There are several things that you need to know before you want to visit the temples at Angkor Archaeological Park. People always say that "I want to visit Angkor Wat at Cambodia." "Angkor Wat is very nice!" Little do they know that actually Angkor Wat is just one of the 50 plus temples at Angkor Archaeological Park. Angkor in Siem Reap is 'larger than life.' Lol. I didn't expect it to be so big!!!!!! It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the park is stretching over 400 square kilometres. The travel distance from one temple to another temple is quite far. Therefore, you have to plan properly before you visit the temples.
1. Things to bring
- Monopod
I seldom use monopod for my previous trip. However I found it so useful this time!!! If you want to beat the crowd to shoot the best sunrise photo you have to bring it. Yes, some people say that it is advisable to go there 4.30 a.m. to get the best spot. That's crazy! Luckily my tuk tuk driver told us to go there sharp at 5.00 a.m. yet we still manage to watch the sunrise. Don't go there so early and wait like a fool. Haha, Lesson learned. This was because the previous day we went to the Phnom Bakheng too early to watch the sunset. Hence, our time was wasted two hours there. 5.00 a.m. should be okay.
More than 2000 people there. What a crowd! We woke up so early and we didn't even have time to have our breakfast at our hostel. After we arrived there, we accompanied our friend to buy breakfast at one of the food truck near the Angkor Wat area. Two of us didn't eat because it's so early to have breakfast. *Actually we were very excited and we were afraid that we couldn't watch the sunrise-Lol C'mon..*
Gosh. Tourists everywhere! Sorry, I was one of them too. XD Aiyo, so many people blocked the view. How to take nice photos? How to take the beautiful reflection photo of Angkor Wat that I always scroll on the Instagram feed? I tried to walk in front to take a closer shot of it.
Urgh...Sad case for me because I was short.
Argh...I was so frustrated
and
tada
monopod came to the rescue!!!
I pulled out my monopod to the longest length and *clicked* managed to snap a few photos of Angkor Wat without any tourists photobombed my photos.
- A camera
(Camera: Casio EX-ZR3600) ( mobile phone )
Bring a camera if you have one. If you have DSLR then this place is for you to take lots of nice photos. Sometimes I don't like to use mobile phone because the pixels is not that nice. Besides that I like to zoom my photos and I dislike grainy photos. So, I used a camera.
- Mobile Phone
Why? Just in case your camera's battery died. You can also use your mobile phone to post your insta story, make a live Facebook video, and upload your photos instantly. However you have to have internet connection :P
- Snacks and sufficient drinks
It's really hot in Cambodia especially during the dry season which starts from December to April. Before you visit the temples it is advisable to have your breakfast at your hotel or hostel. There were some stalls selling food and drinks at the temples. However the food was so expensive! The food and drink that were sold near the Angkor Wat temple were pricey. There was a boy offered us 7USD for a plate of fried rice. After several attempts, we managed to bargain the price and I ordered a plate of 2USD fried rice. Kinda disappointing with the food of a particular stall. They put so many carrots in my fried rice. It's not that I dislike carrots but the carrots were not diced. So if you are a budget traveler, bring your own food like bread or biscuits. Our tuk tuk driver did provide us with lots of free bottled drinking water. At first I didn't want to take any drinking water from strangers for safety purpose. Luckily I was not travelling alone so I just took the all bottled water. We were really thirsty and there were three of us so we didn't think too much. For your information, Angkor is very big. Some places and some roads were quite isolated from the crowds. Thus, it's better for girls who travel solo to bring their own water.
- Cap
There's very little shades at Angkor Wat and other temples too. Bring a cap to protect you from the scorching sun.
- Umbrella
Level up and bring an umbrella. However you have to close your umbrella when you enter some temples because the doors are very small. It's very rare to see people bringing their umbrella into the temples. It's very annoying because you need to close it when you want to climb the stairs. It's also very frustrating to open the umbrella and close it for so many times. So it depends on you.
- Sunscreen
Apply some sunscreen before you visit the temples.
- Face mask
The places were very dusty so I wore a face mask when I was on any tuk tuk rides. Another perk of wearing a face mask was it kept me safe and sound. People couldn't really identify that whether I was a local or a tourist when my face was covered by a face mask. Just have to be cautious and I don't want to targetted by bad people even though I was not travelling alone.
- Sunglasses
You can wear sunglasses anywhere. However, you have to take off your sunglasses when you want to climb the tower at Angkor Wat.
2. Ticket
You can purchase a ticket which is valid for 1, 3 or 7 day visit. We bought the 3 Day 'Angkor Pass'. to explore all the temples.The 3 day ticket allowed us to use it on any 3 days within the 7 days from the date of purchase.
