Tag Archives: Siem Reap

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SE Asia Chronicles: How To Do Siem Reap in 24 Hours

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Even the most off-road backpacker ends up at a tourist destination sometimes. For 24 hours in Siem Reap, we were full-on tourists: sensible shoes, cameras in hand, and herded from one site to the next. I didn’t mind this too much, because it was the Angkor temples and there’s a reason people crowd to see them. They are truly magnificent.

Five of us rent a tuk-tuk for a day. $15 for the driver to take us around the main circuit of temples, from sunrise to sunset. It was a good deal. Angkor has hundreds of temples that can take days and days to explore. For non-temple-aficionados, you can purchase a single-day pass and just focus on the big three: Angkor Wat, Bayon, and Ta Prohm. And so there we are, squeezed into a tuk-tuk at 5 am to beat the sunrise, about to embark on an exhaustingly long day of temple-hopping.

$20 One-Day Pass. I do not look happy about having my photo taken at 5am.

I do not look happy about having my photo taken at 5 am for this.

Angkor Wat is the most iconic of the Angkor temples, and all tuk-tuk drivers will take you there first to see the sunrise. Wiser travelers will tell you to save Angkor Wat for later because as nice as the sunrise may be, it’s not worth dealing with this:

The crowd waiting for the sunrise over Angkor Wat. This photo probably only captures half the people actually there.

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SE Asia Chronicles: Tired in Bangkok

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The initial honeymoon phase of my SE Asia trip lasts 18 days, calm and pleasant from Singapore to Malaysia to Koh Lanta, Thailand. Then we hit Bangkok. Or rather, Bangkok hits us. Hard. In the face. It instantly becomes one of only two places in all my travels that I badly want to escape from and never look back.

Can’t Live With it; Can’t Live Without It
Bangkok is pretty much unavoidable as it’s the main transportation hub in SE Asia. It’s centrally located and cheap for traveling to almost anywhere else in the region. Despite our disdain for the city, J and I end up traveling through Bangkok three different times in all four directions: South from Malaysia, East to Cambodia, West to Myanmar, and finally North to Laos via Chiang Mai.

Bangkok

The first time around we arrive with the sole intent of obtaining a visa for Myanmar. Khao San Road in Bangkok is notorious for being full of backpackers, bars, and bogus scams. Unless you’re into that scene, most advise to get the hell out of there. J and I know this, yet we decide to stay in a hostel there anyway because it’s 5 am and we’re exhausted from just stepping off the night bus. (Hindsight: No reason is ever good enough to put up with the clusterfuck that is Khao San Road.) Immediately after check-in — sans-sleep and sans-shower — we take the express boat to the Myanmar Embassy only to find a notice on the door saying that they are closed for the next two days for some Burmese holiday. (Hindsight: We probably should’ve checked the embassy website first.) A complete wrench in our plans! J and I spend the next few hours wandering aimlessly trying to figure out our next move. We really want to go to Myanmar, but neither of us want to spend the next week in Bangkok waiting to get a visa.

The express boats in Bangkok are actually pretty cool. Easy to hop on, hop off -- and one of the few transports where you don't have to worry about being scammed.

The express boats in Bangkok are actually pretty cool. Easy to hop on, hop off — and one of the few transports where you don’t have to worry about being scammed.

Beware of the Kindness of Strangers
Sometimes the universe gives you exactly what you need; other times it sends you suspiciously helpful strangers on the streets of Bangkok. We encounter several of them in our short time wandering: local Thais that stop to give us completely unsolicited advice on where, when, and how we should spend the day. They are nice and we are tired. One of them manages to bamboozle us straight onto a tuk-tuk.
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