Siem Reap

Angkor was the centre of the Khmer Empire from the early 9th century to the 15th. Tradition dates the start to 802, when Jayavarman II had himself consecrated as a universal ruler on the sacred hill of Phnom Kulen, north-east of today's town. His successors moved the capital around the plain south of the hill, building a temple-mountain for each king and a reservoir beside it. Over six centuries the area became a low-density city of temples, houses of wood, canals and rice fields spread across some 400 square kilometres. Recent laser surveys from the air have shown a network of roads, enclosures and water works far larger than the temples alone suggested, which is why archaeologists now call Angkor a city, not a group of monuments.

Two kings shaped what visitors see. Suryavarman II ruled in the first half of the 12th century and built Angkor Wat as a state temple dedicated to Vishnu. It faces west, unusual for a Khmer temple, and its long galleries carry carved scenes from Hindu epics and from the king's own wars. About sixty years later, after a Cham attack on the capital, Jayavarman VII rebuilt the city as Angkor Thom and made Mahayana Buddhism the state faith. The Bayon, at the centre of the walled city, carries about two hundred stone faces on its towers; Ta Prohm and Preah Khan were built as temples and monasteries in his reign. He also built roads, rest houses and hospitals across the empire, according to inscriptions.

The empire weakened in the 14th and 15th centuries, and the court moved south of the great lake after a Siamese attack around 1431, the traditional date of the end of the Angkor period. Angkor Wat did not empty: monks kept it as a Buddhist temple, and travellers from Asia and Europe described it for centuries. The French naturalist Henri Mouhot brought it to a wide Western audience in 1860, and the École française d'Extrême-Orient spent decades clearing, mapping and restoring the temples. Siem Reap province returned to Cambodia from Siam in 1907. War, then the Khmer Rouge years of 1975–79, cut the region off; Angkor was damaged but not destroyed. UNESCO listed it in 1992, and restoration teams from many countries work in the park today.

Siem Reap is easy to read. The Siem Reap river runs north to south through the town, and the Old Market (Psar Chas) and Pub Street sit on its west bank, a few minutes' walk from most mid-range hotels. South and south-east are guesthouses and Wat Damnak; north are the royal gardens, the Angkor National Museum and the road that heads straight to the temples. The airport is not near: the new Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport, open since October 2023, is about 40 km east, so the last leg of any flight is a 45–75 minute car ride.

The Angkor Archaeological Park begins about 6 km north of the centre. The ticket office sits on the approach road, and every visitor buys the pass there; the pass is checked at the temple gates, so keep it and your ID on you. Angkor Wat is the first big stop at the end of the road. Angkor Thom, the walled city with the Bayon, is a few kilometres beyond it, and Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and other temples lie to the east and north. The tuk-tuk day circuits are named for these loops: the small circuit covers Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm, and the grand circuit adds more distant temples.

Further out are Banteay Srei, about 25–35 km north-east, and the mountain of Phnom Kulen and Beng Mealea, each a day trip by car. The great lake, Tonlé Sap, lies south of the town, and its villages are reached by road and boat. In practice this means the geography of a visit is one straight road north, with side trips at each end. Plan around the sun: temples in the first and last hours of the day, town and pool in the middle. Give your driver the temple and the gate you want, agree a return time, and let him wait: the drives, not the walks, are what use up a day.

Angkor is a religious landscape, and the buildings make more sense once you know what they were for. A Khmer king built a temple-mountain as a model of Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, with a central tower and a moat for the cosmic ocean. Angkor Wat is a Vishnu temple; the Bayon is a Buddhist one, though its shrines also hold older Hindu ideas; Banteay Srei is a Shiva temple. Later, in the 13th and 14th centuries, many Hindu images were defaced and Buddhist ones added, and Theravada Buddhism, the faith of most Cambodians today, became the norm. That is why you can walk past a monk in orange robes at the foot of a Hindu temple.

The carvings are the fastest way in. The bas-reliefs on the outer galleries of Angkor Wat show the Battle of Kurukshetra from the Mahabharata, the army of Suryavarman II, scenes of heaven and hell, and the Churning of the Sea of Milk, in which gods and demons pull a serpent to make an elixir. At the Bayon the reliefs turn to daily life: markets, boats, a cockfight, a crowd around a meal. Banteay Srei is small and carved so deeply that it looks like wood. Look for the female figures, called devatas, standing in the walls at Angkor Wat: their hair, jewellery and faces are all different.

Some habits help. Walk galleries in the direction the carvings run, which at Angkor Wat is counter-clockwise. Stay off carved walls and do not touch the stone; oils from many hands wear it down. A guide with a licence can bring the stories to life in an hour, and it is worth paying for on your first day. Then use the second day to look alone, without a group, at whatever caught your eye. The temples are also places of worship: incense burns, people leave offerings, and some monks and nuns tend small shrines, so speak quietly and cover your shoulders and knees. Ask before photographing any person.

