Cambodia II, Siem Reap

The bus trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap was depressing. The roads were in a bad condition flooded and large parts of the country were flooded. While in Vietnam, the sight of countless motorbikes was a sign of a growing middle class, in Cambodia the poverty is visible. The country is still struggling with the consequences of the murder of academics and monks thirty years ago.
Siem Reap is very far away from the problems of the rest of Cambodia. The city is the basis to explore the biggest tourist attraction in the country, Angkor Wat. Siem Reap is thus a place of hotels, guesthouses and souvenir shops.
On the evening of my arrival, I booked my tour for the following two days. I wanted to have guide showing me the multitude of temples, so that I could aprreciate the temples.
The first day I took my guide and me took a tuk tuk to see some of the outer temples. This was a good introduction. My guide Lon Vong (tel. 092 848 704) was excellent. He made me aware of, both the ancient Khmer culture and the culture of nowadays Cambodia, as well as the recent history of Cambodia.
On the second day, I was going to see the highlights. Together with an Indonesian couple and our guide / driver, I visited some temples includina Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom. I think the pictures speak for themselves and I try not to reproduce the history of each temple. The only thing worthy of mentioning is the fact that the existence of the huge temple complex (several hundred temples) had been forgotten. Nature had reclaimed the temples until they were rediscovered by a Frenchman.

Tourgroup on day 2

Cliche tourist picture

Many men are responsible for the polished surface.