel Guide – Everything about Angkor Wat that you have to know.

For more pictures of the Angkor Temple, visit this article: Angkor Wat Temple – Travel and History

Visit Ancient Ta Prohm

Ticket: Ta Prohm is included in the Angkor Wat pass ticket.

Best time to visit: Sunrise. If you want to avoid the crowds when visiting Ta Prohm, let’s go in the early morning because most of tourists appreciate sunrise at Angkow Wat temples.

Peak Seasons in Siem Reap is November to February because it’s cooler and more comfortable. April and May are the hottest months since the temperature can reach up to 40 Celsius or over.

Ta Prohm would be the top Buddhist temples to visit in Angkor Wat Complex. Temples in Ta Prohm are mystical and secretive which have been swallowed by the Cambodian Jungle, which reminds us the power of mother nature. Trees began to grow into the temples’ walls. And their invasive and giant roots make Ta Prohm become one of the most photographed spot in Siem Reap.

Ta Prohm was built under the reign of King Jayavarman VII in 1186 and originally called as Rajavihara, meaning Monastery of the King, served as Buddhist Monastery and University. In the 15th century, Ta Phrohm was abandoned until the early of 21st century, people decided to restore the temples but still remain its mystery with mother nature since it was completely enveloped by the jungle.

Explore The Bayon And Learn About Its History

Best time to visit: early morning or late afternoon.
Ticket: Bayon is included in the Angkor Wat pass ticket.

The Bayon was constructed in the center of Angkor Thom and it is well-known as a complex of face-towers, many people want to visit to witness the beauty of history. The temple is built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII. Unlike Angkor Wat or Ta Prohm temples, Bayon is not surrounded by walls but an open space.

Bayon is a large gallery with bas-reliefs and historical stories, battles and daily life sculpted on the walls. And the stories in the wall galleries have passed through different religious phrases from Pantheon of the Gods, Hindu worship and Buddhism. To be honest, the temple is extremely complex both in terms of its structure and meaning.

There were originally 49 face-towers and around 216 mysterious smiling faces which relief Cambodia people’s life in 12th century. Most are carved 4 faces and a few is 3 or 2 faces.

There are 2 sets of bas-reliefs in Bayon which were carved at different times. The outer enclosure were carved at the beginning of the 13th century, while the inner closure were carved in the second half of the 13th century. Both tell the stories of historical battles or people’s life events, however the earlier set of bas-relief narratives the battles with the Chams, while the later is related to Hindu mythology.

For more pictures of the Bayon library, visit this article: Bayon, Siem Reap – Travel and History

Ride A Bike Around Angkor Archaeological Park

Angkor Archaeological Park is 400 square kilometers including the forest area, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon and other majestic temples. Angkor Archaeological Park was declared The UNESCO World Heritage in 1992. Unless you are Cambodian, you have to buy the Angkor pass to visit the Angkor Archaeological Park.

There are many different ways to visit the Angkor Wat depending on your budget, how long you stay and how you want to experience the city.

I chose bicycle as my main way to travel around Siem Reap. Apart from the 40-degree Celsius heat, it is very easy to cycle around Angkor Wat since the road is surrounded by a lot of trees. The bicycle rental is around 2$ -4$/day and you can easily find a rental shop near your hotel. And don’t forget to bargain to get a better price for your rental.

Prepare yourself a map, water and some snacks for your journey around the Angkor Archaeological Park. Believe me, it is the cheapest but the most interesting way to travel around Siem Reap and with your own bike, you can stop by any temple for how long that you want, you can totally manage your itinerary. Great, right?!

Prasat Neak Pean

Date: It was built in the second half of the 12th century

Reign: King Jayavarman VII

Highlights: Buddhist symbolism.

Visit duration: 30 minutes.

Best time to visit: Early morning or late afternoon (because the path to the temple is quite hot without shade trees in the middle of the day). Better visit in December and January because there is water in the pond. I visited in April, the pond is almost dry.

