We fell in love with Koh Lanta. Its sunsets, beaches and easy going atmosphere were perfection. We originally planned to stay in Koh Lanta for three nights and ended up staying a full week. And at the end of the week, we forced ourselves to leave because we feared if we remained one day longer, we'd stay forever.

Koh Lanta is located on the western coast of Southern Thailand - across the bay from the more famous Phuket and Phi Phi islands (pronounced Pee Pee!). We originally planned to go to Phi Phi, but after reading about the island and talking to several travelers, we learned that it was mainly a party island, which we would have appreciated more about ten years ago!  On Phi Phi, if you don't stay at one of the more upscale resorts, you'd be stuck in close proximity with lots of hard partying college kids. We were looking for something a little more laid back.

Koh Lanta was the answer. It's a long, thin island with one main road and beautiful beaches along the west coast. Most of the accommodations are locally-owned, usually situated right on the beach or across the street from the beach. One nice thing about the island is that you can simply walk down the beach to find restaurants, bars, massages and little shops, right there nestled in the sand. The crowd is a mixed bag of friendly people - young families, backpackers, couples, singles, retirees, expats and locals. 

Getting There:
Koh Lanta is just off the mainland and can be reached via car ferry (about an hour and a half drive from Krabi Airport) or by taking a boat over from Phuket/Phi Phi.  We rented a truck from the Krabi Airport and drove about 2 hours to the island. It's an easy drive, but you have to take two very short car ferries to get to the southern island of Koh Lanta.

Koh Lanta Beaches
Here is our breakdown of the major areas on Koh Lanta:

Klong Dao Beach
This is the first beach you reach after heading across on the ferry, and the most developed part of the island (which is relative, as the whole island is very low-key). There are lots of couples and young families scattered about this area - particularly Swedish people - but the beach never felt crowded. Of all the beaches in Koh Lanta, this one probably has the most bars and restaurants right along the beachfront. The water is great for swimming but not quite as clear as it is farther south, owing to the fact that the tides and waves are slightly stronger, which stirs up the sand. We preferred staying on this beach because it offered more selection in terms of activities and restaurants. We could walk to the yoga studio, convenience store and our favorite bar and restaurant without having to leave the beach. Plus, there are more people on this beach which is nice for making friends & people watching. 

Long Beach
This is the next beach south of Klong Dao and it's probably the prettiest beach by day. The water is clear and the sand is white, which makes it great for swimming. It's far less populated than Klong Dao so at times, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. At night there are a few areas that are happening but it's pretty quiet overall. Plus Klong Dao is a short drive/walk away so you can always head up there if you want a little more nightlife. 

Klong Khong & Klong Non
We didn't spent a lot of time at these beaches but we heard good things from fellow travelers who stayed here. From what we saw, these beaches are long and thin - a little smaller than Long Beach and Klong Dao.  While some restaurants/bars are located right in the sand, many are up a slight hill because the beach is too thin.  Our dive guide lives in Klong Khong and said it's her favorite spot because it caters to more backpackers and locals. 

Bai Kantiang
Located on the south west part of the island this beach is really secluded. There are a couple of resorts but not much else around.  If you want to go to bars and restaurants you'll have to drive or take a tuk-tuk. The beach is pretty, but parts are pretty rocky so take care if you visit. Our friends stayed here for 2 nights and said it was way too secluded for them. They much preferred staying on Long Beach or Klong Dao as there was simply more to do. 

Hotels:
Since we were visiting in November, during the shoulder season, hotels were not completely sold out. Therefore we tried three different hotels - 1 budget accommodation and 2 mid-range accomodations. 

Banana Garden Inn (Budget)
This was our budget accommodation at $35 USD/ night for a cabin with A/C and private bathroom. However, we met several backpackers who felt this was expensive (or even luxurious) as they were staying at places that were more like $10-15 USD/night.

The Banana had it's pros and cons. 
Pros:

• Excellent location on Klong Dao beach. Our favorite bar, The Indian, was next door and yoga was 2 doors down.
  
• Awesome staff - friendly, fun and very helpful. 
  
• Great restaurant. The glass noodle shrimp was a favorite!
  
• Cute exterior

Cons:

• The rooms could have been more comfortable. The A/C blasts cold air so you had a choice of freezing or hot and humid.  We chose A/C and I had to wear a sweatshirt to bed.
  
• The bathroom was pretty awful. Chris didn't mind it but after 3 days, I needed a proper room. 

