Have you ever dreamed of experiencing Angkor as a perfect tourist? Visiting all of this immense territory of temples and palaces in ruins, all in the course of a day? Or even better, doing all that visit without leaving your chair?
Easy.
Just pick your map, and follow the guide.
Angkor Wat
It all starts at dawn. The early bird catches the worm, and there will already be quite a few when you get to Angkor Wat, waiting by the basins to catch a good sight of the sun rising behind the high towers. Only a few people will think they know better, and will directly go visit the empty temple, feeling like kings in this immense structure, but don't go just yet, and stay with the masses eager to bring back memories of pretty colors on slides or flash cards.
When everyone at last moves to the gates of the temple, follow them and finally visit Angkor Wat. Check the bas-reliefs and the statues, and give your regards to the apsara, the ubiquitous nymphs on all walls of the old Khmer kingdom. The braves will go climb to the summit, near the symbolic Mount Meru, the heart and origin of the universe in Hindu Mythology.
Angkor Thom, Bayon
Let's follow the flow out of the Wat, toward the fortified city of Angkor Thom. At the gates, please ignore the sublime light and how it reflects on the swamps near the road, you're here solely for old stone, after all. Our destination: the temple of Bayon and its mysterious faces, staring in all directions with a smile that only experts and hopeless romantics will ever hope to understand, but that matters little: the morning light (and, as a matter of fact, the light before dawn, too, but you don't have all day to just sit and look at these statues, however many, do you?) tends to play with the expressions on the statue's faces, and that alone is a worthy spectacle.
Ta Prohm
It's starting to be rather hot under the cambodian sun, and many an aspiring explorer will have already fled to the city and its air conditioning, but you are filled with an adventurous spirit, and with you lonely planet as a machete, you will bravely walk through the swarm of kids trying to sell you postcards, guide books, bracelets or flutes (yes, flutes) - all conveniently priced at one dollar - and will find refuge in the shadows of Ta Prohm, also known as the Tomb Raider temple, as a reference to the great cinematographic epic which two out of every three shops in Siem Reap will have for sale on DVD, such a subtle reminder that a whopping ten seconds of the movie was filmed in Ta Prohm - the other two hours were filmed in a London studio, but does that matter?
Lunch in Siem Reap
Even explorers need to eat, and even though time is limited, the little food places around the temples lack air conditioning, so it's back to the city for lunch. Luckily, most of the restaurants for tourists are around the old market, which will be a very useful stop: Cambodia has a very special silk craft, and even though everything sold on the market actually comes from other countries - local silk, made from a slowly recovering industry, is too expensive for you penny pinching tourist - who cares, they'll make perfect gifts for the folks back home. Walk through the food stalls, and find a watering hole for your lunch. A typical "pizzeria", maybe?
... whether you have meat is up to you.
Ta Som and Preah Khan
With an enduring spirit of pioneers, let's venture almost to the edge of the Angkor domains, starting with Ta Som. Resembling Ta Prohm, and unlike most other structures in the khmer ruins, Ta Som kept a few remains of the jungled which had, for years, covered the temples, and still struggles to reclaim the terrain from the ageing stones. No worry, as the jungle has been reduced to a few pretty tree trunks, but the odd symbiosis between the roots and the stone buildings (the latter would inevitably collapse if the former were to be removed) makes for a fascinating and frightening mix.
Finally, breaking the tourist laws for a change and venturing into not-so-well beaten paths, and head to Preah Khan. You won't be sharing the site with a giddy Korean tour group, but with the intense and high-pitched rumpus of the local crickets, whose mating rituals are strongly reminiscent of those of fire alarm sirens. But all the noise disturbance in the world could not spoil Preah Khan near dusk, and beware, you may be seduced by the temple's odd universe of moss, rock and dead wood.
Well-deserved rest
Night falls, and you are going to need a roof upon your head. As a good tourist, you will go spend a few years of the average Cambodian income in one of the many palaces that Siem Reap has to offer. A suggestion: the phenomenal Hotel de la Paix, an incredible art deco monument. Good night.
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