Angkor Wat, in Siem Reap Cambodia, is one of the most popular and famous temples in the World. Robert wanted to see it and so did I. When we checked into the hotel, the manager gave us a tour schedule with excellent rates. Many of the tour destinations were interesting such as Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom...and waterfalls and many other options. Every tour option included temples mixed with other places. We thought that's good because we would be bored if we only visit temples. So we decided we will take small temple tour that visits Angkor Wat on the first day.
I know they sell tickets for Angkor Wat but we had a big suprise when we arrived at the Angkor Ticket Office! A ticket for a 1 day visit costs 37 usd and a ticket for a 3 day visit costs 64 usd. The other ticket for 7 days visit costs even more. However, the ticket covers all temples in Siem Reap. I'm sure you can't visit all the temples in 1 day only but they don't sell a 2 day ticket. We discussed a few minutes and we decided to buy a one day ticket. So I changed the plan to get the most benefits from the one day ticket. I checked all the temples on the paper the manager gave us and picked the most awesome temples such as: Angkor Wat temple, Bayon temple, Ta Prohm temple, Neak Pean temple. We planned to see the other temples from tuktuk only. This tour cost 17 usd but that price is for the tuktuk driver only. We finished the tour at 3pm and the ticket expired at 5:30pm. If you want to visit more temples, you can do a deal with the tuktuk driver. We made some clips about the temples, please click HERE to watch, thank you!
I know they sell tickets for Angkor Wat but we had a big suprise when we arrived at the Angkor Ticket Office! A ticket for a 1 day visit costs 37 usd and a ticket for a 3 day visit costs 64 usd. The other ticket for 7 days visit costs even more. However, the ticket covers all temples in Siem Reap. I'm sure you can't visit all the temples in 1 day only but they don't sell a 2 day ticket. We discussed a few minutes and we decided to buy a one day ticket. So I changed the plan to get the most benefits from the one day ticket. I checked all the temples on the paper the manager gave us and picked the most awesome temples such as: Angkor Wat temple, Bayon temple, Ta Prohm temple, Neak Pean temple. We planned to see the other temples from tuktuk only. This tour cost 17 usd but that price is for the tuktuk driver only. We finished the tour at 3pm and the ticket expired at 5:30pm. If you want to visit more temples, you can do a deal with the tuktuk driver. We made some clips about the temples, please click HERE to watch, thank you!
The second challenge is that we would like to visit the Kbal Spean waterfall on the next day. The manager said the waterfall is inside the Banteay Srie temple and Angkor Ticket Office does not sell tickets for individual temples. If we want to visit Kbal Spean waterfall, we must buy ticket for 1 day visit which costs 37 usd per person. So we passed on the waterfall but we decided to go to Floating Village in Tonlé Sap lake. We paid 20 usd for this tour but in fact, that price is for tuktuk drive only! When we got there, we discover that we have to buy the other tour with 20 usd per passenger to go to Floating Village. LOL. It's lucky because we carry some money! After a few suprised minutes, Robert said "We will take the tour with boat because we won't ever come back here". Then we paid 40 usd for 2 persons. However the boat take us only as on a private tour.
When the boat left the pier, I thought it's bad if we paid 40 usd to see water and trees only everywhere...However, when we arrived at the Floating Village, we decided it was really worth the 40 USD. The Floatting Village is an amazing scene different from any other Floating Villages I have ever seen before. Every aspect of life happens on the water. Their activities are on the river only. The houses, the school, the police station are all on the river...After visiting the Floating Village, we stoped near a big ferry which is called Kampong Khluk Forest Eco System. If you wish to know more about it, you will pay the another 5 usd per person. We were there anyway so we did it! We get on a lady's boat. Seem she knows how to make money from tourists. She was singing while she was rowing the boat. Robert gave a tip to her after we finished. The last stop was Tonlé Sap lake which is the biggest in Siem Reap and Cambodia as well. The lake receives water from the Mekong river that flows from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to Vietnam. This lake provides water for Cambodia's agriculture and other activities. The lake is important to Cambodia. The boat came back to the pier and we finished the Floating Village tour with good memories.
When the boat left the pier, I thought it's bad if we paid 40 usd to see water and trees only everywhere...However, when we arrived at the Floating Village, we decided it was really worth the 40 USD. The Floatting Village is an amazing scene different from any other Floating Villages I have ever seen before. Every aspect of life happens on the water. Their activities are on the river only. The houses, the school, the police station are all on the river...After visiting the Floating Village, we stoped near a big ferry which is called Kampong Khluk Forest Eco System. If you wish to know more about it, you will pay the another 5 usd per person. We were there anyway so we did it! We get on a lady's boat. Seem she knows how to make money from tourists. She was singing while she was rowing the boat. Robert gave a tip to her after we finished. The last stop was Tonlé Sap lake which is the biggest in Siem Reap and Cambodia as well. The lake receives water from the Mekong river that flows from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand to Vietnam. This lake provides water for Cambodia's agriculture and other activities. The lake is important to Cambodia. The boat came back to the pier and we finished the Floating Village tour with good memories.
Even though we got some surprises and challenges , we enjoyed beautiful temples, an awesome floating village. We are happy about our experiences during this trip and took a lot of photos and clips. We stayed 4 days in Siem Reap then we left by bus for Sihanoukville.
So, we are just travellers, we aren't researchers or historians. We share our knowlegde but it isn't all about Angkors or Siem Reap. We would like to recommend some books to you which will demonstrate more about Angkors and Siem Reap.
So, we are just travellers, we aren't researchers or historians. We share our knowlegde but it isn't all about Angkors or Siem Reap. We would like to recommend some books to you which will demonstrate more about Angkors and Siem Reap.
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