Cambodia Day 6: SiamReap, Tonle Sap

We woke up a little bit late today because we have plenty of time before starting our trip to Siam Reap. We had breakfast at Classy Hotel, which is nice and touristy. Our trip to Siam Reap began at 8.30 am for 3.5 hours. We stopped three times on our way, the first to fill gasoline, second to visit a stone carving shop, and the last for toilet stop. We arrived in Siam Reap at noon, checked in our hotel (Ta Prohm) that used to be the most luxurious hotel, then continue to Hard Rock Cafe to have lunch. It feels great to see a familiar franchise after days of local foods. We finished lunch at 13.30, so we had 1.5 hours left to look around the city center, the Pub Street area before heading back to Ta Prohm hotel.

dscf0667 Locals Selling Grilled Rats on the Street to Siam Reap

dscf0671 Hard Rock Cafe Siam Reap
At 15.00 we met our new tour guide (we had just say goodbye to our Phnom Penh and Battambang guide). We headed to Tonle Sap Lake, the biggest freshwater lake in Asia to take a boat ride. It was 30 minutes away from the city. The boat ride itself was about an hour back and forth, in between the trip we stopped at a crocodile farm and shop where they are selling wallet and bag from crocodile skin.

dscf0673 Village near Tonle Sap Lake, Siam Reap

dscf0676 Village near Tonle Sap Lake, Siam Reap

dscf0708 Crocodile Farm in Tonle Sap Lake, Siam Reap

dscf0710 Tonle Sap Lake, Siam Reap

Since it was 4 pm already, we rushed back to the city to watch the sunset at the South Gate of Angkor Thom. The site was okay, but not spectacular for sunset view, tomorrow I was suggested to go for Phnom Bakheng to see Angkor Wat at sunset. We have our dinner in Malis, a Khmer luxury restaurant in the city. Then we walked back to hotel and sleep early, because tomorrow we have to get up at 4 am to catch the sunrise.

siam-reap4 Sunset at the South Gate of Angkor Thom

dscf0826 Malis Restaurant in the City Center, Siam Reap

The food at Malis Restaurant is reasonably priced for its class, we spent $25 for two person meal and drink there. For comparison, we spent $40 at Hard Rock and $45 at Sokhak Restaurant next to Malis. The local food was great and said to be authentic, I had chicken curry, which is delicious. If you want a decent local food with high hygiene standard, this is the place to go.

dscf0818 Fine Dining at Malis Restaurant in the City Center, Siam Reap

dscf0821 Fine Dining at Malis Restaurant in the City Center, Siam Reap

dscf0822 Fine Dining at Malis Restaurant in the City Center, Siam Reap

dscf0823 Chicken Curry Wrapped with Banana Leaf at Malis Restaurant, Siam Reap

dscf0824 Fine Dining at Malis Restaurant, Siam Reap

dscf0825 Chicken Curry Wrapped with Banana Leaf at Malis Restaurant, Siam Reap

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A global macro analyst with over four years experience in the financial market, the author began his career as an equity analyst before transitioning to macro research focusing on Emerging Markets at a well-known independent research firm. He read voraciously, spending most of his free time following The Economist magazine and reading topics on finance and self-improvement. When off duty, he works part-time for Getty Images, taking pictures from all over the globe. To date, he has over 1200 pictures over 35 countries being sold through the company.

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