TRIP REPORT: Touring the Temples of Siem Reap

Our Driver – Synon Korng

We availed ourselves of the services of a friendly Cambodian driver named Synon Korng . He came highly recommended by number of people on Flyertalk and was willing to fully customise an itinerary for us which included numerous temples off the beaten path, as well as including our airport transfers. Being driven around in an air conditioned Lexus was great in and of itself but better still was the endless supply of icy cold towels and water and of course the friendly conversation from the man himself. I made all the arrangements via email, which he responded to very quickly.

You can find all of his contact details on his website here: Synon Korng – Siem Reap Driver

Synon Korng – Siem Reap Driver

Icy cold towels and water in our Lexus

Here are the full details of our itinerary:

Day 1 $30

Airport pickup 1:00pm

Rest at Park Hyatt

Angkor Wat 3:30pm

Return to Park Hyatt 6:30pm

Siem Reap temple itinerary – Day 1

Day 2 $100

Pickup at Park Hyatt 9:00am

Prasat Pram (Bram) 10:30am

Koh Ker 1:00pm

Beng Mealea 3:00pm

Return to Park Hyatt 6:00pm

Siem Reap temple itinerary – Day 2

Day 3 $50

Pickup at Park Hyatt 10:00am

Kbal Spean 11:00am

Banteay Srei 12:30pm

Lunch in Siem Reap and Rest at the Park Hyatt

Angkor Thom 4:00pm

Return to Park Hyatt 6:30pm

Siem Reap temple itinerary – Day 3

Day 4 FREE

(Airport Transfer)

Pickup at Park Hyatt 8:30am

I’m no temple expert, so I won’t waste your time by copy pasting the history of each of them. I made sure to visit the ‘big hits’ as this was Kamara’s first time in Siem Reap, whilst also adding in some temples which hardly see any tourism – a number of which were still littered with landmines, the last time I visited the area.

Angkor Wat

Synonymous with Cambodia and featuring on the country’s flag. Angkor Wat is often described as one of the wonders of the world and rightly so. When I was here in 2001 there were perhaps three or four other groups of tourists here. Nowadays the temple is extremely busy, particularly around sunset and sunrise.

My recommendation: Don’t bother getting up to come here at sunrise; you’ll be jostling for position with hundreds of other tourists. Instead, come nearer sunset and take pictures from the far side of the temple where almost nobody bothers going.

Sitting against the cool stone in the shade – unbelievably satisfying after walking through the searing heat

Sunset at the East gate of the temple, away from the crowds

Sunset with the crowds at the West Gate of Angkor Wat

Prasat Pram

A bit of a detour on the way to Prasat Prang (the temple shown in the top ticket below) but worth checking out. We were the only ones there at the time. There’s a weird system in operation for Prasat Pram whereby you pass a checkpoint and pay for your access to the main temples in the region. It seems like the visit to Prasat Pram is thrown in as a freebie.

Koh Ker and Beng Meala tickets

Prasat Pram Temple

Koh Ker -Prasat Prang

Koh Ker is the name of a region to the North East of Siem Reap, containing a number of temples although often the name is used interchangeably to refer to Prasat Prang, a monolithic ziggurat in the heart of the region. Koh Ker is well off the beaten path and takes around three hours to get to from Siem Reap. Don’t let this put you off though, you can break the journey up by visiting Beng Meala on the way and the roads are in very decent condition. Our journey there did not seem at all arduous and I was so glad we got to climb up this spectacular ziggurat, which has only recently been demined.

This is one of the most spectacular temples in Cambodia and I highly recommend that you come to see it for yourself, assuming you have more than one day in Siem Reap.

Prasat Thom - Koh Ker, Cambodia - Jarvis Marcos

There is a tunnel like temple called Prasat Thom, which winds through a forest, leading to Prasat Prang

Prasat Thom temple

Snake - Koh Ker temple, Cambodia - Jarvis Marcos

We got a bit of a shock when we saw this snake carcass in the middle of the temple ?

Prasat Prang - Koh Ker, Cambodia - Jarvis Marcos

Even more impactful was the moment we stepped out of the forest temple and first laid eyes on the incredible stepped ziggurat shape of Prasat Prang

Prasat Prang temple

Koh Ker temple, Cambodia - Jarvis Marcos

I had heard that climbing Koh Ker was not allowed and this sign seemed to indicate that this was indeed the case.

When we walked around to the other side though, we found a group of Cambodian pensioners climbing a newly built staircase up to the top!

A long way down…

I’m so glad we were able to climb to the top, the view was absolutely breathtaking. An endless sea of tree in all directions, pin pricked by the occasional temple roof, poking through the canopy.

Neang Khamu temple, Cambodia - Jarvis Marcos

Five minutes drive from Koh Ker we spotted this temple and asked to stop and take a look. It is called Neang Khamu, which means ‘Lady in Black’.

Beng Mealea

Given its location Beng Mealea makes a natural combination with a trip to Koh Ker. It is one of the more popular temples in the area but it never felt crowded. We spent quite a bit of time exploring various hidden paths until all of a sudden we were greeted by a Cambodian man dressed in official looking blue clothes. He didn’t speak any English at all but spent half an hour taking us to a bunch of cool spots, including a hidden crypt and a dry vine which had formed into a swing. He was really friendly and just walked off when we got back to the entrance, via his special shortcut. I stopped him and offered him $5 as thanks for showing us around, he seemed genuinely delighted as were we. This makes quite a change from the stories you hear of locals pressuring tourists at the pyramids in Giza for example…

Beng Mealea

Our ‘guide’

A natural swing

Beng Mealea

We had a good two hour drive back to the Park Hyatt after our visit to Beng Mealea. Synon said we should check out this roadside stall, which was located near the halfway mark. He told us that he always looks forward to driving to Koh Ker and Beng Mealea as apparently the black bean rice they make at this still is famous for being the best in the Siem Reap area.

It was fun peeling open the bamboo case to reveal the sticky coconut flavoured rice, mixed with black beans, inside. I’m not usually big into carbs but I easily demolished one of these things in about 30 seconds (and ‘helped’ Kamara with a good chunk of hers )

Cambodian bamboo rice

Kbal Spean

Synon said that this temple probably wouldn’t be worth visiting during dry season, as the water level would be too low… he was right. We hiked up a hill for about 30 minutes and found a dry riverbed at the top. The riverbed itself is covered in a series of intricate carvings but kind of loses its impact when there is no water flowing over them.

Banteay Srei

One of the most popular temples after Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, also known as the Pink Temple, for obvious reasons.

Locals

Banteay Srei Temple

Angkor Thom

An enormous complex of Temples, directly adjacent to Angkor Wat. You could easily spend an entire day or two exploring. The highlights are the Bayon, with its world famous carved head spires and the Baphuon, a temple notable for the fact that the entirety of one of its 70m long sides is carved in the image of a reclining Buddha.

Ordinarily wouldn’t just go climbing up temples but I was spurred on by the fact that there was an unusual sign here. Rather than prohibiting climbing, the sign advised visitors to climb carefully.