The crowd at the Banana was a mix, but there seemed to be a lot of young families from Sweden.  Kids ranged in age from babies to 4-5 years old, all very well behaved. Typically we avoid places that cater to kids since we don't have any, but we really didn't mind it here.  It was fun to watch the kids playing on the beach, off in their own little worlds. The staff loves kids and would often play with them, giving mom and dad a little time to themselves, which they probably appreciated. Also, the older kids made friends with each other and would run along the beach and play. So parents take note - this is a good spot for little ones - assuming you can deal with the really basic accomodations!

Chaw Ka Cher Tropicana Lanta Resort
This mid-range hotel (considered luxury in Koh Lanta) was located across the main road near Long Beach.  It was a big step up from the Banana in terms of room/resort quality. However it's location was a bit inconvenient. 

Pros:

• This hotel had, by far, the nicest room out of all the hotels we stayed at in Lanta. Big clean white room, large bed and beautiful outdoor bathroom. 
  
• Super nice staff
  
• Breakfast was pretty good

Cons:

• You have to walk at least 10 minutes to get to Long Beach. 
  
• Free wifi is only available in the lobby area
  
• Expensive for Thailand

Sorry, but I don't have any pictures of this resort so check out their website or TripAdvisor page to see more. 

Royal Lanta Resort
We spent our last three nights at this upscale resort on Klong Dao beach, as we found a great last-minute rate online. 

Pros

• Location - right on Klong Dao beach
  
• The rooms were very nice - large and comfortable. The bathroom was decent and got the job done. The sink area was in the main room while the toilet & shower were in a separate indoor/outdoor room. 
  
• The free breakfast was very good
• They had a spa on site.  I didn't use it but may have tried if we'd stayed longer. 
  

Cons

• The service was limited and it seemed like no one was in charge of the place. 
• They don't have wifi in the rooms.  Fortunately, since our room was close to the lobby we got a decent signal in our room. 

Had the service been a little better, I would highly recommend this place. If I had to go back and choose from one of the three hotels we stayed at, I'd choose this one. 

What to Do (Besides Sit on the Beach):

Explore the Island
Since we had a car, we spent a lot of time exploring the island and beaches. Our favorite beaches were Long Beach (clear water) and Klong Dao (more to do on the beach). The beaches further south were also beautiful, but we wouldn't stay here because they are so secluded. However if seclusion is what you are seeking, then look no further than the southern beaches of Koh Lanta!  If you don't rent a car, you can rent a motor bike for about 250 Baht ($8) a day. Just be careful - we saw a lot of moto accidents along the side of the road and felt pretty thankful we were in a truck. 

Boat Trips
Explore the surrounding islands with a boat trip. We went on 3 excursions - speed boat to Phi Phi, 4 Island Tour and Scuba Diving at Koh Haa. Read our full review of these excursions here. 

Sundowners at The Indian
This became our go-to spot for sunset drinks on Koh Lanta.  It's run by a gregarious local guy named Pas who is enamored with Native American culture and used this as the theme for his beach bar. Before long, the staff knew our order when they saw us walking up the beach. That's when we knew we needed to head on from Koh Lanta!

Yoga
There is a great little yoga studio on Klong Dao called Oasis Yoga, run by a woman named Farra from Oklahoma. She was a great instructor that caters to all levels. the studio is open air with sessions in the morning and at sunset. I highly recommend it as it's a great way to start your day in Thailand!

Volunteer at the Animal Shelter
While in Lanta, we heard about this fantastic animal shelter called Lanta Animal Welfare where you can volunteer to walk dogs or play with the animals.  Similar to our experience in Bali, we found that the locals view dogs as dirty pests and often abuse or neglect them. This shelter helps mistreated, neglected and malnourished dogs & cats on Koh Lanta. After the animals are healthy, they ensure they are fixed and then put them up for adoption. We stopped by and took a tour of the facility, played with some of the kittens, and offered to walk some dogs. However, it was feeding time for the pups so we didn't get a chance to walk them. We visited on our last day in Lanta, otherwise we would have come back daily to play with the dogs!

Old Town
One day we went to Old Town, just to see what it was all about. It's located on the southeast corner of Lanta, where there is no beach. This is where the long tail boat tours depart. The town looked like an old western town in the US. Lots of restaurants and little shops. Honestly, it was nothing special and totally skippable. 

There were a couple of activities we didn't get to:
-Visit the national park on the southern tip of the island
- Elephant ride to the waterfall

Overall I highly recommend visiting Koh Lanta! It can be as relaxing or as active as you want it to be. It's not a crazy party island and it's very affordable. We hope to visit again someday!

