The final stop on my adventure around Cambodia, kinda the north now.. Siem Reap. The home of Angkor Wat and some other stunning temples and I was so excited to explore them, as well as lots of other things. This is probably my busiest spot in Cambodia, I have a very long list of things I wanna do and now I’ve got 4 days to cram as much in as possible! After a six hour bus journey our first stop was Pub Street! We went and watched the Arsenal game and then headed for some drinks, this wasn’t my intention but obviously everything happens for a reason and we got more merry than planned but had the best night dancing and being reunited as a group after splitting for a few days!

Sunday was very chilled, the hostel had a Khmer friendship bracelet making workshop so joined in with that and it was super cute all being sat together chatting and getting involved, it’s also a really great way to meet other travellers really easily! We hung out for most of the afternoon by the pool and then headed out to the night markets in the evening where I picked up my Cambodia football shirt (a staple here) and then we headed for some dinner at a pub which served English food!! I love Asian food but I’d missed some proper grub, like pie and mash with gravy kinda vibes. We weren’t really up for going out so we grabbed some beers and headed back to the hostel for a games night which was really nice.

Monday was the beginning of some adventures, although realised how exhausted I was from a few late nights and some really long travel days, so we hung out and ventured into town. I always get so annoyed when I can’t do everything I want to when I’m travelling because tiredness kicks in but honestly, it happens and it can’t be helped, and you’ve just got to ride it out and know that you can come back to a place, and I definitely imagine myself coming back here. In the late afternoon / evening we booked a quad biking tour through the countryside so we could watch the sunset. It was such an incredible experience.

Finally the day had arrived for Angkor Wat (and lots of other temples that are part of the Angkor Archeological Park! I was super excited. It was an early start as there were quite a few temples I wanted to see and started off visiting Phnom Bakheng, the mountain temple. Normally this is visited last to watch the sunset but because we weren’t guaranteed a clear sky, we did the trip in reverse. It was really cool to see, and interesting because the ‘mountain’ was a bit of a steep hill which had a gradual incline but the views at the top were stunning, you could see the town of Siem Reap and also the tops of Angkor Wat which made me even more excited to get there later!

This temple took me back, and made me realise how incredible today was going to be just from first glance. Our guide was amazing at explaining the history of the temples and importance of each one, and I’m so glad I decided on this. I was originally going to rent a scooter and just drive around the temples for the day, stopping when I liked the look of one, but there was no way I would’ve learnt as much as I did. And for those considering walking around, it’s impossible. The temples are sometimes around 15km apart from eachother and the park is huge! I didn’t realise this either and people laughed when I said I’d walk, it’s not doable, even with a 7 day pass!

Next up was Bayon Temple, again, super fascinated. Some of the guys I’ve met whilst travelling said you easily get temple fatigue on days like today, and I understood why. It is *so* much warmer at Angkor and I have no idea why, and I was sweating in places I didn’t even know possible! It was exhausting but so worth it. This temple was cool because of the Buddha’s carved into the stone, four for each element, earth, wind, fire and water (I think I remember that right!) and then a certain number of stands for each province in Cambodia. It was incredible to find out about the intricacies in the design.

When we were leaving Bayon Temple there were loads of cute monkeys (but also please remember, very unpredictable as they are wild!), I managed to get some incredible pictures before one of them stole my water. They were so happy in their natural environment just hanging out with eachother and we even got to see some little baby ones too which was just such a cool experience! They had some bananas and were happy eating them and just playing with eachother. I could’ve watched them for hours. I met some monkeys and gibbons in Kampot too whilst we were at one of the national parks, and I’m still not over just seeing them in the wild doing their thing. Vehicles stopped to let them cross the roads and they really did make us laugh.

Angkor Thom was next and this was only brief, as it is a whole temple complex, so absolutely huge! I didn’t realise that there are over 200 temples part of the Angkor Archeological Park and I was getting excited about seeing 5 of them! If I had more time in Siem Reap I probably would’ve gone back to see more, as some of the ones we went past looked stunning but it would honestly take a lifetime to try and see them all. The best thing to do is go with a guide, they know their way around them like the back of their hand and are more than happy to answer questions, talk to you about them, and even show you the best places to get pics and take them for you! Insta worthy or what?!

