The pinnacle of our visit to Cambodia was the temple tour, eloquently described by my better half here. There were many other highlights though.
Siem Reap is a charming town that has benefited from infrastructure improvements via the thriving tourist industry. It reminded me of a smaller version of Chiang Mai -- both towns were easy to get around, had a compact, fascinating town center that belied the city's size, and both reached the right balance (at least for this tourist) between authenticity and convenience. I hope (but am not optimistic) that these towns keep this balance as they continue to become more popular to western tourists.
The architecture in Siem Reap looked more like Ho Chi Minh City - lots of French colonial-style architecture. For example, this was the Smiling Hotel, which was right near our hotel. The hotel is currently ranked #159 out of 227 hotels on Trip Advisor, so it's not like you need 5 star treatment to get an impressive facade.
Our hotel was a little different - it felt like an old compound that had been converted into a hotel. There was a lot of greenery, beautiful decor, a nice pool (with cocktails :) ),
and a frog pond that required a 5 minute stop every time we passed it.
Other than our temple tour, we took the motorized rickshaw ("tuk-tuk") everywhere in Cambodia.
It really is a lot of fun, as long as you can block out the fears of your two young children getting distracted and falling (or jumping!) out of the moving motorcycle. Riding in a tuk-tuk is one of the things I will miss most about our visits to Southeast Asia.
Siem Reap had a nice tourist-friendly central area with cafes, western restaurants and a handful of places serving "Cambodia's greatest hits". Here we are at Pub Street.
I'm craving Mexican-Cambodian food. Anybody know where I can score some?
The day after our big temple tour, Chandra booked an ATV tour through the rural area surrounding Siem Reap. We figured there would be some nice sights but it was also a little treat for the kids considering the monotony of the previous day.
The idea was similar to our bike trip through Bali (without the delicious lunch :( ). We saw some farming, some small villages,
and some good people watching.
In the main village, there was a really cool neighborhood temple. Similar to Angkor Wat, it was started as a Hindu temple but was "converted" to Buddhist as that religion began to take root.
On our way back, we went to a local market. The kids got some fried bread and a sugar cane juice.
That night, we followed the advice of one of Chandra's coworkers and visited Phare.
Phare is Siem Reap's version of Cirque de Soleil. The show has traditional Cambodian themes and is performed by at-risk Cambodian youth who have been trained extensively by a French professional troupe.
The show was really impressive and was a nice change of pace. The kids really enjoyed it and even managed to get a cool picture with the stars of the show.
To save money, we flew through Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Since we were already there, we decided to spend a night there as well. It had more of the Southeast Asia capital city vibe (i.e., more ghetto) but we still saw some few nice things. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time/stomach to see probably the most meaningful sights: the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
The Royal Palace was right next to our hotel. It was a nice respite from the general chaos of the city. Let's just say that our appearance made us quite popular with the locals.
The Royal Palace was impressive, like a smaller version of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
I bet that comparison is an insulting thing to say to a Cambodian (sorry!)
The central market in Phnom Penh is another example of the French architectural influences.
We stopped at the food stalls for some fresh spring rolls and some drinks.
Iced Cambodian (or Vietnamese) coffee is da bomb! Man that stuff is good.