We spent time in two of Thailand's many beach destinations - Koh Lanta and Koh Samui.  While we had a great time in Koh Samui (which we'll cover in a future post) we fell in love with the island of Koh Lanta.  To us, it offered the perfect combination of beautiful unspoiled beaches, loads of fun excursions to keep you active and just the right amount of laid-back night life (most of which is beach-front) to have a great night out without the crazy party scene of Phuket or Koh Phi Phi.  

Koh Lanta also makes a great home base for exploring the broader region.  We'll talk more about the ins and outs of Koh Lanta itself soon, but first, we thought we'd highlight a few of the excursions upon which we embarked while there.

Four Islands Long-Tail Boat Tour
One of the more popular trips from Koh Lanta involves heading out on a boat to visit four small neighboring islands to the southeast.  Two of these are beautiful snorkeling destinations, the third is home to the famous Emerald Cave, and the fourth, Ko Ngai, boasts a beautiful stretch of perfectly white sand kissed by crystal clear waters.  This trip is offered on either a speed boat or on one of Thailand's famous long-tail boats.  The speed boat is faster, but is also more expensive and carries more people.  We opted for the long-tail boat since we had spent the previous day on a speedboat to Phi Phi.  As far as we were concerned, the long-tail ended up being the right move for this trip.  We were joined by eight other people, all about our age.  We were out for about eight hours in total and had a really great time.

Koh Phi Phi Speedboat Trip
Another day, we took a boat over to the Phi Phi Islands.  We decided not to stay on Koh Phi Phi, so we thought we should at least check it out.  Taking a long-tail boat to Phi Phi is not an option from Koh Lanta because it's too far, so we had to take a speed-boat there.  It takes about 45 minutes there and back.

Fortunately, we were at Maya Bay first thing in the morning.  The word is that by 10am, you can't even see the sand because there are so many people!  After Maya, we headed to a spot just off Koh Phi Phi for some snorking (what the locals call snorkling).  The snorking was good, but unfortunately this particular spot was infested with Sea Bees, microscopic organisms that sting your skin when you swim into a school of them.  The stinging lasts for 4-5 minutes and then you pretty much go back to normal.  They are more of a nuisance than a serious threat!

Long-tail vs. Speedboat
The two boat trips were very different, both in terms of their itineraries and the whole dynamic of the trip.  The long-tail boat moved more slowly, but had a smaller group, lots of room to move around on the boat, and we got to know the other people on the trip with us.  The speed boat was able to cover more ground, but held about 30 people, was fairly tight on-board, and was twice the price.  While we enjoyed both, if we could have only done one, it would have been the Four Islands trip with the long-tail boat.  Strolling through the crazy downtown Phi Phi also made us grateful to return to our laid back island of Koh Lanta!

Diving at Koh Haa
Another day, we booked a couple of dives with Dive and Relax, whom we would highly recommend.  They were a really professional company with incredibly friendly people. The great thing about this dive company is that the groups are very small, and we ended up with just three people in our dive group - me, Chris and our dive master, Beth.  A bit expensive for Thailand, but we thought it was worth it.  

We ended up heading out to Koh Haa - which actually means six islands - for our dives.  Koh Haa, is the name indicates, is a collection of six small islands located southwest of Koh Lanta, surrounded by a beautiful collection of reefs and caves.  

The dives were amazing, with by far the greatest visibility of any water we've been diving in so far.  The reefs and fish life were beautiful.  We saw many varieties of tropical fish, a huge school of barracuda, and several massive moray eels up close.  We also dove through a dark cave under one of the islands, which was really fun.  We had a great time and will definitely remember this day fondly.

We still haven't shelled out for a GoPro, so these pictures from the dive boat will have to do:

Stay tuned for our next post, where I'll talk more about Koh Lanta itself - one of our new favorite places!

After our visit to Chiang Mai we headed for the beach.  Our next stop was Koh Lanta - a long, thin island located on the western side of southern Thailand. I'll write a lot more about Koh Lanta soon, but first I wanted to share some pictures of the spectacular sunsets we watched every night at either Klong Dao Beach or neighboring Long Beach. Typically, we'd head to our favorite beach bar - The Indian - and watch nature's prettiest show with a couple of brews. It was the most relaxed I've ever been. I LOVE this place!

Chiang Mai, Thailand seemed to be the crown jewel on many backpackers' lists of world destinations. Travel bloggers typically give it rave reviews, young travelers we encountered during our journey swore it was "the best place ever", and many digital nomads have made it their home base.  Therefore our expectations for Chiang Mai were lofty. 

