See Simi Travel Blog

Thanks Air Asia.

Despite the fact that 90% of the flights that I have taken in Asia so far have been late, and that my sister and I left a whopping 4 hours before our flight to get to the airport on time, and that we got there 45 minutes before the flight (which is the published closing time of the gate), we, and six others, were still turned away from the check-in counter to Phnom Pehn.

Surprisingly not panicked or angry, I calmly went to the customer service counter and booked two flights to Siem Reap for the following morning. Cambodia is a dream trip, and I was about to experience it with Ding, so why let something like money get me down (note: my line of credit DOES NOT feel the same way).

Obsessed with ruins, I opted for the three-day ($40 USD) pass to the temples of Angkor. Ding opted for the one-day ($20 USD) pass. On our shared day we caught the sunrise over Angkor Wat, desperately trying to capture the moment with our pathetic cameras. It required a 4am wake up, but was completely worth it. By breakfast we had toured the amazing site, with particular attention paid to the “Churning of the Sea of Milk” engravings, and were ready to move on.

The next stop was at the Angkor Thom temple complex. Bayon temple was the most impressive at the four sites here, where the faces of its creator are everywhere. He is watching you! There was a mix up with our tuk tuk, and we were left stranded at the complex! or this I did not remain cool,and stormed off angrily before Ding convinced us to stop and catch a tuk tuk back to the hostel. She lost out most from this mix up since she was not able to see the amazing Ta Prohm temple site (where Tomb Raider was filmed, and which I go to see on the final day of my pass). Ta Prohm is creepy, and visiting the site near sunset only made it more so. The giant trees that are swallowing up the temples made the experience wild and untamed. Visitors were scaling the walls at leisure. Tunnels in the temples lead to nowhere… or the roofs had caved in blocking anyone who wished to go further.

Admittedly, Ding and I spent a lot of time at Angkor What! a really fun bar in Siem Reap town. We had so much fun with our new Singaporean friends on Christmas Eve, that we missed our intended sunrise at Angkor Wat.

Two words: Worth it.

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