Tra-Abel Cambodia Trip Day 3: Temple Hopping at Angkor Wat - Inner/Small Circuit

“Excuse me! Can you please take a picture of me with the temple as the view?” politely asked by a stranger near me. I looked at her direction, instantly smiled and gladly took a picture of her. I was having second thought to ask her if she is a Filipino since her looks are more of the East Asian descent. But I gave it a shot, “Are you a Filipino?”

And that’s how our friendship started. In a far away land, where I know no one, never did I imagine that I would meet someone who I can share stories and go on a tour sharing beautiful travel experiences with each other.

It was my third day in Siem Reap when I decided to avail of the Tuktuk services of Mandalay Inn. The tuktuk driver whom I talked to during my first day at Siem Reap and paid US$10 in advance left me waiting in vain. It was a long story and I’m not even sure if I want to remember what happened during that time. Anyways, the supposedly 5:30AM start of my tour became 7:30 AM. Left with no choice but to hire a tuktuk from Mandalay Inn for US$12, which turned out to be a better alternative, I began my tour of Angkor Wat Inner Circuit. The US$ 12 tuktuk rental service includes unlimited supply of cold water (a necessity when visiting the temples at Angkor) and driver cum tourist guide.

The first stop of my tour was the Angkor Wat, the most famous and a must see temple in Siem Reap. This complex was really crowded during that day since it was a holiday, so the locals flocked the temple. I alighted the tuktuk in front of the complex and agreed to meet with my driver after an hour.

I went on to my tour of Angkor Wat and the view was magnificent. The temple was so grand, it left me speechless and in total amazement. No words can describe the grandeur of the temple. I did not waste any second and took loads of pictures as my souvenir and here are some of them.

I was lost in my own world when a lady in her late 20’s approached me. “Excuse me! Can you please take a picture of me with the temple as the view?” politely asked by a stranger near me. I looked at her direction, instantly smiled and gladly took a picture of her. I was having second thought if I'm gonna ask her if she is a Filipino since her looks are more of the East Asian descent. But I gave it a shot, “Are you a Filipino?”

To which she gladly answered, YES! We exchanged names and hellos. With our bubbly personality and eagerness to talk with someone you can completely understand (language and culture wise), we immediately became friends. We continued our conversation while touring the rest of the Angkor Wat Complex. At some point, we would stop just to take souvenir pictures of each other.

We were at the back entrance of the complex when two other Filipinos overheard our conversation. They were a mother and daughter who are currently on vacation, touring Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. With the two new additions to the gang, we decided to continue the tour as a group. Since we started each of our tour with different tuktuk services, we just convoyed to our next destination.

The next temple we visited was Angkor Thom, the last great capital of the Khmer Empire. Within its complex were Bayon temple and other random temples (I can't remember the names, LOL.) Here are some pictures taken during our tour:

The sun was high and the heat was unbearable, so we decided to have an early lunch and take cover. Our tuktuk drivers took charge and directed us to an area where we can eat a not so aunthentic Khmer cuisine.

During lunch, the group agreed that we will just share tuktuks to cut cost and more importantly to avoid getting away from each other and avoid long minutes of regrouping, looking for each other. However one of the tuktuk drivers did not agree and eventually raised his voice. We were about to accept his terms but he still continued on giving unnecessary comments that none of us understand anyway. The driver was acting grumpy and monster like so my friend got frightened, hence did not want to continue engaging the services of the “MAD driver”. We were on that dilemma, when one of the kind drivers stepped in and helped us explain the situation to the mad driver. In the end, the mad driver settled for a whole day’s worth of tuktuk services and left us in peace. 

After lunch and all the drama, we then continued on with our tour. We visited Thommanom, Chau Say Thevada, Ta Keo and BanteayKdei.

 

The tour ended at 5:00 in the afternoon.We went back to the town proper and agreed to meet up later in the evening for dinner and some late night drinking. :)