But after spending 4 days there, I didn't really get it. 

Don't get me wrong - we had fun in Chiang Mai and do no regret visiting - but I wouldn't describe it as the best place in Thailand, let alone the best place ever.  This is probably partly due to the fact that we aren't hard partying 20-somethings, and we didnt' try everything Chiang Mai had to offer. 

To be specific, here is a list of what we did & didn't do in Chiang Mai, starting with what we did: 

Siam Rice Thai Cookery School
This was the highlight of our visit to Chiang Mai and I highly recommend it to everyone, even if you are like me and hate to cook.  I enjoyed it so much that I wrote an entire blog post about it!  It's a great way to meet new people, learn a new skill and enjoy a delicious meal. 

Saturday, Sunday & Night Markets
Markets are big in Chiang Mai, so if you enjoy handicrafts, street food and hippie clothes - this is your mecca. And it's cheap. Real cheap. We are not big shoppers but, nevertheless, we enjoyed strolling through the markets. Vendors were selling similar items, most of which were knick-knacks, but every now and then we'd spot something a little different. 

Custom Suit
Thailand boasts a plethora of tailors. Originally, Chris wanted to purchase a custom suit in Hong Kong, but passed on the opportunity because the prices were much higher than expected for the type of material he wanted. He decided to give it another go in Chiang Mai and we visited a tailor called Scandy Collection which received rave reviews online.  Here we met Paul, who was very helpful and laid back (not pushy at all, which we appreciated). He had a nice variety of fabrics to choose from, offered us a good price and said he could get a suit done before we left so Chris decided to give it a try. We first visited Paul in the morning, where Chris chose his fabrics and got measured. By 7 o'clock that night, he had his first fitting where he tried out the nearly finished slacks and an initial shell of the jacket.  By the next evening, the suit was almost done! It fit Chris so well that he decided to order another suit and have them both sent home. 

Restaurants
Chiang Mai is known for it's large supply of delicious and inexpensive restaurants. Most of the restaurants serve delicious food, but they were very similar to each other in terms of taste and ambiance (note: we are not Thai food connoisseurs so many people might beg to differ).

Here are a couple of places that stood out among the crowd:

Toru Bar @ Mo Rooms - We stumbled upon this bar after eating at the restaurant next door.  The people were very friendly and the interior was pretty cool. We later learned that it was part of an artsy hotel called Mo Rooms where each room is the artist's interpretation of a Chinese zodiac sign. The rooms are pretty wild! Chris and I are both born in the year of the monkey, and based on the pictures, that might be the coolest room in the hotel. We'd try staying at this this place if we ever come back to Chiang Mai.

Bamboo Bee Vegetarian Restaurant - There are tons of vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai. We are not vegetarians, but enjoy vegetarian meals and this place was no exception. It's a tiny hole in the wall - maybe 4 tables - with an outdoor kitchen in front. They serve delicious fresh juices which they blend right in front of you. 

Other than the above activities, we wandered around the city. At night, most of the bars were full of older Western men with young Thai girls - or just young Thai girls waiting at the bar to meet older Western men.  To each his own, but it was a little strange and definitely wasn't our scene. 

We did enjoy our hotel - VC@Suanpaak. It's located a little further out of town - about a 10 minute/$3 tuk-tuk ride to the town center.  The rooms and pool were really nice, and the included breakfast was delicious! They have three restaurants and grow all the produce next door. 

Here is what we missed:

Elephant Camp 
One of the most popular activities in Chiang Mai. Tourists either ride an elephant or take care of one for a day. While in South Africa, our jeep was chased by a wild elephant. Our guide, Scotch - a big, burly tough guy who spent his life in the African bush - was a little freaked out and drove us away at lightning speed. This left us a little leery of the animals.  I know the elephants in Chiang Mai are "tame", but after reading a few tourist reviews about falling off runaway elephants, or elephants getting spooked by something and going nuts, we decided to pass.  This may have been a mistake. 

Tiger Kingdom
Here tourists can cuddle with or spoon tigers (which seem to be drugged). We love animals, but decided to pass on spooning a massive predator. Plus we felt bad that they were drugged all the time :( 

Tiger Kingdom did spark a rather odd debate at a bar one night.  Chris and I spent some time debating the merits of spooning a drugged, somewhat wild tiger vs a sober domesticated one.  Chris was of the opinion that he'd rather spoon the sober tiger because he doesn't see the point in spooning a drugged animal. What's the fun in that? Also, he thought the sober tiger would make for a much more interesting photo.  I prefer keeping my head in tact, and I think my chances of doing so would be greater if the tiger was a little groggy.  

