"In Angkor and around" a Khett Siem Reab Travel Page by magor65

Angkor has been my dream destination for long. The first time I had seen its pictures must have been about 15 years ago and since then I have known that one day I will visit it. After reading that it had been invaded by tourists in the last couple of years I decided that it was high time to make my dream come true. So I included Cambodia in the itinerary of my journey in Asia in February / March 2008.
Although I read a lot about Angkor before the trip, I was not prepared for the impression. It is absolutely stunning; everything I have seen so far fades compared to Angkor.

But Siem Reap was a surprise, too. I imagined it to be a village with a couple of shabby guesthouses and it turned out to be a vibrant city offering all possible kinds of accommodation and wide variety of restaurants and bars. It turns out to be the fastest growing city in Cambodia, of course due to the complex of Angkor, which attracted almost two million visitors in 2007.

Local people, though, still live in poverty, which is a dominant feature of the landscape away from the town centre. I am glad that we spent five days in Siem Reap - we didn't have to rush through the temples and we had enough time to stroll in the town and its vicinity. It was a great opportunity to see how Cambodians live: we peeped into the houses, talked to school children and visited a floating village on Tonle Sap lake.