Spectacular Siem Reap

Last June, I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

On the first day, I went to visit the famous temples with Sir Harold (a former ICE co-faculty) and Allan (a fellow UP alumnus whom Harold met during the flight). I had wanted to take my friend's advice to visit the museum first to learn more about history, architecture, culture and all that before going to the temples but since I had companions, I preferred to go with them.

First stop: Angkor Wat. Sadly, we didn't witness the sunrise because the tuktuk driver who was supposed to pick us up didn't show up. I even woke up at 4am for that! It was a waste... but oh well. We ended up asking for another tuktuk driver to take us to the temples.

Bayon Temple.

Baphuon.

Ta Keo temple. This one was MOST intense. The stairs were so steep (making around a 70-degree angle with respect to the horizontal) and really scary and I only realized this midway when I started trembling! It was pretty dangerous, actually. And going down was another story. Don't forget the midday heat too! Nevertheless, I'm proud that I was able to go up (and down) this temple and that I didn't let my clumsiness get in the way.

Ta Prohm, the temple famous for being the set for the movie Tomb Raider.

In the evening, we went to the famous Pub Street. We had dinner at Blue Pumpkin where I ate Loklak.

We also met up with Coli, another UP almuna whom Harold met during the flight. Coli is an archaeologist who was doing research in Siem Reap. We had some beer and it was fun.

That day was overwhelming-- new places, new experiences, new friends!