Either way, we have no regrets about passing on tiger spooning. 

Temples
There are lots of beautiful temples or wats in Chiang Mai. However, after 4 days of visiting temples in Cambodia we were tapped out. 

Loi Krathong Festival (Lantern Festival)
Missing this festival in Chiang Mai is one of my biggest regrets of the entire trip, second only to missing out on the Whitsundays in Australia because of inclement weather.  This is the famous lantern festival where everyone gathers in close proximity and releases lanterns into the sky, a symbol for letting go of negative thoughts. We ended up celebrating it in Koh Samui, but it just wasn't the same because the people there focus more on releasing floating offerings into water vs. releasing lanterns into the sky. Had I planned better, I would have switched our visit to Chiang Mai with Samui so we'd be in Chiang Mai for the festival. It would have been a lot more expensive since people travel here from all over the world to participate, but I think it would have been worth the extra cost to see the sky lit up with floating lanterns. 

If we are ever back in Thailand again, I'd give Chiang Mai another chance and try to time it during the Loi Krathong Festival. I'd also take some time to visit neighboring Chiang Rai, which received rave reviews from travelers we met in Chiang Mai and Koh Lanta. 

After Siem Reap, we flew back to Thailand to visit Chiang Mai. Some of our friends raved about the evening cooking class at Siam Rice Thai Cookery School so we decided to give it a try. 

The cooking class turned out to be the highlight of our visit to Chiang Mai.  I highly recommend it, even if you are like me and hate to cook! Our teacher, Sim, picked us up at our hotel and brought us to the local market to learn about common Thai ingredients.  Then he brought us to the school which is located in a home outside the city. Here is where our group cooked 5 courses together in the outdoor kitchen. Our group included 3 other really nice ladies from France (2 of whom worked in Barcelona).  After cooking and we all ate together and got to know each other.  It's a great way to meet new people, learn a new skill and enjoy a delicious meal. 

Here are some pictures from our class:

First we went to the local market, similar to a farmer's market:

Next we drove outside the city to the school and started prepping our dishes. Here is what we cooked:

Our teacher, Sim, was quite a character.  He liked to dance while he cooked and encouraged all of us to join him.  Here is a video of Chris shaking his hips while he cooked his stir fry. The video is a little loud so you may want to turn down the volume before you hit play.

At the end we all got to eat our dishes and they were fantastic. My favorite were the Hot & Creamy soup and the Coconut Sticky Rice. 

While in Cambodia, we spent a lot of time in a tuk-tuk. Our driver took us all over the Angkor complex, through tiny villages and around downtown Siem Reap which allowed us to see a little more of daily life in Cambodia. 

Our next stop was Chiang Mai, Thailand and we had our best tuk-tuk adventure yet in this bad boy:

One day we passed by the Cambodian Land Mine Museum and decided to stop off to check it out.  The museum was founded by Aki Ra, a Cambodian who was forced to join the Khmer Rouge as a child soldier and spent his childhood laying land mines throughout his country.  In the 1970's, he defected into Vietnam in order to fight against the Khmer Rouge.  When the Vietnamese defeated the Khmer Rouge in 1979, he returned to Cambodia, continuing to fight against remaining factions that had fled into western Cambodia.  Eventually, Aki Ra became a lone mine-sweeper, searching for and disarming over 50,000 live land mines by hand, one village at a time. 

He founded an NGO to help fund his cause of de-mining Cambodia, and established the Land Mine Museum to educate visitors about the scale of Cambodia's land mine problem and the need to continue to secure resources to make Cambodia completely mine-free which, by some estimates, will take at least another 20 years. You can read Aki Ra's story, in his own words, here.  It was written many years ago and on our visit, we learned that his wife passed away from illness after their second child was born. 

The mines in Cambodia today primarily originated during the 70's and 80's.  Initially, mines were laid by the Khmer Rouge, who was supported by the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War.  The mines were used in order to disrupt American supply routes through Cambodia.  Further mines were laid during the Cambodian civil war, and during the fighting between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese in the late 70's, followed by the continued fighting with remaining Khmer Rouge factions during the 80's.  Most of the mines still present today are hidden in the rural northwestern part of Cambodia near the Thai border.  As a result, Cambodia continues to have the highest percentage of amputees in the world, as well as many land mine fatalities.  Sadly, many of the fatalities are children who encounter the mines while playing.

