Have you ever wondered what village life looks like in the Kingdom of Cambodia? Do you think your life is tough? Think again, as we will take you on a memorable day trip in Siem Reap. This blog will force your conscience to consider whether life is really harsh for you. It’s all about how you train your mind to deal with it.
In case you don’t know who we are………..
We call ourselves Travel Freaks……..
Before we start our day trip in Siem Reap, let’s start with your curiosity…..
1. When did we arrive at Siem Reap?
We arrived at Siem Reap two days back in the late evening. We had a fabulous experience at the Angkor Wat Temple the previous day. Read about our experience and plan your perfect trip to this amazing place.
It was only the previous day, and while we were busy cooking, we thought of discussing all the possibilities of our short day trip with one of the locals of Siem Reap. He agreed with our itinerary and also suggested a few changes. Here we go on another voyage.
Planning such day trips for travel freaks like us is a common phenomenon. 😉
Returning to our story, we planned to depart from our stay after breakfast at 9:30 AM. The hotel served us bread toast, an omelette and a glass of juice. In the meantime, our driver cum guide arrived at the hotel lobby for pick up and take us to our first destination.
Seeing the word “destination”, you might want to know……
2. Which was our first destination at the Siem Reap?
In most places, we visit national museums, be it in Kuala Lumpur or in Vietnam. We love to explore the rich historical past of the place or the country we are in. Siem Reap was no different. It took us 20 minutes from our stay to reach the famous Angkor National Museum.
The entrance fee was approximately 1000 INR per person. There was an option for an audio guide for additional charges. However, we chose to explore at our own pace.
We saw a nice pool while walking up the ramp to reach the first floor. The museum was pretty well-maintained. The place exhibited all the possible artefacts related to the Khmer civilization. It was something very challenging to accumulate and display.
There were so many paintings and sculptures from the Angkor era. We guess we saw hundreds of various possible postures of Lord Buddha within the museum. Besides Buddhist sculptures, we saw many Hindu sculptures dedicated to Lord Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma.
We took great interest in understanding the history and culture of the great Khmer Empire. Sometimes, the atmosphere of the rooms was such that it felt as if we were teleported to the Khmer Period.
One thing that interested us was the multimedia presentations that the museum offers. We got to know many fascinating facts about the Angkor Wat Temple. We even noticed many school students watching the sculpture and the artefacts with great interest.
There was one place where we saw the replica of the marvellous Angkor Wat Temple. We were in awe by looking at the detailed accuracy of the vast temple complex. Soon after exploring for one and a half hours, we sat at the exit cafeteria to have a cup of coffee and discuss what we just witnessed.
It was close to 12 o’clock in the afternoon when we got back into our and headed for our next destination.
Do you remember the first question we asked at the beginning of the blog? Yes, we were heading to a floating village.
Here, comes your query…….
3. How was the experience at the floating village?
Before we share our experience, we want to share with our readers that there are four floating villages around Siem Reap:
- Chong Khneas
- Kampong Phluk
- Kampong Khleang
- Mechrey
After discussing with our guide and hotel manager, we visited the Kampong Phluk Floating Village. It was an hour’s ride from the museum.
Returning to our story, in the mid-way, we stopped at a restaurant to have our lunch. It was a superb place to have lunch. We felt like having lunch in the midst of nature.
There were many small rooms in the form of huts to have food. We ordered fried rice, vegetables, lentils and a local dessert.
After a sumptuous meal, we started our journey to the Floating Village. It was a hot, sunny day.
Before you reach the exact village, there is a place to get the entry ticket for the village. The entry ticket cost us around 1200 INR per person. The price includes a boat trip around the Floating Village.
As we got out of the car, the temperature was a bit scorching. We headed towards the boat for an exciting trip we had been looking forward to since morning. The Floating Village was located on the Tonle Sap Lake.
Soon, our boat journey started. The most fundamental feature of the village was the “stilted houses“. The stilted houses are the high-rise thatched houses from the ground level to escape the flood water during the monsoon seasons.
The stilts were made of wood that supported the house. It was a first-time experience for us. We could even catch a glimpse of the simple living lifestyle of the villagers. Something one could never imagine until they witness themselves.
