Siem Reap, Cambodia
Before I even moved to Thailand I wanted to visit the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Luckily I had a friend of mine who was going to be in Siem Reap and I got a ticket there as soon as I could. Cambodia was a beautiful but confusing country, weirdly enough felt exactly like Thailand. The food was the same, the people were just as nice, and the natural beauty was nothing short of amazing. I never thought I’d be heading to the airport on Christmas Eve, but I was excited for the little trip ahead of me!
I landed in the small airport of Siem Reap and hopped in a Tuk-Tuk. Nothing but rice fields and random groups of houses lined the main road as we drove into town. My driver was very happy to see me and explained that they were still bouncing back from COVID. Luckily for me that meant less crowds at the temples I came here to see! I ended up staying at The Funky Village Hostel, which looked like an absolute blast online, but was sadly very quiet during my visit. I could definitely tell that the full tourism numbers weren’t nearly back to what they used to be. Regardless, the staff was amazing and the hostel itself was super clean and enjoyable. The pool was refreshing and the rooftop bar was a super chill spot to watch the sunrise and sunset. They even give you a free SIM card which was super helpful!
I didn’t stay in this hostel, but I did do a Christmas Eve bar crawl from it with my friends and it was amazing! Mad Monkey Hostel is becoming a well known name through Southeast Asia for being a top hostel chain for backpackers. The staff was fantastic, the drinks were cheap, and the people I met were super friendly! The bar crawl was a ton of fun and I can only imagine what else the staff organizes throughout the week.
This hostel bar is also where my friend Stephanie bought me my first ever “Josh Shot”. I think it was vodka and some kind of citrus energy powder. It was kinda gross but was just interesting enough to order it again.
Josh shots at Mad Monkey Hostel Siem Reap Cambodia
Christmas morning I woke up slightly hungover, but super excited to see the temples! After breakfast we found a Tuk-Tuk driver who agreed to drive us around all day long to all the temples we want to see for just $20. We started off with the temple I’ve been wanting to see for years, the famous Angkor Wat . This is the oldest religious temple in the world and was took over 30 years to complete.. Angkor Wat is not only huge in size, but pretty tall as well. A very steep staircase leads to the top floor of the temple. You can go to all four corners, and see an amazing view of in front of the temple. What really caught my eye was the unique carvings in near perfect condition in the sandstone. Walking through this historic temple was amazing. It’s truly a special feeling to walk through the halls and think of all those who have before you, being able to touch something 900 years old is an incredible feeling. I got some amazing photos I’ll share below.
The next temple we went to was Ta Prohm , now famously know as the, “Tomb Raider Temple”. This small temple complex is now completely taken over by jungle with giant trees leaning against the ancient structures. This is an amazing place to take some photos for instagram! I wish I had a professional camera for this trip so bad 😭
The last big temple we went to is known as the temple of faces, Bayon Temple . This was a super cool temple to explore. We were there pretty late in the afternoon so it was getting pretty dark inside some parts of it, but what was really cool is you could hear the bats starting to wake up! Super cool and creepy experience. Keep your eyes out for monkeys too! There were quite a few around the temple.
We finished the night with dinner and then I FaceTime my family to say hi and celebrate the holiday. Christmas is very big for me, and the family. My mom gave me a new bracelet with my favorite saying of “Seek Discomfort” which I love! Being away was a little weird, but it ended up being an enjoyable Christmas!
Even though I’ve already been to a few countries I decided to make my left leg into a sleeve of travel tattoos. Every tattoo has to be something from that country I experienced. I met this awesome tattoo artist, Rick from Australia. Him and his local wife run a little shop, Sovannaphum Tattoo Studio , just 1 block away from the famous Pub Street. After some talking I decided to get a “Hanuman” for Cambodia. This symbol was posted above each doorway of the temples I visited to protect from evil. A demigod in both the Bhuddist and Hindu religion, he is the god of wisdom, strength, courage, and devotion.
I told him black and white, you do whatever shading you want. Do what you think would look good. He absolutely loved that freedom and gave me an amazing tattoo for a very reasonable price. Highly recommend his shop for any piercings or tattoos while you’re in Siem Reap.
If you’re for looking for something adventurous I’d recommend going to see the waterfall and holy river up in the mountains at Phnom Kulen National Park.
Phnom Kulen National Park Siem Reap Cambodia
All hostels and hotels are able to set up the excursion for you. It was absolutely beautiful and the water was super refreshing! I swam and dove through the water and sat right under the waterfall itself. It was stunning. I sat on a nearby rock just staring at it for awhile, it was so beautiful.
After drying off and taking a selfie with some adorable local kids we hopped back in the van and headed to a nearby temple. We washed our faces with holy water and climbed the steps up this rock face to find the top of the rock perfectly carved as the teacher Buddha. It was covered in a wooden shack painted with scenes of heaven, and on the backside of Buddha there were dozens signatures dating back over 50 years from travelers and local visitors.
We made two stops on the way back to town; the landmine museum and to see palm sugar being made. the landmine was very sad, but hopeful to see all the progress being made to make the country safer, funded by the US and other UN nations. On a lighter note the palm sugar was absolutely delicious! Reminded me a lot of maple candy I had as a kid. Every day the man climbs the tree, makes some holes in the palm tree and gathers this almost syrup like liquid. This is then heated up with coconut water and heated over a fire and stirred up for 4-6 hours! They were very nice people and I got a little handmade container of them to snack on for the rest of my trip.
We didn’t really do a whole lot of partying and bar hopping on this trip, but a little bar I found during the Christmas bar crawl and really enjoyed was Picasso Bar . It's the 3rd or 4th bar down this little alley, which was also a cool spot to wonder around at night. This alley is also home to a couple really cool local art shops. I had to get a couple pieces to add to my collection! Added my first watercolor and my first oil painting to the collection, all original and signed.
The food was very similar to Thailand, a lot of rice and curries and street food. My favorite breakfast was at Aroi Dee, they had a delicious breakfast sandwich and American bacon! Because Siem Reap is a tourist town there’s a lot of western, greek, halal and Italian options as well. Everyone goes to Pub Street at night and it did look like a lot of fun, we were just so tired from our other adventures we didn’t feel like partying late. Luckily our hostel had a bar that was good enough to hang out at after a long day.
Siem Reap was a really cool small town. The people were fantastic, the nightlife was fun, and the temples and natural beauty were absolutely incredible. If you go; tour the temples, walk though history and experience what they have to offer. You can say you’ve been to one of the ancient wonders of the world. Watch the sunset in the country side, have some drinks on Pub Street. This is one destination every backpacker going through Southeast Asia should stop at. Thank you for the memories Cambodia 🤘🏼
