OUR TRIP TO CAMBODIA

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Disclaimer : We are both history enthusiasts and since we had only a week’s stay we chose to plan an itinerary for a week that’ll include only visiting Cambodian historical places and temples that are a must visit.
Finally this magical trip happened. Cambodia – a land with rich history, lovely people and amazing architecture.
We loved our trip to Cambodia. We were amazed especially by the rich history that the land of Cambodia and khmer( pronounced as Kuh Mai) empire holds.
BEST TIME TO VISIT TO AVOID THE CROWD:
There are myriad of tourists travelling to Cambodia each year mainly to visit the Angkor Wat Temple.We didn’t want to go to Cambodia during the crowded season hence picked the off season time. After our visit , we were really glad we did so. I really feel if you can bear the heat ( ranging from 23 – 35 degree celsius ) the month of June- July is definitely the best time to visit Angkor Wat to avoid the crowd. We were lucky it didn’t rain much when we went. Best season weather wise is Nov – April ,for those who can’t stand the heat.
If you guys prefer visiting during the peak season , then take the entrance that you see less crowded. Usually the main entrance is where all the guides take the first time travellers. Hence, you could choose one of the other three entrances to the temple. All temples of Cambodia have 4 entrances facing each direction.
GIVING A GEOGRAPHICAL INTRO
Cambodia is a Southeast Asian Country that shares it’s borders with Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The moment we think of Cambodia the first thing that comes to our mind is the famous Angkor Wat Temple.

Unni( my husband) and Me , we were thrilled to visit this place especially coz of all the rich history in this beautiful hidden gem called- Cambodia. For us being a Hindu seeing so much of hindu mythology carvings and temples built in another land other India was truly inspiring.
We stayed at Cambodia for a week. Though we thought we could plan and cover all the temples in a week, it’s true this is actually a really short time. This land has so much explore that if you guys are into learning more about the temple architecture, history and legends we would suggest to stay a bit longer. As there will always be a lot more that you could still see and learn about .
We landed in Cambodia at Siem Reap International Airport . We stayed at Angkor Pal Boutique Hotel, Siem Reap which was 20 minutes from the airport.For Indian Passport holders , you get the Visa on arrival. You can also apply online before landing in Cambodia.
There was a tuk tuk driver waiting for us at the airport ,sent by the hotel staff.
I personally loved the tuk tuk ride.I really didn’t expect it to be such a fun ride. Tuk Tuk is the easiest way to get around and explore the city.

As we entered the hotel and reached the reception kiosk , there was a fixed price chart at the desk for tuk tuk, car and van rides to different destination around the city.
On an average if you take tuk tuk ride for one whole day ( i.e) from 7 or 8 am to 5:30 pm they charge you 15$ USD. They charge you extra 5$ if you choose to visit the temples for sunrise or sunset.
There are also different tour packages available if you are prefer that way. We chose to travel on our own since we didn’t want to rush things and wanted to check out the temple and places at our own pace.We decided to hire a guide and we really loved our guide .When asked, he said he had been working as a guide for 8 years.

We would definitely recommend hiring a guide when you visit the temples of Cambodia. You will be amazed by the rich cultural experience that you get from this land. We are really happy we hired Mr Phat ,our guide who shared a lot of history and stories of the temples we visited.
We hired an English speaking guide . The hotel has fixed prices for the guides too. It costs around 35$ USD per day for an english speaking guide. You can also find French, German ,Spanish and Chinese speaking guide here at Cambodia.
We totally enjoyed our 1 week’s trip to Cambodia. We still managed to visit most of the famous and important temples of Cambodia. If you are planning for a trip to Cambodia and would like to visit the temple without rushing things and if you have only a week’s time for the visit ,following this itinerary will definitely help.
Note: All temples at Cambodia closes at 5:30 pm. Hence we’ll have to plan our visit accordingly. We started our tuk tuk travel everyday at morning 8: 00 am and reached our hotel by evening after 6 pm.

Day 1

We decided to spend a whole day at Angkor Wat. Initially most guides will suggest that you  cover the big circuit or small circuit in one day( these are usual tourist routes used by thr tours / guides to cover most of the temples), but we wanted to cover the whole of Angkor wat slowly, know the legends of each carvings on the wall, it’s history etc. Our guide was very happy since to comply and we planned our itinerary accordingly.
We got our 1 week’s Angkor pass and started our journey in Tuk Tuk to visit the incredible Angkor Wat Temple. All tourists need to buy these visitor’s pass .There are passes for 1 day, 3 days and 7 days . After spending a whole day at Angkor we definitely recommend other tourists to do the same as well. Spending a whole day at Angkor Wat is definitely worth your time. Our guide explained most of the carvings in the temple.The whole experience at Angkor Wat was truly enchanting .

Day 2

We decided to cover the city of Angkor Thom on Day 2. We had consulted with our guide and he suggested we prioritize our day’s trip to four main temples.

They were: Bayon Temple, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm and Baphuon.
We started the day with a visit to the magnificient Bayon temple – an enduring masterpiece of architecture with towers showing faces of budha on all four directions.

