We left Kuala Lumpur on an early flight to Siem Reap. We were excited to finally see the temples of Angkor Wat, which had been on both of our lists for a while. We were also a little nervous because the flooding reports for Cambodia hadn't been great - nearly 75% of the country was under water - but we knew from a friend of Jo's brother that things were getting back to normal.
Siem Reap is in the northwest of Cambodia and is the gateway to the Angkor region. The town itself has a vibrant ex-pat community and thriving art scene. We were lucky enough to be there during a photography exhibition and got to see some really interesting work from local Khmer artists as well as foreigners.
Around Siem Reap there are numerous Wats (temples) dating back to the 10th-12th centuries. Many of the Wats had been claimed by the jungle but were "discovered" in the mid-19th Century and slowly became a tourist destination. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, tourism to Cambodia was limited, but these days there are plenty of tourists visiting the temples. We freshened up after our early flight and headed off in a motor rickshaw to view the first of many Wats.
We have tons of great pictures of the temples and we haven't been able to cut them down to a single blog post's worth of images so the next few posts will be photos different ruins around Siem Reap. Here's a little preview:
We finished off our day with a hearty meal, Khmer style! An all you can eat buffet where you cook on your own charcoal grill at your table, similar to Korean BBQ. It only cost about $3 each:
Next post - Angkor Wat, the most famous temple in Cambodia.
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