This Is A Lake - A travel blog

Today I was booked for a second tour of Angkor. Since yesterday I got to visit the main central temples, this time I went on the bigger circuit, which includes smaller temples further away from the center. The driver took me first to Banteay Srei, which is the farthest away. It took us an hour to drive the 37 km from my hotel in Siem Reap to the temple, but it was pleasant enough: these roads weren’t dusty and the drive created a breeze. Most of the drive went through interior roads, where no English signs or tourist fare could be found. A lot of the houses here were built on stilts, which made me wonder if this area gets flooded in the rainy season. I also found the answer to a mystery: in every road here and there I’d seen roadside stands with rows of bottles holding a liquid that looked like dishwater. It didn’t look appetizing to begin with and it sat in the sun all day, so I couldn’t imagine it being a drink. Finally, today my driver stopped at one of these stands, got two bottl...

Today was my first full day of holidays, and I had my eyes on the prize: I signed on for a tour of the main temples of Angkor! Beofre this trip, I thought Angkor Wat was one big temple in Cambodia, but in fact it’s the name of just one temple in the vast, sprawling natural reserve of Angkor, a stunning 400 sq km expansion that used to be a big metropolis with many Buddhist and Hindu temples, many of which have survived to this day in different states of conservation. The temples are too far from the city and even from one another to walk, so you have to decide if you want to rent a scooter or a bike or if you want to be driven there. I hired a tuk-tuk driver via my hotel who drove me to each temple, then waited outside while I visited at my own pace. When I was done, I came out and he’d drive me to the next one. It covers all my transportation needs without chaining me to a group or a tour guide. Some drivers go the extra mile (pun intended) and wait for you on the other end of the tem...

It’s time for a new adventure! This time I’ve set my sights on Thailand, although first I’m gonna cross one big item on my bucket list by finally visiting the Angkor temples in Cambodia. I have the impression that most people see them when visiting Vietnam, but I didn’t find the time then, so this time around I built my two-week itinerary specifically to make time for Angkor. The way it worked out, I had to fly into Bangkok first, from where I then caught a flight to Siem Reap, which is the Cambodian city that is closest to Angkor. Since the temple compound is a natural reserve, when you come visit, you’ll stay in Siem Reap and you’ll have to figure out transport to and from the temples (I will expand on this tomorrow as I experience it firsthand!). The 11 hour flight from Paris to Bangkok was fine, really -mostly I spent it all chaining one movie after another like the junkie that I am- but it was the 3 hour layover in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport that killed me. Because I had to book...