Here is the last part of our Laos-Cambodia tour with my 3 days in Cambodia to Siem Reap to discover the Tonle Sap lake, Siem Reap marketshave water festival and especially the most beautiful temples in Angkor. But as I am not a specialist in Khmer architecture and even less a historian, I am not going to give you a pitch on temples of Angkor… You will learn a lot more with a lonely planet guide or a local guide on site! I will simply tell you how I organized my visits and give you some practical information about my Angkor temple tour.
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Cambodia in 3 days - Tonle Sap Lake
The largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, Tonle Sap Lake is a site of prime economic and ecological importance for Cambodia. The river (also called Tonle Sap) is 120 km long, floods the lake and then connects it to that of the Mekong. It is impossible to delimit the river and the lake. This forms an important hydrological system in a floodplain that extends over 12 km876.
How to visit Tonle Sap Lake?
All Siem Reap travel agencies offer tours on the Tonle Lake. We chose the Hello Bird Tour agency which was located in the street in front of our hotel (Psar Krom) Tel 012 555 978. For 18 USD per person, here is the program for our morning:
- 8:30 am: A mini van picks us up from the hotel and takes us about fifteen kilometers to take a boat.
- Stop in the flooded forest for a canoe ride.
- Traditional boat tour by Kompong Pluk, village located on the banks of the river Tonle which becomes a lake when inundated.
- Return to the hotel around 13 p.m.
Cambodia in 3 days - Angkor
How to visit this immense site of Angkor? One thing was sure, was that I didn't want to devote 3 full days to visit the temples of Angkor by the classic circuits offered by all the agencies or all the guides. Indeed, although the temples of Angkor are all magnificent and grandiose, I knew very well that after ten temples, I would have really grown tired of all these stones ... Moreover, when you see too many of them, you end up mixing everything up: places, names, dates ...
However, I still bought the 3-day pass (72 USD) because it was the same price as the 2-day pass and would also allow me (if the sky was nice) to go see the sunrise over the mountains. temples ...
Selection of the most beautiful temples of Angkor to visit
Since I didn't want to be like everyone else when I visited the BIG CIRCUIT and LITTLE CIRCUIT of Angkor, so I trusted my copy Marie (whom I thank again) who had prepared the list of the most beautiful temples to visit first.
Then we determined our own tour which was reduced to 1 days of visit of the most beautiful temples of Angkor :
- 1 afternoon in tuc tuc (USD 7 per person) to visit just a small part of the big Angkor circuit;
- 1 full day with French speaking guide (10 USD / person) and private van (10 USD per person) to visit part of the small Angkor circuit including ANGKOR VAT that we had saved for the end.
Most beautiful Temples of Angkor in 1 afternoon
We decided to start with one of the most beautiful but also the most distant: The temple of Banteay Srei which is located on the site of the ancient town of Iśvarapura at 25 km north-east of Angkor (45 min to go there by tuc tuc, 30 min to visit, 45 min to return). Then we continued with the temple of Preah khan, my favorite of all (1 hour visit) and finally the Banteay Samre (30 mins) which was also on our way back.
Most beautiful Temples of Angkor in 1 day - The next day
8h00: Our guide is waiting for us at the foot of our hotel with the van.
8h30: Visit of Angkor Thom :
Former capital of the Khmer Empire, it is a fortified city surrounded by 8-meter high ramparts and a moat. The visit includes: the Porte de la Victoire, the bayon temple, the Baphuon, Phimeanakas (visited very quickly) and the Terraces of the Elephants and the Leper King.
10:30 am: Visit of Ta Prohm temple surrounded by the jungle and whose roots of huge cheese makers climb and decorate the walls (I loved it!).
12h00: Lunch
14h00: Bakheng temple (so-so)
15:30 am: Visit of Angkor Wat temple. Because we wanted to save the best for the end but for me, the most beautiful of all it was the temple Preah khan !
Our French-speaking guide to visit the temples of Angkor
In order not to be mistaken in choosing a guide, I had informed myself on the forums and had found a good contact: Samoth Norm samouthnorm888@gmail.com Tel: +855 86738650. We communicated by email before our departure and everything was OK when the day came.
Samouth has lived up to its reputation: he speaks perfect French, he is very cultivated and has been able to adapt to our requirements… In addition, his prices are well below the prices offered by our hotel! I therefore recommend it with my eyes closed.
Cambodia in 3 days - Siem Reap - Old market - Water festival
Our last day in Cambodia was organized around the festivities of the water festival. Bon Om Touk is one of the biggest festivals in Cambodia and is celebrated at the end of the rainy season. We had the chance to be there for its 1st day: November 10th. All the banks of the rivers were equipped with bars, games, competitions, music… the bridges were sumptuously decorated and the atmosphere was joyful.
Then we continued with a visit to the colorful old market! It will be our last good moments spent in Cambodia because we unfortunately have to leave in the afternoon towards Siem Reap Airport for return to France.
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