This magnificient piece of art- the Bayon temple was built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII . It is said the King Jayavarman VII wanted to reunite both his hindu and budhist citizens under his empire. Hence he decided to build this temple by unifying the religious concepts of hinduism and buddhism.
We’ll explain more about the concepts and legends about each temple in our upcoming blogs. For now, we’ll stick to the 6 day itinerary.
Most of our time we spent at Bayon Temple since there were a lot of carvings at this temple. We then visited the Terrace of Elephants which doesn’t take much time , followed by visit to Baphuon, Ta Keo and Ta Prohm. Steps at Ta Keo and Baphuon are very steep hence it is recommended to wear appropriate clothing.

Day-3

We visited Banteay Srei Butterfly (BBC) Centre, Banteay Srei and Kulen Mountain on our third day. There is no Tuk Tuk Service to Kulen Mountain ,car or van is recommended. We hired a car. They usually charge you 70$ USD for Kulen Mountain due to the long distance( The price might vary according to the hotel you book).
If you take a guide along you have to pay 10$ USD extra for him as well but it is worth it.
Banteay Srei butterfly center was a treat and a great fun start for day 3. The staff were cheerful and explained in great detail the work of rearing butterflies through the different stages of their life cycle.
We managed to capture few photos of the butterflies at the BBC. It was fun to chase around the different butterflies with our cameras, and we clicked some amazing close up photos.
We then visited the temple of Bantaey Srei, also known as the jewel of Khmer (pronounced kuh mai) Architecture. This temple is a must visit and it was founded by a Brahmin named Yajnavaraha who was attached to King Rajendravarman II and Jayavarman V , built during mid 10th Century( 967).
We took a break for lunch and resumed our journey to Kulen Mountain to see Sahasra Linga in the river of thousand lingas, also called Sahasralingam – this was breathtaking especially because as the name suggests you’ll find thousand shiva lingas beautifully carved at the river bed. Our guide also showed us places where few other scenes from hindu mythology was carved on the river bed -different forms of shiva lingas, Lord Vishnu sleeping on Anantha the serpent, with goddess lakshmi beautifully carved at his feet and Lord Brahma on top of the lotus coming out of the navel of Lord Vishnu. This carving represents Vishnu in Vaikuntam.

Day 4

We took a car to Koh ker( pronounced Koh ke). Koh ker is in the outskirts of Siem Reap hence a car or van is the only option for transport. There is no tuk tuk service to these places. One might wonder why pay and visit these temples that are too far away from Angkor, but trust us these temples are worth your time and money.
It was King Jayavarman IV who decided to shift his capital city to Koh ker. Koh ker (pronounced koh ke) was earlier called City of Lingapura. It’s a two and a half hr journey to koh ker from siem reap.Upon reaching Koh ker we were amazed seeing few of the incredibly built lord shiva temple.
Here there is a list of main temples that our guide suggested as must visit places and these were really worth it.They were Prasat Pram (where Pram means five in Khmer), Prasat Linga, Prasat Thom Temple.
After visiting the temples at Koh ker, we went to visit Beng Melea- Temple built for Lord Vishnu.
Then we went to visit the Roulos group of temples which includes three main temples : Lolei Temple, Preah Ko and Bakong Temple.

Day 5

Morning we visited Angkor National Museum and by Afternoon we visited the iron pencil sketching classes at the BackStreet Academy. While at night we decided to have dinner watching the Cambodian Dance – ” Apsara Dance” at Angkor Village .

Have you guys heard of Backstreet Academy.We were checking out blogs to find out memorable things to do at Cambodia that’s when we came across the Backstreet Academy.
We were really inspired by their work and hence wanted to try it out. Well , what exactly is backstreet academy? They are a small NGO organization run by volunteers that help bring together the local Cambodian Talented artist.
We felt it’s an amazing idea where these local talented artists are given a platform to teach their art to the visiting tourists from around the world. Tourists can randomly choose an art of their choice and pay for one session where you get to learn the technique of the art directly from the main artist. You can bring back the piece of work you work on as a souvenier while the money you pay for the session will be a source of income for these talented local Cambodian artists .
We truly appreciate the efforts taken by volunteers of BackStreet Academy in coming with such an amazing and innovative idea.
Hence we decided to go attend Iron sketching Classes at BackStreet Academy. Mr Bun Hak is the only man in Cambodia who is a master in this particular art and it is he who actually invented this art. Iron pencil sketching was an incredible experience altogether.

Will explain more about BackStreet academy and the inspiring story of Mr Bun Hak on how he came up with this concept of Iron pencil sketching, and our experience at BackStreet Academy in my upcoming blogs.

Day -6

We actually wanted to take a break since we had our flight back to singapore next  day.Hence we spent the day packing and shopping.Like I mentioned before, a week is a short time but if you guys are keen on sight seeing, we’ll recommend that you cover Bantaey Samre, Pre rup and the other few remaining temples in the big circuitthat we missed out on.
Well this is a just suggestion from our side – do read few books on Angkor before visiting the temple. We recommend these three books on the history of Angkor and guide to temples of Cambodia.

1) Ancient Angkor- by Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques.
2) Focussing on the Angkor Temples- The Guidebook,2017 edition- by Michel Petrotchenko.
3) The Civilization of Angkor- by Charles Higham.
Thanks for reading my blogs!
Visit again coz there are a lot of other blogs with exciting tales of our visit to Cambodia coming up!!!
By: Aswathi Ashok.