| This town,
situated on Siem Reap river close to the Tonle Sab is a main tourist
attraction because of its situation in the vicinity of
the Angkor
temple complex and it acts as a
gateway to this marvellous archaeological site, designated a
World
Heritage site by UNESCO. The area has
been receiving foreign visitors to the temples for over 100 years.
The town is actually a cluster of old villages, which originally
developed around individual pagodas, and later overlaid with a
French colonial-era centre.
Note the colonial and Chinese style
architecture in the town centre and around the Old Market. The
Old Market area is foreigner area. It contains the highest
concentration of foreign-owned businesses, predominantly
restaurants, bars and craft boutiques. |
The name Siem Reap means "Siamese
defeated" which refers to a centuries old war against the Siamese.
There are some discotheques and bars in the western part of town.
They play pretty loud music, some western, some modern Cambodian.
If you have some time left, consider a visit to the Aki Ra's
land
mine museum. This museum is just a corrugated-roof area stacked high
with disarmed ordnance and detailed data about their use and effects and
with statistics about UXO (unexploded ordinance) in the country. Most
interesting is the small grove out back, an exhibit of how mines are
placed in a real jungle setting.
An alternative way to visit the temple complex is
by balloon. Board the balloon about 1 kilometre west of Angkor Wat. |
