Once you’re done with the temples, you’re going to struggle to find things to do in Siem Reap, the actual city is rather small and more like a town, and once you’ve spent half a day there, you’re probably going to go back to your hotel and kick back by the swimming pool.  Of course, the main attractions are the Angkor Temples and in particular Angkor Wat, so here’s my take on those.

Part of the reason I decide to go here was to photograph Angkor Wat so I booked a photography tour (which you can find out more about in the For Photographers post) for one day.  Apparently one of the most popular things to do in Siem Reap is to wake up at 4:30a.m and see Sunrise over Angkor Wat.  I didn’t think they’d be a lot of people willing to do that but I was wrong.  When I went, the sunrise was around 5:30a.m and there were about 50 people there, which is apparently not many.  Just have a google of “sunrise angkor wat people”, click on images, and you’ll see just how many there can be.  Apparently the day I went, there was not many people compared to usual. It was low season (hot) so if you during high season, expect to witness one of the most tranquil moments with about 2,500 other people.  Not so tranquil.

Anyway, Angkor Wat itself is pretty good, I think it’s something you have to see once in your life, if you’ve never been to Asia it’ll probably be more spectacular, but to be honest I wasn’t overly impressed.  I’m glad I went, but I wouldn’t call it awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping or anything like that. I spent about an hour and half at Angkor Wat before moving to the next temple.  Honestly, I can’t even remember what all the names were, I just know that after the second temple, it got rather repetitive and I was photographing basicall same same but different.  I guess if you’ve flown long haul to get there, you should explore all the temples because as mentioned, there’s not really many other things to do in Siem Reap worth doing.

We took a trip into town, my mate sat in a bar and got pissed while I shopped for necklaces for my Mum.  Being low season, it was sweltering hot. I’m used to it because I’ve lived in Asia for over 20 years, but if you’re from a cooler climate, you probably won’t last long.  The little covered markets are worth seeing, but inside it can get to around 40 degrees.  You can spend 15 minutes before being covered in sweat.

Went back to hotel, had a rest, then went out for a local dinner and a few drinks at a local joint.

Send us any questions or comments you have about things to do in Siem Reap via email or ask us on twitter.