Angkor Wat / Siem Reap (E)

I decided to stay in Cambodia for a little longer than initially planned, partly because I want to avoid being in Vietnam during Tet (Vietnamese / Chinese New Year), when the whole country is on the move and prices rise dramatically. Furthermore accommodation for some regions would need to be booked far in advance – I rather stay flexible and enter Vietnam after the 14 February. So I took the decision to do a loop around Tonle Sap Lake, returning to the famous Angkor Wat temples and seeing parts of rural Cambodia before continuing to the coastal area towards Vietnam.

Another interesting bus ride (Cambodian bus drivers seem to double as racing drivers) brought me to Siem Reap, the city close to the Angkor Wat temples. I arrived there on a Saturday which meant I was able to attend the weekly concert of Mr Beat Richner aka “Beatocello”. Mr Richner is famous in Switzerland for building children’s hospitals in Cambodia and raising funds to build and run them. The performance was entertaining and he informed about his projects and the struggle to maintain funding. The result is quite impressive though as he has built several huge hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap where all children are treated for free and with the latest medical appliances.
That evening I was treated with even more entertainment as nine Tuk Tuk drivers invited me to eat and drink with them to celebrate a birthday. I decided not to book the 5am sunrise tour the next morning ;-)

However one day later and after some recovering I was on my way to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The early start was well worth it and the sunrise spectacular (although quite overrun by Chinese tourists). I was going by Tuk Tuk and visited some of the temples I haven’t seen the year before. Ta Prohm is still my favorite temple being left pretty untouched and overgrown by trees and moss.