singapore ping - siem reap / angkor temples, cambodia

Sarah and Carl are moving to Singapore. This is a space for planning, chronicling, and sending pings back home.

If you're reading this, you probably already know our primary email addresses. If not, you can email us at sping [dot] contact [at] gmail [dot] com.

siem reap / angkor temples, cambodia

I knew that the temple complex at Angkor was big, but wasn’t prepared for the scale of it. On a weekend in Siem Reap we went to ten temple sites, including gigantic Angkor Wat itself - a highlight, along with Bayon and Ta Som. It would have been nice to have more days so that we could pick and choose when to visit the temples: the sun was hot and, worse, the place was packed (apparently it’s even worse in the late fall high season). Early morning visits are best.

It’s amazing how many people are out there hustling a living on these dead buildings. Dozens of children and teens staff the temple entrances, desperately trying to sell trinkets for US dollars; adults run stands selling cold drinks and larger souvenirs. It’s impossible to just walk past all of those kids; I ended up with stacks and stacks of cheap bracelets and scarves. If you go, make sure you have lots of US dollar bills.