Top 10: Angkor Wat and Siem Reap
25 Apr
From something as small as soap to something as big as Angkor Wat, Siem Reap is full of awesomeness:
- The temples – this is obvious. Besides the famed Angkor Wat, there are many more amazing temples. Some of the other ones we saw: Angkor Thom, Bayon, the Women’s Temple, and the Jungle Temple. I felt really sick during the tour of the Jungle Temple – but still found it amazing. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed here.
- Wanderlust store – I love the owner of this store and everything in it. Read about it in the Huffington Post article I wrote on the founder of Wanderlust.
- Our tour guide Phal. In his spare time, he coordinates the building of wells for communities near Siem Reap. Just $100 can build a well for 6 families. He also encouraged these communities to set up small stores and now they sell some really cool bracelets made from repurposed water bottles. All around awesome.
- Gourmet Khmer food. Especially loved lunch at Sugar Palm and dinner at Aha.
- The land mine museum was especially powerful. The soap sold at the museum, created by NYU School of Design students to “wash away the mines” is a great example of using design for good.
- Tuk tuk rides to the temples.
- Bicycling through the village with my mom and dad. And then relaxing at the pool afterwards.
- The beautiful and extravagant suite at Le Residence. My parents deserve that level of luxury, not me. But luckily, they are generous to share. Everyone knew our name at this place!
- I got lots great recommendations from friends. We couldn’t even try them all! Be sure to have brunch at the Grand hotel, pastries at Blue Pumpkin, drinks at the FCC, Khmer food at Viroth’s and Continental food at Nest.
- My floppy hat. I bought this hat in Bangkok for a few bucks. It saved me on in Siem Reap during the hottest month of the year. And, as my sister pointed out from the pictures – it totally pulled together all my outfits.
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