Neak Pean is an artificial island with a small Buddhist temple in the middle of the pond. Neak Pean is located about 300m from the road, so you have to walk on a fairly long wooden path to enter the temple. If you decide to visit the big circle of Angkor Archaeological Park, you will definitely pass by the Neak Pean, then stop for a short visit. On the way to enter the temple you will witness local people grazing buffaloes, catching fish and working on their field.

Walk Around The Old Market

Opening Hours: Daily from 7am to 8pm

Location: 2 Thnou St, Siem Reap, Cambodia

The old market is locally known as Psar Chas which is the oldest local Khmer market in Siem Reap with many vendors and stalls selling all kinds of local souvenirs, jewelry, clothes, food or art sculptures, carvings, etc.

Some small tips for you when walking around the Old Market: it can get crowded at some points, so you need to pay attention to your belongings, you should be ready to bargain hard to get the best price, sometimes the actual price is about the third of the first price.

Shop At The Art Night Market

Address: 7000, Hospital St, Krong Siem Reap, Campuchia

Opening hours: 16.00pm – 23.00pm

The Art Market’s located on the East bank of the Siem Reap river, opposite the Old Market and near the Pub street. Thus, if you have a short time trip to Siem Reap, you can consider visiting the Old Market, the Art Market and Pub street in one day or haft day trip since these destinations are close to each other.

The Art Market offers a variety of local products and souvenirs for travelers. It’s just very much like other markets in the center of touristy area in Thailand, Bali, Malaysia; however, the price is much cheaper. You have to haggle and bargain to get the best price. And the best thing is that the sellers and shopkeepers in Cambodia can speak many languages. In my trip, I luckily bought 1 t-shirt and 1 elephant-image pants with only 4 dollars. Yay!!!

Plan A Foodie Tour

Siem Reap street’s food is somehow influenced by Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, the neighbor countries’ style and flavors. It is not difficult to find an authentic Khmer restaurant in the center of Siem Reap where you can fully enjoy variety of local food, snacks or exotic tropical fruit/ juice. Travelers can easily find stalls of BBQ in very nook and corner in Siem Reap, especially in the Old Market, the Art Market, and the food stalls along Siem Reap river.

My favorite every day food in Siem Reap is avocado smoothie (only 1$) and green mango salad (about 2-4$). I really miss it!!!

Bai Sach Chrouk( Pork with broken rice)

Bai Sach Chrouk is one of the most popular
dishes for breakfast in Cambodia which is usually offered by the street vendors.

It is composed of broken rice( Bai) and sliced, grilled pork ( sach Chrouk) and pickled vegetables.

Pork is mainly used for the Bai Sach Chrouk; however, some vendors or restaurants have got more options like: duck, beef, chicken, egg or even spring rolls, whatever can be ordered as the topping for your rice.

Green Mango/ papaya salad

Green mango or papaya salad is not just the favorite food of locals but foreigners and travellers.

The mango/ papaya salad is well-known in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia cuisines.

The salad is mixed of mango or papaya and fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar, chilly, garlic, beans, green eggplant, and variation of different kinds of seafood like dried shrimp, crab, dried fish or squid.

Pong tia koon – Balut

Balut is a favorite dish in Philippine, Vietnam, Cambodia and others Asian countries like Thailand, Laos.

You can find many street vendors selling balut which is served with mint( laksa leaves) and salt and pepper powder and a slice of lime as a mixture with the powder.

I know it is a little eww to Western or European friends, but definitely it is delicious, you should try at least once. It’s one of my favorite’s.

Street food BBQ

Like Thailand and Vietnamese, Cambodian love grilled food, there are plenty of the street grilled food like: chicken, fish, squid, shrimp, pork, duck, beef, etc even insects which is served together with the Cambodian fish sauce or chilli sauce. Walk around all local markets, you can definitely find a mouth-watering food carts selling all sorts of the street BBQ.

Nom banh chok: Khmer noodles

You can find many street vendors in the morning served noodles. Nom banh chok is served mainly for breakfast in Siem Reap. Rice noodles are topped with variety of vegetables like cucumber, banana blossom, bean-sprouts, basil, mint, etc. The taste of nom banh chok maybe a bit different from regions to regions in Cambodia. For some restaurants, they may top up the red curry, dried shrimp, fish sauce, peanuts or coconut milk.

