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WITH Siem Reap’s innumerable temples, overeager drivers, unofficial tour guides, flocks of one-dollar kids, and absurd humidity, 48 hours in the city can be a rather beguiling experience for the unprepared. This weekend warrior’s guide will set you straight.
By day
Roughly 900 years ago as the Khmer god-kings were busy subjugating Southeast Asia into their ever expanding Hindu-Buddhist empire, the architects back in the capital were busy putting the finishing touches to the city’s centerpiece, Angkor Wat.
If you have just two days in Siem Reap, this is where you’ll want to spend the daylight hours. Today, the second largest temple complex in the world is largely intact, a mightily impressive feat considering Cambodia’s difficult past. Inside, you’ll find plenty of tourists milling around the stone facades, Hindu-Buddhists murals, monks, seven-headed serpent balustrades, and posing for an endless array of Kodak moments.
At the entrance of Angkor Wat (and pretty everywhere else in Angkor), you’ll find plenty of hawkers selling drinks, snacks and all manner of tourists knick-knacks. You might also find English-speaking tour guides of various skills and legitimacy. You don’t have to hire them, though they could be handy.
Ta Prohm temple, Angkor Wat
With massive trees growing atop once-grand buildings, and their roots slowly cracking the stone floor, Ta Prohm is a touristic vision of a post-apocalyptic future. Another slightly spooky temple – thanks to the ever present serene face of the long dead and their diabolical aspirations which deprived the country of roughly two million people in the late 1970s. Poverty and inequality is rampant across the country, including the temples around Angkor. You’ll likely come across little kids selling tourist trinkets for a couple of dollars. It’s up to you whether you buy them, or give them sweets, gifts, food, or not. You might also consider donating to a charity (such as the Cambodian Children’s Fund) or volunteering.
Source: travelwireasia.com