The Khmer Rouge was extremely brutal and this era was a horrible and sad period for the Cambodian people.  When Aki Ra fled to fight with the Vietnamese, he had to fight against members of his own family who were still under the control of the Khmer Rouge.  He tells a story about crossing gunfire with his uncle in a battle one day.  He recognized his uncle from across the battlefield and intentionally fired shots above his head.  Aki Ra, who was normally a crack shot, told the Vietnamese he was suffering from a headache, which was why he had missed his target.  After the war, he told his uncle what had happened, and today they still laugh about it.  We were particularly struck by how resilient many of the Cambodian people are, even after such a terrible period that saw every family lose loved ones en masse at the hands of a brutal regime.

In addition the museum, Aki Ra founded a boarding school for at-risk youths, most of which were affected by land mines and are missing limbs. The children are given room, board, english lessons, computer access and most importantly an education - something that many children in Cambodia don't pursue because they work all day. Aki Ra has won several peace prizes and was one of CNN's top 10 heroes in 2010. To learn more about The Landmine Museum and School check out these sites:

www.cambodialandminemuseum.org
www.cambodianselfhelpdemining.org

We found this museum to be incredibly interesting and informative.  Aki Ra and his team do a great job exhibiting and explaining their experiences during the war and their present day mine sweeping. These accounts bring to life the tragedy, horror, and courage Cambodians have faced in recent history.  Though it's a bit of drive outside of Siem Reap, we would highly recommend checking it out if you ever find yourself in the area.

Get ready for a lot of pictures because this place was full of colorful reflections of water-based society. Similar to the Uros islands in Peru, residents of Kompong Phluk live in homes surrounded by the water from Tonle Sap Lake. However, these homes are built on massive stilts, so technically they are not floating like the Uros homes. 

Cambodia has two seasons: rainy & dry. Late in the dry season, all the water featured in the pictures below is completely gone and people must ascend to their homes on tall bamboo ladders. It's so dry that the village can be accessed by car. Then the rain comes and fills the streets. We visited at the very beginning of the dry season, so the water was at its highest level.  

Our tuk-tuk driver drove us about an hour to get here. We hired a private boat for USD$20, which took us out to the village. Then we paid another $5 per person to take a guided row boat tour so we could see the village up close. This was the best part! 

Like any village, they have public services:

After passing through the village's main drag, we stopped at a little 'floating' cafe. Here you have the option to purchase a canoe tour for $5.  The women and children drive the canoes and they take you through the smaller waterways that are not accessible by the bigger boats. This way you can see the village up close, which we found more interesting. I think it's also interesting for the villagers, as they often took a moment to check us out (especially the young ones). Two worlds were floating by each other and we both wanted a closer look. 

Angkor is a region of northern Cambodia that served as the capital of the ancient Khmer empire, which existed from about the 9th to the 14th century. During this time, several important cities were constructed throughout the area, with the actual site of the capital city moving several times.  Today there remain ruins of over 1,000 different temples and buildings throughout the expansive region.

Getting Around
Since our hotel in Siem Reap included a tuk-tuk driver throughout our stay, we were able to spread our visits of the ancient Angkor sites over our three days there.  Angkor is located about a 15-20 minute tuk-tuk ride north of Siem Reap.  Angkor itself comprises a huge area, all of which is considered a national park. Within this area are countless temples and ancient cities to explore.  We purchased a 3-day pass which gave us unlimited access to all the temples for 3 full days.  Our driver helped us plan out a route each day and would drop us off at each site, wait for us and then drive us to the next site.  We decided to put all of the ancient sites we saw into this post, the length of which should give you some idea as to how large an area this is - and we only scratched the surface.

Angkor was amazing, but we began to suffer from temple fatigue after our second day of temple visits.  If you only want to dedicate one day to temples in Angkor, check out the itinerary at the end of this post.  In addition to temples, we had other great experiences in Siem Reap that we'd highly recommend - for example, floating villages and the land mine museum - which we'll feature in the next couple of posts.

Guide or Self-Guided Tour
You can hire an official local guide to accompany you on your tour of the sites, which could be very helpful, depending on the guide. We saw some guides in the temple that spoke very poor english or spanish, while others sounded like great storytellers (we were a little jealous we didn't have one of those guides).  We didn't hire a guide as we wanted to move at a pretty rapid pace. Instead, we bought a guidebook, a variety of which can be purchased from local people outside any of the major Angkor sites.  

