We met our remok (Cambodian for tuk-tuk) driver in our hotel lobby at 5:00am to beat the crowds and blazing heat expected at Angkor Wat. Our driver, Veasna, had arrived a few minutes early and had our tuk-tuk loaded up with cold water and breakfast. (Our hotel generously packed up a box of fresh pastries for us - literally 6 types of croissant for each of us with honey, butter and jam on the side - before we even got to the lobby). Hiring our own personal tuk-tuk driver cost us just $20 for the entire day.
To our surprise, the streets of Siem Reap were already bustling at 5am, as hundreds of other tourists had the same idea as we did: to watch the sun come up behind the Angkor Temple and see its reflection in the water.
After getting viciously attacked by red ants (I have the bites on my foot to prove it), we patiently waited for the orange sun to settle behind a cloud and then went back to our tuk-tuk to grab our breakfast, which we ate as we enjoyed the view. Monkeys occasionally popped out of the temple walls, hoping to snag a snack from curious tourists.
We then decided to hire a guide to tell us a little bit about the temple. We learned that the temple was built as a Hindu temple, but has since been used by both Hindus and Buddhists for worship. To construct the temple during the dry season, 4000 Elephants were used to bring stones over from a quarry 50 km away, and during the rainy season, the stones were carried on bamboo rafts. The carvings in the walls of the temple depict the daring rescue of Rama's beautiful wife (she was stolen by demons). With the help of the monkey god, Rama's brother rescued Rama's wife from Sri Lanka.
Afterward, our tuk-tuk driver took us around to some other temples in the area including Bayon, Angkor Thom, Ta Keo, and Ta Prohm (AKA "tomb raider temple" where the Angelina Jolie movie was filmed). We climbed, explored, played hide-and-seek, and took lots of photos. We also stopped for some fresh mango and pineapple (see photo for impressive knife work).
By 10:30am, we were ready for lunch. We headed back to pub street where we had been going for all our meals and this time chose the Khmer family Kitchen. I ordered Khmer (Cambodian) curry since it had been way too long since I last had it (at dinner the night before). Drew ordered fried ginger chicken which was just okay. We also indulged in some local beer (50 cents a pint regardless of the restaurant). We then returned to our hotel for some R&R by the pool followed by back massages.
Then back to Pub street for dinner, this time at Viva - a Mexican restaurant that also served Cambodian/Khmer dishes, because why not.
Dinner was followed by more local beer at a bar where the Muay Thai band, a group of three young Cambodian/Korean? women, was performing. They belted out some of my favorites including Madonna, Shania and Adele, mixed in with some popular Korean songs. Finally, it was time to go home. Another early day was up ahead!
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