On my first full day in Siem Reap I opted to buy a $40 3-day pass to see the temples. You might think I’d have had enough after touring though no less than 16 temples and monuments in the previous 2 days, but I wanted to get my money’s worth from the pass so I arranged to start the day early with the same tuk-tuk driver from yesterday. He suggested a longer drive to some of the further out temples and attractions, and they were well worth it. Today we would drive over 150km.

The first stop was a unique highly detailed sandstone temple called Banteay Srey. From there we went to see the River of 1000 Lingas which involved a very enjoyable short hike through the jungle, ending at a sacred waterfall. On the way back we would stop at two more temples, Banteay Samré and my favourite of them all, Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm was especially spectacular as large Silk Cotton trees have invaded the temple over the years and blend in with the rock ruins creating a kind of mystical feeling. I was very disappointed when my camera battery decided to die just a few minutes after entering Ta Prohm, but I still managed to get a few decent shots.

While eating dinner at the guesthouse, I met two friendly solo travelers, Bruno from Melbourne and Emily from New York and living in Paris, and we decided to check out the night scene and caught an entertaining band as well as some traditional Khmer dancing at the quirky Dead Fish bar while sampling local brews.

Click on the album above for today’s photos or click here for a fullscreen slide show.