Today we did a tour on the outer part of Angkor Archeological Complex, we woke up at 4.30 am and departed at 7 am. We went about 30 Km away from Angkor complex and see several temples, among them Preh Ko, Ba Kong, Lo Lei, Banteay Srey, and Pre Rup. Touring around those temples took quite a while that we finished around 11 am (4 hours).

Preh Ko Temple, part of the Rolous Group at the Outer Part of Siam Reap

Ba Kong Temple, part of the Rolous Group at the Outer Part of Siam Reap

Ba Kong Temple, part of the Rolous Group at the Outer Part of Siam Reap

Banteay Srey Temple at the Outer Part of Siam Reap

Banteay Srey Temple at the Outer Part of Siam Reap

Banteay Srey Temple at the Outer Part of Siam Reap

Pre Rup Temple at the Outer Part of Siam Reap
From the afternoon sky, we concluded that the sunset today wasn’t going to be good, and since today was new year’s eve the traffic around the city is going to be crowded when we got back. So we decided to finish all the tour in the afternoon and skipped the sunset for today. After visiting the temples in Rolous Group, Banteay Srey, and Pre Rup, we ride an air ballon near Angkor Wat complex to see Angkor Wat itself from higher point of view. For $20 /10 minutes it was worth the ride and the scenery from the top was great. Moreover, there wasn’t long que and the turnover was quick.

Angkor Wat from the Balloon Ride, Wish I had a Telephoto Lens!

Angkor Wat from the Balloon Ride

We had lunch at Genevieve’s Restaurant in the city center, a restaurant named after the Australian owner’s wife who passed away. The food was excellent, I had a pork chop, which is plenty and reasonably cheap ($6.5). Then we went to trek village and walked for about 15 minutes to see vast green rice fields.

Rice Fields at the Trek Village

The past tour destination was Artisan D’Angkor, a workshop and shops of local products (statue, silk products, ceramics, silver products, etc.). The place was neat and luxurious for local standards, and the price for most of the products are reasonable as well. Since we have nothing else to visit today (according to our itinerary), we went back to hotel and sleep until 5 pm.

Locals Working at Artisan D’Angkor

For dinner we ate at Sokhak River, I had spicy seafood spaghetti. We also had seafood mix as appetizer and ice cream for desert. Food was great, however more expensive compared to Malis Retaurant and the atmosphere was better at Malis.

Spicy Seafood Spaghetti at Sokhak Restaurant, Siam Reap

Khmer Tom Yum Soup at Sokhak Restaurant, Siam Reap

Pub Street at New Year Eve 2017, Siam Reap