Attire
There is a dress code that mainly applies to women when entering certain parts of the temples. Legs must be covered (pants, long skirt or capris are fine), as well as shoulders. A scarf draped over the shoulder does not always pass! Always carry around a high-collared short-sleeved shirt. On the first day, I wore cargo pants, sneakers, a tank top and brought a short-sleeved shirt. I was incredibly hot and uncomfortable. That same day I purchased a long skirt at the night market, which I wore with sandals the following days and this was much more bearable. I still cringed when I had to put on my short-sleeved shirt in the heat and humidity! 

Temples
Here are some of the notable sites we visited over the next few days:

Angkor Thom
The largest complex within Angkor, Angkor Thom is one of the newest cities at Angkor and one of the largest of all Khmer cities (Khmer is the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia).  Angkor Thom translates to Great City and it was built in the 12th century and remained in use until the 1600's.

We next headed over to Ta Phrom.  While this was a famous temple in the old days, today it is arguably even more famous for being the site of filming many of the scenes in the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.  This site is interesting because it is only partially restored, so visitors can see how the jungle overtakes these ancient ruins. There are many areas where huge invasive trees are growing right out of the ruins, forcing the heavy stones apart over time.  The two primary trees seen here are the silk-cotton tree and the strangler fig.

Angkor Wat - Sunrise, Sunset
We finished our first day of temple-hopping by visiting Ankgor Wat for sunset. Angkor Wat is the largest of all the Khmer temples, and today remains the largest religious monument in the world.  It was built during the 1100's.  The temple complex sits on a large area of land in the southern part of the Angkor area, closest to Siem Reap, and is surrounded by a huge moat.  The best times to visit Angkor Wat are at sunrise and sunset, in order to see the temple in the most beautiful light.  After visiting at sunset on our first day, we got up early to see sunrise on our third day in Siem Reap.

Phnom Bakheng - Sunset
This is one of the oldest temples at Angkor, dedicated in the year 907 and served as the temple of the earliest Angkor capital city.  It sits on, and was built out of, a large hill which today overlooks Angkor Wat.  It is known as the best place to see sunset.  We went here for sunset on our last day in Siem Reap.  While the views were beautiful, the temple was absolutely mobbed with people, taking away from the experience.  We actually left before the sun set because it was so crowded.  On our way down the hill, we noticed some great viewing platforms along the path, which were better places to see the sunset and what we'd recommend doing!

Preah Khan
This was one of the last temples we visited and ended up being one of our favorites.  We visited on our final day at Angkor after seeing the sunrise at Angkor Wat, so were still early enough to avoid seeing lots of other visitors.  This temple was built in the late 12th century and reminded us a lot of Ta Phrom (the Tomb Raider temple) in that much of it has not been reclaimed and is still overrun by trees and vegetation.  In addition to being a temple, it is thought that Preah Khan was also a Buddhist university, with over 1,000 teachers.

Pre Rup
Another of the older temples at Angkor (mid-900's), this was a very pretty temple that afforded great views after climbing to the top.

Banteay Srei
This site is a bit farther from Siem Reap - about 45 minutes by tuk-tuk from most of the other sites at Angkor.  Built in the late 900's, this temple is known as the Citadel of Women or the Citadel of Beauty.  It was not a royal temple, but was built by Brahmin priests.  It is notable for its very compact size and the intricacy of many of the stone carvings.  One additional benefit of visiting this temple is that you'll pass by the hugely interesting Cambodian Land Mine Museum, which we'd highly recommend.  We'll talk about this museum in the next post.

Banteay Samre
This one is also located a bit farther away, but closer than Bantreay Srei (although both are in the same direction so can be visited together).  

Our Recommended Itinerary for One Day in Angkor
It is possible to see many of the major Angkor sites in just one day, though it will be a very full day.  Here's our suggested itinerary that will let you see all the highlights at their best:
1.  Sunrise at Angkor Wat.  Be sure to leave early enough to get your tickets and make it to the temple while it's still dark. Stay outside the main part of the temple to watch sunrise, but save the inside for later.  Once the sun is up, head out.
2.  Ta Phrom and Preah Khan - These will get very crowded later in the day (Ta Phrom in particular), so try to beat the crowds to experience the most serene atmosphere.
3.  Back to Angkor Thom - it will be crowded, but is fairly spread out so it won't feel too crowded.  Make your way through 4-5 main sites in the complex.
4.  Depending on what time it is, check out Pre Rup.  You will want to allow enough time to be back at Angkor Wat by 4pm, so skip this one if you need to.
5.  Back to Angkor Wat at 4pm to see the interior, climb to the top, and take pictures in the beautiful light of sunset.  Unfortunately they'll kick you out at 5:30 before the sun actually sets, but it's still worth it!