1 day $20
3 days $40
7 days $60
3 days $40
7 days $60
We didn't go to watch the sunrise on the first day of our visit to Angkor. Even though I couldn't wait to visit Angkor Wat I couldn't see it on the first day. This was because the ticket office opened at 5 a.m. so I might not be able to catch the sunrise on time. So my friend suggested me to do the Grand Circuit first. then we went to Angkor Wat the next day. When we arrived at the ticket counter, we bought the tickets.After that the staff took a picture of our faces. They didn't even say 123..Lol. So unprepared. After a few minutes, we got our passes *yeah* with our faces and printed the passes. Sorry about the sleepy look because we woke up 5 a.m. that day.
Don't lose your ticket! They will always check your ticket at every temples.
3. Transport
4. Tips
We explored Angkor using Tuk Tuk. My Cambodia friend helped me to book a tuk tuk driver for my three days' visit at Siem Reap. The fee for the tuk tuk ride was $60 for three days. The driver would charge us extra $10 if we wanted to tour the tonle sap. The driver dropped us outside the gates of every temples. Sometimes it's hard for us to communicate with him because he couldn't speak English well. Luckily my Cambodian friend helped me again to solve this problem. My friend told the route to the driver so the problem was solved.
The temples were so big and there were many exits so please remember the place where your tuk tuk dropped you. There's one more problem. After we went out from every temples, we were searching for our tuk tuk driver. We were shocked when we saw so many tuk tuk parking outside the gate. it was very hard to find. Thus, it's better to take a photo of your tuk tuk driver or tuk tuk.
Our driver's name is Mr Pork. He is a very nice man. If you want to contact him, I can give you his number.
4. Tips
- There were no toilets inside the temple. It's not a good news for people who have weak bladder like me. However there were several restroom at Angkor but the restroom were very far.
- For the ladies- Wear clothes that cover your shoulder and no short pants. It's just a simple sign of respect even though it's very hot at Cambodia.
- Wear sneakers. You will thank me later.
- Read something about Angkor Wat prior to your arrival, if not you will think that all temples look the same.
- You can purchase Ancient Angkor by Michael Freeman. The book provides detailed maps, suggested itineraries, and helpful information about all of the temples in the Angkor Archaeology Park. My friend and I bought it when we were visiting one of the temples because we couldn't afford to book a tour guide. However, we ended up not reading it because it was impossible to read it while we sat at the tuk tuk. The roads were so bumpy.
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I will show you the temples that we went during our stay at Siem Reap. We bought 3 days pass because at first we wanted to stay at Siem Reap for three days. However, we went back to Phnom Penh early because of our rushing schedule. It's okay. I will go to Siem Reap and other places of Cambodia again. :(
Day 1
Image: https://angkor-travels.com/html/angkormap.php
Angkor Grand Circuit Tour
1. Preah Khan
Visit: At least 1 hour
3. Ta Som
4. East Mebon
Highlight: 1. Find the elephant sculptures
Visit: 30 minutes
Visit: 30 minutes
5. Banteay Samre
Highlight: 1. Find the elephant sculptures
Visit: 30 minutes
6. Pre Rup
Visit: 1 hour
7. Srah Srang
Visit: 15 mins
8. Banteay Kdei
Visit: 1 hour
9. Ta Prohm (Went to this temple on Day2)
Highlight: 1. Hi Lara Croft :)
Visit: 2 hours
10. Ta Keo
Visit: 1 hour
11. Banteay Srei
Highlight: 1. The pink temples
2. The citadel of women
Visit: 2 hours
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Day 2
Image: https://angkor-travels.com/html/angkormap.php
Angkor Small Circuit Tour
1. Angkor Wat
Highlight: 1. Watch the sunrise / sunset
2. Book a tour guide to explain the history of this temple
3. The world's largest religious monument
Visit: 2 hours
2. Ta Prohm Kel
Visit: 10 minutes
3. Phnom Bakheng (Went to this temple on the first day because we wanted to watch the sunset )
Highlight: 1. Can view Angkor Wat from the top.
2. Perfect place for sunset view
Visit: 1 hour
4. Bayon
Highlight: 1. The complex of face-towers
Visit: 2hours
5. Angkor Thom
Visit: several hours
6. Elephant Terrace
Visit:15 minutes
7. Leper King Terrace
Visit: 15 minutes
8. Phimeanakas & The Royal Palace
Highlight: 1. This is the hardest climb for me.
Visit: 2 hours
10. Bapuon
Visit: 1 hour
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
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You can also view my travel video on Youtube.
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