Kids could be seen rowing boats, playing among themselves, and waving their hands when they see any outsiders in their village.
We saw that the villagers mainly depend on catching the aquatic creatures for their livelihood. They could skillfully navigate through the narrow and shallow waterways to catch fish.
We were in the mangrove forest area after about 20 minutes of boat ride. There were few floating restaurants cum bars that cultivated crocodiles. It was something very unique. Crocodile breeding was a common custom there in the village.
We were in awe with the boat trip that lasted for an hour. The locals were quite friendly, with smiling faces. We returned to our car for one last destination at around three o’clock in the afternoon before we signed off from Siem Reap.
We were interested in exploring the old town market area of Siem Reap.
4. What were there in the Old Town Market area of Siem Reap?
There were two main areas to explore the market at Siem Reap. They are
- Old Town (City Center) Market Area
- Sivatha Boulevard and the Old French Quarter
On the suggestion of our guide, we chose to explore the Old Town Market Area. We suggest our readers explore both areas if they do not have any time constraints.
It was close to an hour’s ride from the Floating Village Area. As we got out of the car, we saw a pharmacy shop and a few souvenir shops. We walked 100 meters and saw many restaurants, souvenirs and clothes stores. Depending on your budget, one can enjoy and have food in any restaurant.
We strolled down the street, enjoying the ambience and relaxing ourselves. We chose one of the local cafes to relax ourselves by ordering french fries with a cup of tea.
After an hour of strolling around the street and purchasing a few souvenirs as memories, we walked towards our car to head back to our stay.
One way back to our car, we bought a blue-coloured cake, thinking it was a regular one. Most importantly, a pending birthday celebration would happen after reaching our hotel.
Soon after reaching the hotel, we got excited and started the celebration. On cutting the cake out of joy, we were shocked to find out that the cake was made out of vegetables. Additionally, we had to brush our teeth to remove the blue colour of the cake. It was a memorable and hilarious birthday celebration that we might never forget.
We had a bus to catch that night for Phnom Penh. From Phnom Penh, we had a flight to catch in the afternoon. There were many memorable moments during our stay in Siem Reap that we tried to capture through our lenses.
After having dinner by 8:30 PM, we departed. Thankfully, our day trip driver cum guide agreed to drop us at the bus departure terminal. The bus departure terminal was about 20 minutes from our hotel.
Our bus came at 11:30 PM and as we entered, we were shocked to see the seats. As it was a night journey bus, there were no seats; rather there were only beds to sleep in. It was not even a bed. Only you can adjust yourself to sleep. The portion below our neck was elevated to resemble a pillow kind of. It was a tough journey. The bus stopped mid-way for half an hour. By 5:30 in the morning, we reached the Phnom Penh bus stop.
We rented a room close to the bus stand for a few hours to explore a few local attractions. Unfortunately, the night journey was so tiring that we decided to regain some energy by resting. When it was 11 o’clock, we packed our lunch and headed towards the airport by booking a cab through PassApp.
A memorable journey in Siem Reap came to an end. Hope you got a glimpse of some of the famous attractions of Siem Reap. Due to time constraints, we could not explore Phnom Penh. We preserved it for our next visit to Cambodia.
Don’t worry; we are always there in your planning and are just a click away.
Wait! We are not ending this blog without this last question.
5. What kind of help are we going to provide?
Let us inform you that we prepare itineraries not only for anywhere in India but also for Asia. We have been travelling since we were toddlers. So here in our blogs and stories, we will give you a glimpse of our journey and help you plan your trip.
Read about our Uzbekistan blogs.
Read about our Kazakhstan blogs.
Read about our Singapore blogs.
Read about our Vietnam blogs.
Read about our Cambodia blogs.
Read about our Bali blogs.
Read about our Kuala Lumpur blog series.
Read about our Sri Lanka blogs.
Read about our Nepal blogs.
Read about our Char Dham blogs.
Read about our Ladakh blogs.
Read about our day trip to Hyderabad.
Read about our Madhya Pradesh blogs.
Read about our Andaman and Nicobar blogs.
Do follow our Instagram handle @mindfulllofvacations and watch for the next destination story of a new place. For any query related to any trip, drop a mail at @mitkau007@gmail.com.
by mitkau