For a bit of adventure, we decided to take the bus from Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia.  We purchased our ticket online from Thailand's version of Ticket Master, called Thai Ticket Major.  You have to pick up the ticket at one of the Thai Ticket Major booths throughout Thailand.  Ours happened to be on the top floor of a Bangkok mall.  

The bus departed at 9am from one of the many bus terminals peppered throughout Bangkok.  The standard coach bus was completely full.  They served breakfast and lunch on the bus but the food looked questionable (even Chris took a pass) so we stuck with our water and mints.  If you take the bus, bring your own snacks!

Beware - Visa Scam Before the Border!
After driving for about three hours, we approached the Cambodian border.  This was where the fun began.  First, the bus stopped off at an official-looking place called the Border Visa Office.  Fortunately, we had read about this bus trip in advance, and it turns out that this is simply a third-party visa agency that will do you the service of securing your Cambodian visa for about double the official price.  Despite being told that this would be our only opportunity to get visas, most of the people on the bus were wise to the scam.  Only three or four of our fellow passengers gave them any business, to the dismay of the bus driver who must get some sort of kickback.

Crossing the Border
Next, the bus drove about 100 feet up the road and let the passengers off at the border.  You have to walk across the border and meet up with the bus on the other side.  First we had to go through a building where our passports were stamped and we officially left Thailand.  Next, we had to walk about 1,000 feet along the road through a sort of no man’s land before reaching Cambodia.  This road is dotted with run-down casinos, dusty food stands and the ‘official’ Cambodian visa center.  

This is where you should purchase your Cambodian visa.  The official sign says a visa costs 20 USD (Cambodia generally uses USD for currency).  However, there is another sign on the counter made from notebook paper and crayons that says it costs $20 + 100 Thai Baht (about $3 USD).  Even the official border agents are on the take! Still, this was our only option at this point, so we paid up and went on our way.  

Next we had to wait in line to cross into Cambodia.  This took quite a while, as there were only a few immigration agents and lots of travelers.  The immigration office consisted of a plywood shack with no A/C, no fans and lots of bugs.  I was bitten by ants.  Luckily, spirits among the tourists in line were high as everyone was excited to see the famous temples in Siem Reap.  Interestingly, once we reached the immigration counter at the back end of the shack, the process was fairly high tech, with fancy fingerprint reading machinery and computers.

Finally in Cambodia!
About two hours after arriving at the border, we were all back on the bus and on our way to Siem Reap.  This segment of the voyage took another two hours or so, but it was a really pretty ride through bright green rice fields, muddy rivers where the locals swam waist-deep to fish, and cute kids riding bikes and waving at the bus.   We pulled into town around 5pm.

All in all, it was a successful journey and only cost us about $25 plus our visa fees, which we’d have had to pay anyway.  Still, next time I think we’ll fly!

Great Hotel: Diamond D'Angkor
Lately we've been having a lot of success picking hotels that have received very few reviews on Tripadvisor, all of which were 'excellents'.  Even though all of their reviews are 'excellent', they are typically buried far down in the rankings due to the small number of reviews.  Usually it's because these hotels have only recently opened.  These places often offer some really great deals as they're trying to build word of mouth and generate more positive reviews in order to move up in the rankings.  We found this to be true at Diamond D'Angkor hotel in Siem Real. For just $55USD/ night we got a wonderful corner room on the top level, free breakfast every day, one free dinner, our own tuk-tuk driver for our entire stay, a free cell phone to use during our stay and free mini bar & daily fruit in the room.  The hotel was about a 5 minute walk from the center of Siem Reap nightlife - Pub Street. The staff was incredibly friendly and service oriented. We strongly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Siem Reap! 

Tuk-Tuks in Siem Reap
Upon arriving at the bus station, we hired a tuk-tuk to take us to our hotel.  (A tuk-tuk is basically a motorcycle towing a cart that can carry up to four people.) There were tons of tuk-tuks waiting for our bus and most of them offered us a free ride to the hotel if we'd hire them as our daily driver during our stay. Since our hotel provided a complimentary tuk-tuk we just paid our driver $3 to take us to our hotel (by the way, we knew we overpaid as this ride should have cost no more than $1, but at the end of the day $2 extra means a lot to the driver, so we did not mind). 

If you ever travel to Siem Reap, a daily tuk-tuk driver should cost you about $6 for an entire day. Tipping is optional and not expected, and we learned that people from other countries have varying opinions about it.  We ended up leaving our driver a tip at the end of the our three days there.

Stay tuned for our next post where we'll take you inside the cities and temples of ancient Angkor!