Watch Sunset At Tonle- Sap Lake

Tonle Sap ( Khmer: ទន្លេសាប) is a seasonal inundated lake, the lake’s size is around 2500 km² during the dry season( late April), but its size enlarge to 6-7 times in the rainy season( September and early October), around 16000 km² .

There are many different spots of Tonle Sap where you can visit and enjoy the sunset or take a boat ride to experience the floating life of local people here. The ticket for boat ride is overpriced, 20$/ person, even there are plenty of boats with kids driving. There are many tours visiting Tonle Sap in Siem Reap including dinner by the lake or visiting crocodile farm. We actually didn’t book a tour but hiring a tuk-tuk to bring us to the lotus farm and straight to the Tonle Sap lake after that. 20$/person is not worth my money at all as a backpacker so we just hung around the Lake and watched the sunset.

Visit Lotus Farm

Location: ក្រុងសៀមរាប, 8R2V+73 Siem Reap, Cambodia ( on the way to Tonle Sap Lake)

Opening hour: 8AM- 17PM

Entrance ticket: 2000 Riels/ person ( 0.5$)

The Lotus Farm is located about 15 minutes from the center of Siem Reap and it’s on the way to Tonle Sap lake, so you can combine lotus farm and Tonle Sap lake for a haft day visit. It is a nice place for a short visit, taking some nice pictures and eating some local food in the restaurants inside the lotus farm. Apart from witnessing the flower, you can enjoy the boat ride in the lotus lake. There are some lotus farms including lotus workshop where you can buy goods from lotus or lotus stem product.

Learn Cambodia’s History In The National Museum

Location: 968 Vithei, Charles De Gaulle, Krong Siem Reap, Campuchia

Entrance fee: 12$/ adult and 6$/kid. You can rent detailed audio guide in multiples languages for additional cost of 6$.

Opening hour: 1 Apr – 30 Sep 08.30 – 18.00 / 1 Oct – 31 Mar 08.30 – 18.30

Angkor National Museum is one of the biggest museum in Cambodia. The museum covers Khmer history, artifacts and civilization. The museum has strict policy of no taking photos. Before your trip to the Angkor Wat complex, you can consider visiting the museum which provides you a plenty of information about the temples.

• Briefing hall: before visiting the gallery, visitors are expected to sit in a theater to watch the mix of 15-minute video presentation about the museum and the briefing of Angkor Empire’s history.
• Exclusive gallery: you are able to visit a room of 1000 Buddha statues’ collection.
• Gallery of Khmer Civilization: How the Khmer was established. Explore the Khmer’s faith and the stories of ancient wars.
• Gallery of Khmer’s Religion and Beliefs: Learn about the legends and folk tales that motivated the civilization of Khmer and the affection of Khmer civilization.
• Gallery of Great Khmer Kings: stories of 4 Great Khmer Kings: Jayavarman II, Yasovarman I, Soryavarman II, Jayavarman VII.
• Gallery of Angkor Wat: learn about the history of how the masterpiece of Angkor Wat was constructed.
• Gallery of Angkor Thom: learn about the architecture and history of Angkor Thom.
• Gallery of Stones: stone inscriptions found provide evidence of ancient languages, beliefs, various legends of Khmer empire.
• Gallery of Ancient Costume: different styles of Khmer costumes amongst the Angkor ancient periods.

References:

Angkor National Museum, Siem Reap, Campodia. (visited 25-4-2019)

Michael Freeman, Claude Jacques, Narisa Chakrabongse (ed.). 2003. Ancient Angkor – Books Guides.

Tourism of Cambodia, Neak Pean,
https://www.tourismcambodia.com/attractions/angkor/neak-pean.htm (Accessed 2020-5-1)

Official website of Angkor National Museum,http://www.angkornationalmuseum.com (Accessed 2019-6-25).