Siem Reap is literally bubbling over with tourists. It’s hardly surprising given that it is the base for trips out to the astonishing Angkor Wat temple complex. Angkor Wat is to Cambodia what the Taj Mahal is to India, or the Eiffel Tower to Paris. Quite simply it is Cambodia’s most iconic wonder and worth every accolade thrown at it. 

Angkor Wat is something different to everyone, a photographer’s paradise, a fantasy for culture vultures and for many it is a place that appears to be so spiritually charged that time passes slowly as you sit in contemplation of life in mind blowing surroundings. 

The complex itself is quite large and to give it the attention it deserves it is well worth setting aside several days. You will return each day with renewed vigour eager to explore a different face, a different facade to a place that has energy literally bouncing off the walls, yet appears to be cloaked in a serenity that is hard to fathom given that there are hundreds of other tourists making the same discoveries as you day in day out. Unless of course you forgo breakfast at the hostel and make a trip into Angkor Wat for sunrise. This is perhaps the time of day where the temple complex comes into its own, with only a handful of other hardcore travellers to share the experience you can be sure of finding a spot on your own in which to linger. The park gates open at 5am and as the sun’s rays creep into the crevices and throw light across the crumbling walls, you may feel as though you are waking from a dream. Clamouring over twisted tree roots that curl their way into and out of windows and doorways, you’d be forgiven for imagining that you are in a mystical fantasy land. The film ‘Tomb Raider’ was filmed at Angkor Wat raising its profile even more. 

Aside of Angkor Wat, you will find that Siem Reap is a buzzing haven of traveller restaurants, bars and cafes, a welcome place to settle back with a noodle soup and exchange travelling tales from dawn til dusk. Sadly, whilst Angkor Wat is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown, the rest of Siem Reap lays relatively undiscovered in comparison yet there is some of Cambodia’s best countryside a short motorcycle ride away. Constant traffic to service the hordes of tourists seems to have transformed a once rural village, still made up of tree lined avenues and French architecture, into a town that rarely seems to sleep these days. However, this place is a must-see.