Frequenting a forum on travel, I met a person who was getting ready to come to Siem Reap at the same time as me, so we kept in touch, she arrived the day before and arrived at the reception of our hotel, I was immediately given a note that she had passed on, her hotel being located just opposite mine! She gave me an appointment if I was available for the same evening with her travel companions at the reception of their hotel.
But for now, we leave on foot towards the city center, it is time to start visiting. To the sound of "tuk tuk sir?"; already familiar with Thailand except that here, it is absolutely systematic. As it is already quite advanced in the afternoon it is no longer worth going to Angkor now, because the package is payable for the day, but the passage becomes free from 17 p.m.
First steps in Siem Reap.
It's wooded, well maintained, quite pleasant to walk here along the canal.
A crossroads congested with 2 wheels.
It is close to this crossroads that we end up asking ourselves "but where to go?" A tuk tuk arrives and we stop it because we want to go to Angkor because it is almost 17 p.m. This one understands and speaks a little English. Passing in front of the markets he asks if we want to stop, ok why not.
Wide selection of all kinds of purchases.
How about some fruit?
And still not there?
Um… how do we get across there?
We leave, as it is still too early, we let ourselves be taken for a ride by our tuk tuk, very diligent in his role as guide, who tells us what we can see on the side of the road. He takes us, we don't know, we look at each other laughing, because sometimes, he shows us something, but there is nothing around. Then he takes us to see a small lost temple that no one knows.
Located next to a school, it is precisely the time to leave. There without particularly wanting it the driver of tuk tuk n°5034 named Sokna has just made his mark. Indeed, it is love at first sight for us. Being in contact with these children who look at us with curiosity and then who willingly let themselves (And for free… It is stupid to say, but we realized it later…) take a picture. We had a great time and we thanked our driver warmly.
Small group of Cambodian children.
As time went on there were more and more of them, it made them happy, and us too because it's nice to see these children smile.
Behind the scenes of the top photo. The water bottle will disappear while we are too busy taking pictures. At least we will have made everyone happy…
And that's how to make them smile, showing them the photos taken amuses them a lot because they are not used to it.
Find the intruder!
The temple itself was quite ordinary.
The ruins are a playground for them.
Little prankster!
So we stayed longer than expected and it was time to leave if we didn't want to miss the sunset. So we set off for Angkor, which is now free at this time. The problem is that our driver was almost too careful, dragging himself along at 40 or 50 km/h even on major roads... Which doesn't stop us from making Jitima and I smile once again, we definitely like this driver!
Arrived at the foot of the mountain where the temple is located from where it is famous for witnessing a beautiful sunset, sellers of postcards and souvenir books fall on us like all tourists. We climb quickly and are not the only ones and some even run, because indeed, the sun is very red and very low.
We arrived just a little too late... Oh well, there were too many people on the stairs going down from the temple. I still had time to enjoy the show a little before it went completely dark.
By a hair's breadth...
Shadow play.
The view during the day must be worth a look.
It goes down steeply and we can't see anything anymore...
And that's to see nothing, we couldn't see anything because there was no lighting. Fortunately, my cell phone has a good light (which normally serves as a flash for the camera function...), Jitima clinging to my arm, we are the second to last to go back down the path, armed with my cell phone torch. Our tuk tuk was waiting patiently at the bottom, knowing that we had negotiated the price before leaving, so the waiting times are included, we got away with it for 7 Dollars because it was half a day. Very satisfied we decide to meet him at the bottom of our hotel for the next morning, quite early, because this time, we are going to go around all the temples in one day, a big day in perspective.
After a shower, we went back to find a restaurant, but Jitima already had an idea, she wanted to take me to a restaurant where she had just been last time. Once we found it, I was able to appreciate the free popcorn, the free drink for one purchased and the more than reasonable prices, very good dishes around $3 on average. It's not complicated, we ate there every night!
On the way back there was a show at Angkor Wat, 60 dollars entry…
We won't go, not to the show but to the temple, yes, but the next day of course!
Traffic at a crossroads returning to Siem Reap.
A very good restaurant that I recommend: the Angkor Famous.
