This is a series in which I describe a typical Tuesday during our travels. This will give you an idea of what we do on an average day – sometimes exciting and sometimes mundane.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017: Siem Reap, Cambodia
6:15am – Alarm goes off. I get in the shower quickly to rinse off and then wake Jon up. We get dressed and make sure we have all of our electronics and battery packs to take with us.
6:55am – We walk downstairs, where our tuk-tuk driver Sok is already waiting for us. Having ridden with Sok two days previous to tour temples, we already had a plan on where to go and what to see today. We will be touring the nicknamed “Grand Circuit,” or the temples that sit out farther afield. We sit in the back for the ride into the countryside to our first temple.
During our drive from temple to temple, we saw cows, chicken, and other wildlife.
7:28am – We arrive at Pre Rup and ascend to the top. There’s only one other person there, who offers to take a picture of me and Jon together if we will take a picture of him. We wander around, enjoying the solitude and quiet.
8:03am – Sok drives us around the corner to our second temple, East Mebon. Large lion statues look out from the edge of the platform.
Lion statues dotted the terrace of East Mebon.
8:29am – Back in the tuk-tuk, we drive a couple miles to our third temple, Ta Som, This is similar to Ta Prohm (famous for the backdrop of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider), which we toured on our first day, but nowhere near as crowded. There are trees growing on top of ruins and roots obscuring doorways.
9:03am – On the way out, we see wild chickens running around the grounds. After a short break to eat some granola bars and drink water, we take a longer drive to our next location.
9:23am – We arrive at Neak Pean, which is unique because of the large pond formed around a spire. This isn’t a temple in the typical sense, but was designed for medicinal purposes. A wooden boardwalk guides us out to the pond and back, with bright pink flowers sitting on lily pads in the water.
Neak Pean was different than the other temples we had viewed.
9:57am – After another longer ride in the tuk-tuk, Sok drops us off at our last temple of the day: Preah Khan. Life-size statues lined a bridge which led us to the temple itself, which we explored nearly alone – tourists don’t always make it out to the temples farther away from the city.
10:38am – We rode with Sok back to Siem Reap, taking the long way around so that we could see more of the countryside. Once back in town, he stopped at the post office so we could mail postcards home before dropping us off at our guesthouse.
The streets of Siem Reap are colorful and fun to drive!
11:29am – After showering and changing clothes, we descended the stairs to order a late breakfast at our guesthouse. Jon’s meal had potato pancakes topped with ham, cheese, and eggs. I ordered an egg and bacon sandwich, served with tomatoes and lettuce.
12:58pm – Jon and I split up. He took our dirty clothes to a laundromat, alternating playing on his phone and writing in his journal while waiting for the laundry to finish. I walked across the street to The Hive, a coffeeshop, where I worked on blog articles about South America (I am forever behind on my blog!) and did some travel planning for our next destination. I tried the kick-ass milkshake for the first time and vowed to order again!
2:56pm – Jon met me at the coffeeshop and ordered an iced latte while I finished up with my work.
We spent a couple afternoons at The Hive, conveniently located across the street from our guesthouse.
3:21pm – We returned to our room at Ivy Guesthouse. Since our room didn’t have air conditioning, we sat on our beds under the ceiling fan wearing hardly any clothes and rested for a while.
5:23pm – We went downstairs and ordered an Angkor beer – $0.75 for a pint during happy hour! We sat on the patio and alternated drinking beer and water.
6:59pm – Dinner arrived – I had my favorite Italian pasta and Jon ordered fish and chips.
Not the dinner on this Typical Tuesday, but this was typical of our evenings at Ivy Guesthouse.
8:16pm – We went back upstairs to the balcony near our room and sat under the fans, reading, playing video games on our phones, and chatting. A lizard darted along our chairs and stopped to rest on the post.
9:42pm – Due to the early morning and busy day, we got in bed and both fell asleep almost immediately!
He would be mad if he knew I was posting this picture, but this is how hot it was!