During my 2 years of travel, I visited Siem Reap, Cambodia for 4 nights in early March of 2018. Siem Reap was a pleasant surprise, especially as I had no idea what to expect. As you know, I'm the type of traveler who likes to visit a new place with no plans and live the local life, walk around, and observe. I found Siem Reap to be super affordable with friendly people and a bubbling nightlife.
You'll need a visa to visit Siem Reap. They have visa on arrival services at the airport, and we do recommend going this path. It was $30 when we went. We didn't have passport photos - I believe they cost an extra $1-2 if you don't have one, so I'd bring one if you have one handy (but paying the fee isn't a big deal either).
My hotel room looked like this:
The room was equipped with the normal amenities of AC, a fridge, and shower, plus some awesome perks like a bath tub on the balcony and a swimming pool at the hotel. At $6 a night it was a huge steal. While in Cambodia, I'd make sure to book a room with AC and a pool - or you're going to die in the heat!
Siem Reap is quite small, and most of the action is really around Pub Street. Location-wise, I would advise staying closer to that "downtown" area. But if you stay where I stayed, it is super easy to get a Tuk-Tuk for around $2 to get to where you want to go.
A photo of the TukTuk experience!
Check out this menu:
Just looking at this is making my mouth water...and you can't beat those prices!
Be wary, as I saw cockroaches at a few restaurants I ate at. There was even a cockroach scurrying around a bar top at a bar I checked out, yet nobody even cared cause they were so used to the bugs. I was extremely grossed out. It's a little less sanitary in Siem Reap than other places, so I tried to eat at nicer places if I could.
Heesun did a 2-part series of lengthy posts on Angkor Wat that you should definitely check out: (part 1 here and part 2 here).
I agree with her that Angkor Wat and other temples were nothing like anything I had ever seen before.
We decided to do the Angkor Wat sunrise experience.
We woke up at around 4 AM and left around 4:45 to get tickets. A one-day pass is now $37 (up from $20, what it used to be). It is still an amazing deal for what you get to see. I would hire a Tuk-Tuk driver for the day. We hired a Tuk-Tuk driver from our hotel, which actually would cost more than it should because the hotel takes a cut. However, we liked the hotel driver who helped us out, and we knew we could depend on the hotel's services. I believe we paid $15-20 each for 2 people, so $30-40 for 8 hours of driving. You may be able to get this at a cheaper price.
The gates open at 5 AM.
Make sure to wear clothes that cover your shoulders and your knees to respect their culture.
Was it worth it to wake up super early for the sunrise? To be honest, I didn't think it was that necessary, but I did like the fact that we started the day early and finished early afternoon. It got so hot during the day that it is kind of worth starting the day early to avoid the hottest hours.
The main point of going that early is to get that iconic picture and view. But the sunrise view wasn't as impressive as we had hoped. It was quite pretty, but we may have gone on a day that wasn't as attractive as the ones you see on Google search.
So many people were waiting! If you want that sunrise photo, you should go early and sit behind the water (it was already packed when we got there):
And all I had on me was my GoPro and Google phone so my photo wasn't the best...
But I got some pretty cool pictures of the temples:
Angkor Wat was simply gorgeous. I had never seen anything like it, and it was crazy hearing that all this was manmade especially with all the intricate details involved in each of the structures.
Afterwards, we checked out some of the other temples. But it was so hot that we ended up only visiting 2 other ones and leaving. A lot of people comment that the other temples are more impressive than Angkor Wat, but to be honest, I liked Angkor Wat the most.
There were a ton of these little stone pyramids...I think people randomly piled stones on top of each other over time:
Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the last place we visited as my devices were running out of battery. And since it was extremely hot, we left back to the hotel and dipped into the pool straight away!
We put our feet in two different tanks - one with smaller fish and one with a bigger fish. It's always such a funny feeling. If you haven't done it before, I'd suggest trying it at least once. But be wary that people do post about health concerns regarding these fish spas (with worries about diseases spreading). My experience was fine, but I'd say do it at your own risk!
The paintings were beautiful. There are tons of stands that have their own handmade paintings, each quite similar yet created with their own specific style. I believe the small paintings were around $5, medium sized paintings were around $15, and large paintings were around $40. It is really such a great deal, and they give you a holder to carry your rolled up paintings in, making it easy to carry back on your flight home.
There were a bunch of these outdoor ice cream maker stands. It was really cool watching them make ice cream from scratch!
There was a rooftop half pipe which was pretty crazy. And they had billiards and a band downstairs. Like most of these places, the alcohol was extremely cheap. Beer everywhere is $0.50-$1. And other liquor is around $2-3.
Pub Street
Pub Street is one of the main attractions for its nightlife. At night the music gets ridiculously loud. It's like each place is competing with each other to get more attention, and it seems like there are no laws to keep the sound levels in order.
Here's another crazy few shots:
Check out these people playing with fire inside the club...it seems like there isn't enough concern for safety, but it was still awesome entertainment!
Pub Street was good fun. I highly recommend checking it out while you're there. I ended up getting into a dance battle with a 16-year old local. It was awesome.
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