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Fun times in Siem Reap

We’ve just spent 4 days in Siem Reap, our first stop in Cambodia, and we absolutely loved the place. After the sleepy beauty of Laos it was great to go somewhere a bit more lively and enjoy getting to know a new city.

The main reason people come to Siem Reap is to visit the amazing temples of Angkor, which we did, and Jack will be blogging about that very soon. This blog, however, is about some of the more lowbrow experiences we had in Siem Reap…

We stayed in the Bayon Garden Guesthouse, a lovely place just 5-10 mins walk from the Old Market area of town. This place is No.1 on TripAdvisor and we could see why! The value is excellent, $10 per night for a room with two huge beds, a really nice private bathroom and a nice big balcony with a table and chairs (big enough for some pilates practice too). We would highly recommend this place.

On our first day we decided to just walk around and get to know the place. We quickly found Pub Street and The Alley, the area with all of the bars (surprise surprise) along with lots of good places to eat. A beer was 50 cents and they had lots of restaurants with wood fired ovens for pizza, so we decided to indulge our cravings after almost a month of a pure rice and noodle diet! That day we also met up with an old friend from my school and some lovely guys we had met in Si Phan Don, the day ended with another pizza (not a healthy day) and some red wine. WINE. Oh how I miss wine…

After visiting the temples we heard about a place called Angkor Wat Put. Yep, you heard. Mini-golf, Angkor Wat style. There are 14 holes and each one is based on a different temple. We decided this was an experience not to be missed. When we got there we were told that if you get a hole in one you win a free drink – and I actually managed it! In the end, Jack won the game, but ONLY on the last hole. It was a close battle.

The start of the game:

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Me in action:

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Jack taking things VERY seriously:

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Jack stealing victory:

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The next evening there was a giant puppet parade around the city. I know this sounds amusing but it was actually amazing. The event was organised by various NGOs and children’s groups. There were several teams and each had created a huge paper puppet of an animal indigenous to Cambodia. Streets were blocked off as all of the teams carried their lit-up and moving giant puppets around the city to lots of music and cheering. Here are some of the best ones:

Bumble Bee:

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Frog:

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Big cat:

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Can’t remember what this actually was but we liked it:

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Jack will be online soon to tell you about the more cultural side to our time in Siem Reap.

Big love to all! Debbie xx

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