From its 35 cent beer, temples, late night markets, and abundance of bar life, Siem Reap has a lot going on. The main attraction is just outside the town, the Angkor Temples were you can spend days getting lost in the ancient ruins.

The Angkor Temples had so much to offer, we spent two days roaming around. We ventured through the main centerpiece, Angkor Wat Temple. We toured through the temple of faces, Bayon Temple. We even explored through the temple that many of the Tomb Raider scenes were shot, Ta Prohm Temple. The temples as a whole have century’s worth of history, ownership, religious importance, and stand as a symbol of pride for Cambodia as they appear on the national flag.

Several nights in Siem Reap were spent meandering around night markets buying everything we wanted. It was the last stop for Jack, Ben, and Rob so we made sure they went home with not only full bags of trinkets, but extra bags too. Yes, most of the items were knock offs. But when you can get a fake Rolex for $13, why not buy 3? No one will ever look close enough to see that they spelled officially wrong making it say “offitially”. Those $100+ Beats Pills from back home, why not get three knock offs for $43. They look and sound the same! You could find everything at these markets or just enjoy getting lost in them with a $1 long island in your hand.

You can’t make a stop in Siem Reap without having a few drinks at the Triangle Bar. The best time to go WASN’T at night with the live music and $1.75 beers. The best time to go WAS between 10am-4pm. For 35cents we could relax on a six person bed-like swing drinking a Cambodia beer out of a chilled glass. One day, our group drank over 30 of them. That’s where we met our new friend David. A fellow American who use to play in a band with Cyndi Lauper. He got tired of the LA life and picked up and moved to Siem Reap. He told us about how he has some really fun dinner parties and then told us how one of his friends died at one last month. He then invited us to a dinner party. So…we of course said yes. It turned out to be a great night. There were Americans, Japanese, Welsh, Cambodians, and an Italian. It was a perfect gathering of a diverse group of people and a great dinner before heading out for drinks at a local bar.

After a sad goodbye to our friends Jack, Ben, and Rob, Marge and I were on our own again. We spent a few days of much needed relaxation in Siem Reap after 6 weeks of fun vacationing with my boyfriend and friends.