You can’t go to Siem Reap without encountering Angelina Jolie. Likely not in the flesh but her spirit is alive and well… and I think she does have a lot of affection for Cambodia so I was OK with all the Tomb Raider promotion 😉
You can skip the Tomb Raider cocktail but DO go to Pub Street, as much to eat as to drink. You may discover the music volume is at its best on the street instead of in the clubs but maybe I just care about my hearing too much 😉 You should definitely have a beer at Angkor What? because it’s how you will imagine Cambodia – cheap beer, imported staff and weird graffiti (you will be able to hear the music from the bar across the street from that distance!)
https://www.facebook.com/angkor.whatbar You should of course drink some Angkor beer because, hey, you are in Cambodia! And you should check out Pub Street in Siem Reap at least for a night but remember to see some temples too 😉
Of course, you have to go to Angkor Wat…. We will talk about it… but it is most likely your heart will be captured by a more underdog temple… there are a lot of temples! I should have likely planned more but I am working too much to have much time to obsessively research the travel destinations so I am generally improvising. Improvising is not so bad if you do a few basics pre-trip. I make sure I have some idea what to do and book a very well-researched hotel if I think I am going to need help getting around.
As already noted, I can’t say enough wonderful things about Shinta Mani so it was easy to just put myself in their capable hands… and that’s how I met Tiger.
I would recommend starting early and finishing before lunch to maximize the experience. And you definitely need to check out Ta Prohm… or, as you will start referring to it, the Tomb Raider temple 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta_Prohm
When you get there, you will be tempted to start acting like a video game character J It is wonderfully atmospheric – a bit swampy, with the jungle threatening to overtake the buildings.
The other temple that will blow your mind is Bayon. Another crazy aristocrat possibly on drugs… but the faces will follow you and pop up in your dreams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayon
I am now in Amsterdam trying to force my way through jet lag so we may drift back to Europe… but there is still more I want to say about Cambodia so I am sure more adventures will find their way into these pages…
For now, all I can say is stay at Shinta Mani, ask them to book a tuk-tuk temple tour with Tiger and embrace your inner Angelina Jolie – but don’t mess up the temples with bullets 😉
Comments on: "exploring your inner Angelina Jolie ;)" (2)
Nice little guide you wrote here. I came back from Cambodia recently, and while Bayon and Ta Prohm are amazing, it is Angkor Wat itself that left the biggest impression on me. http://backpackerlee.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/angkor-wat-the-theatre-of-dreams/
your mission sounds great 🙂 my travels and commentary are pretty random… not that I wasn’t impressed by angkor wat but it might have been the photographer or root for the little guy in me that found other temples more fascinating…