Followed up from here by heading to Tah Prohm, which is also very famously known as the Tomb Raider Temple. I think this was probably one of my favourite temples! It had real jungle vibes, and I loved exploring it. They are like literal mazes and they are so easy to get lost in, and I felt like I was living and breathing either Temple Run or Tomb Raider for the whole time I was there. The trees were growing out of the floors and through the walls of buildings and I spent ages wandering around each different area, taking photos of the designs on the walls and just paying attention to the details in between. By this point I was feeling rally emotional learning about it all, including all the history behind each of the temples we visited!

We grabbed some lunch after visiting Ta Prohm as you really are out for the whole day, and our final stop of the day was Angkor Wat and it did *not* disappoint. I’m so glad we chose to go in reverse and ended up here last for the sunset, as the clouds cleared and we did get to see one! We came into Angkor Wat from the back entrance, and I knew why as soon as we stepped in. It was empty! Angkor Wat is unofficially known as the 8th Wonder of the World, and it has outstanding beauty about it. I genuinely just stood jaw-dropped when I saw it for the first time. We had the whole space to take as many photos as we wanted with no one interrupting them or getting in the way and we could really hear the silence and peacefulness of being there.

We walked around and learnt about the history beofre heading to the top, up some *very* steep stairs. I’m good with heights and even I couldn’t look down! The King’s Tomb was at the top and we learnt about how elephants used to be here, and what they did. Saw some incredible design at the top and then headed back down to explore the ground level. We then made our way out to the front entrance of Angkor Wat for the sunset and we got some stunning photos. It realy was beautiful. I don’t know how I can find stones so fascinating, but the architecture and stories and history behind them is insane. This is the biggest temple in not just South East Asia, but the world, and I’d just visited it!

Final day in Siem Reap and some people had slowly started leaving the group to head off to new destinations so only a few remained, and we really wanted to go quad biking again as it was so much fun the first time. First up we needed to do some life admin, we booked our bus tickets to Bangkok, did our laundry, packed (as we had a really early start the following day!) and then we could enjoy our afternoon having fun. This quad biking experience was different to the one we did on Monday, and so cool in different ways!

We started riding and then got to some of the fields where rice paddies would normally be, but because it’s wet season, they aren’t at the minute so we went proper offroading through all of the water and was splashing everywhere and having the best time. We ventured through loads of dirt tracks and saw water buffalos, cows, chickens and even more wildlife and was so happy we decided to take on this experience again! The company we went with were insane and were encouraging us to go fast down the country roads where there was no one else there and just have the best time. When we were driving through some of the villages, kids would wave at us and say hello and honestly, it was so heart warming. I could feel myself tearing up and was just so happy to be in the moment.

Another incredible part of this experience was being able to celebrate Pchum Ben Festival, or the Festival of Ancestors, which is one of the biggest and most important festivals of the year in Cambodia. We visited Wat Por Bonteay Chey and gave food to the catfish which we were told is a form of a blessing, we gave them some noodles, but locals were giving them bread, donuts, etc and we was just looking at eachother like they are feasting today! There was over 300 catfish in the pond and it was such an incredible experience. A young Khmer girl came up to me from behind and introduced herself as Kanadia, and just wanted to talk to and play with me, she was laughing and joking and had the most adorable smile. I could’ve cried at how sweet the whole experience was. When we got back, we headed out for a Indian together as a group to close our time together in Cambodia before (mostly) going separate ways when we arrive in Bangkok.

I’ve had an amazing time in Cambodia, and can definitely see myself coming back at some point in the future as I really have fallen in love with this country. I’ve met some of the most incredible travellers and locals and have had the best experience. I’ve explored five different areas and there’s still so much more to see that I haven’t had the chance to yet. However, one month in and I’m off to my next country! I have a nine hour bus journey to Bangkok, Thailand, ahead of me now, although I imagine it will definitely be longer than nine hours as all my journeys so far have been longer than stated! See you there, Mads x