Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap is home to Angkor Wat and other majestic temples.

There is also a big and unusually organized night market. Instead of nocturnal stands along a long street, Siem reap's night market is distributed mostly in permanent stands across the street from each other, which open mostly only at night, but also during the day. There is also a day market (the "old" market) where you can find almost anything you find at the night market.
I had some wonderful amok here. And lots of fruit shakes for a dollar. I also had a wonderful massage. The city is very much organized around tourism with big fancy hotels, casinos and restaurants.

A tuk tuk took us to Angkor wat for sunset, and for sunrise the next day. To my surprise, the temples weren't horribly crowded in the morning, and we managed to walk and tuk tuk around for about 8 hours without much interference. It was insanely hot, but our sweet tuk tuk driver kept us alive by offering us cold water at the exit of every temple.

Cambodia is without a doubt the poorest of all the countries I've been to is SEA. There are many many children working around the temples, selling postcards, magnets and books about the site's history. Children as your as the age of 3 years old are all alone, or only accompanied by other children trying to survive from tourists. As almost every place I've seen so far in this continent, the beauty of its history and architecture is countered by a very harsh reality. Child labor, extreme animal cruelty, prostitution and complete lack of environmental awareness are widespread and deeply rooted here.

I spent my last three days in Siem Reap, and in Cambodia, and in South East Asia, in a yoga and meditation retreat place called Angkor Zen gardens. It was wonderfully blissful. The perfect closure for a few perfect months of traveling around.

Namaste :)En savoir plus