Angkor ran on water. The Khmer built great reservoirs, called barays, and a system of canals that stored the monsoon rain and spread it across rice fields. The West Baray, about 8 km long and 2 km wide, still holds water; the moats around each temple were part of the same system. The idea was to secure rice in a climate with a long dry season and a wet one. Some scholars think that a series of droughts and floods in the 14th and 15th centuries, and damage to the water network, helped weaken the city. The debate is still open, but the link between water and power is clear when you see the size of the barays.

South of the town lies Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia. Its river flows the wrong way for half the year. In the dry season it drains from the lake to the Mekong, and when the Mekong swells in the monsoon, the flow reverses and the lake floods forest and fields, growing several times over in area. That pulse feeds one of the richest freshwater fisheries in the world, and the fish, more than rice, feed most Cambodians. Villages such as Kampong Phluk stand on tall stilts or float, and the trip by boat changes completely between the dry and wet seasons.

The same rhythm shapes a visit. From about November the rains stop and the fields dry out; the temples are cool in the mornings and the dust rises. By March the heat builds, and by May the rains begin again, turning the moats green and the roads to mud in places. In the wet season, mornings are often clear and afternoons stormy, and the flooded forest is at its best in September to November. Ask about water levels before booking a lake trip. For a first visit, remember that the water is why the temples are where they are, and that the land is still farmed: rice fields, sugar palms and water buffalo line the roads outside the park.

Khmer food is milder than Thai food and built on herbs and fermented flavours. The base of many dishes is kroeung, a paste of lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, garlic and kaffir lime, pounded fresh. Fish amok, a coconut-cream fish curry steamed in banana leaf, is the dish most visitors are told to try, and it is good in a sit-down restaurant. Lok lak, stir-fried beef with a lime-pepper dip, is another. Morning brings noodle soup, kuy teav, sold from stalls and shophouses, and grilled pork over rice, bai sach chrouk. Sour soups, green mango salads and fried fish make up the rest of a meal, with rice at the centre.

Where to eat depends on the time. Breakfast is at a noodle stall or a bakery with a baguette, a legacy of the French period. Lunch can be a plate at the Old Market, cheap and quick, before the heat closes in. The mid-afternoon is quiet: many stalls close, and the town rests. Dinner is a sit-down meal in the lanes off Pub Street or a graze among the night market stalls. Prices are low: a local plate is a couple of dollars, a restaurant meal five to ten, and a beer under two. Cards work in better restaurants, often with a small surcharge, while stalls take cash, usually US dollars with riel as change.

Daily life follows the sun. Local people are up before dawn, monks walk the streets collecting alms early, and markets are at their best by 07:00. The heat of the middle of the day is spent in the shade, and the streets fill again in the evening, when families gather at the riverside and in the parks. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists, and pagodas are community centres as well as temples. Be kind and polite: greet with the palms-together sampeah, do not touch a person's head, keep your feet off seats, and avoid raising your voice. Give to a school or a registered charity rather than to children on the street.

The calendar has three seasons. The cool dry season, roughly November to February, has clear skies, cooler mornings around 20 °C and afternoons near 30 °C. It is the busiest time, and hotels and drivers are booked up around Christmas and New Year. The hot season, from March to May, brings temperatures above 35 °C at midday and dust in the air. The wet season, from about June to October, is greener, with fewer visitors and cheaper rooms. Rain comes as heavy afternoon storms, and mornings are usually clear; the stone steps are slippery and some roads flood in September and October.

Festivals add another layer. Khmer New Year, on 13 to 16 April, is the biggest holiday: many people go home, shops close for days, and water fights break out in the streets, which is fun if you expect it. Pchum Ben, in September or October, is a fifteen-day festival of ancestors when families take food to pagodas, with a public holiday at the peak. Visak Bochea marks the Buddha's birthday in May, and the Water Festival in November is centred on Phnom Penh, though buses and hotels fill across the country. Independence Day is 9 November. Dates that follow the lunar calendar move each year, so check before you plan a trip around one.

A workable day in any season is the same: leave at first light for the temple, be at breakfast by 08:30, and back at the hotel by 10:30 or 11:00. Spend the hot hours at the pool, in a museum or at a long lunch, then go out again at 15:30 or 16:00 for the low sun and the quieter roads. In the hot months, do not walk the temples from 11:00 to 15:00. In the wet months, keep a poncho in your bag and plan for an indoor stop at 15:00. Drink more water than you think you need, wear a hat and sunscreen, and protect yourself from mosquito bites, which spread dengue by day. A relaxed pace is the best way to see Angkor.