How to Visit the Great Wall of China

by Kelly | Feb 16, 2019 | Asia, China, Day Trips, Fit Travel, Travel

Visiting the Great Wall of China is one of the most popular day trips you can take from Beijing. If you travel halfway across the world to China's capital city, you should make time for a trip to one of its most famous landmarks, the Great Wall. I was not sure what to expect during my visit. I was awed and impressed by the Great Wall and had a fun day exploring the area. A visit to the Great Wall of China is not to be missed!

For more great stories about adventures in Asia, read these articles about What to Expect on your Ha Long Bay Cruise and How to Visit Angkor Wat!

Note that this page includes affiliate links: this means if you make a purchase using the link I receive some compensation at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

A Brief History of the Great Wall of China

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Construction

The Qin Dynasty began building the Great Wall sometime between 221 and 206 BC. The Ming Dynasty, who ruled from 1368 to 1664 AD, completed the wall during their reign. Though its building spanned millennial, the wall you see today was built mostly by the Ming Dynasty. Few remnants of what was built by previous dynasties still exist. When the wall was no longer needed to protect China from the Hun invaders from the North - and it is unlikely it ever offered protection to begin with - it fell into disrepair. Restoration efforts in the 1980s brought the wall back to the state in which we see it today. In 1987, UNESCO declared the Great Wall a World Heritage Site.

Facts

The Great Wall of China is between 13,170 km and 21,196 km long. It contains many sections, with some looking like your typical Great Wall photos and others like mounds of dirt. The main tourist area near Bejing has ten sections. The most famous sections for tourists are Badaling and Mutianyu. There are many tours available to choose from that bring tourists from Beijing to visit the Wall. Alternatively, you may embark on your own adventure to visit the Great Wall using public transportation or a private driver.

Deciding which Section to Visit

There are many sections to choose from when visiting the Great Wall from Beijing. Most visitors find themselves choosing between Badaling and Mutianyu.

Badaling is the most famous section likely because it is easiest to get to from Beijing. This also makes it the one most tourists visit, meaning it is often very crowded. For this reason I do not recommend visiting the Badaling section if the others are accessible to you.

The Mutianyu section, on the other hand, is not yet overrun with tourists. In fact when I visited on a beautiful day in September there was almost no one there! It contains a quiet village at the bottom of the wall, a chair lift up to the top, well-preserved stone walkways, and a toboggan slide down.

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Getting to the Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is about an hour North of Beijing by car and two to three hours by public transportation. Visiting the Wall will take at least half a day. Once you decide which section of the Wall to visit, the easiest way to determine how to get there is to use the Rome2Rio website, which provides directions between any two places in the world, including Beijing and the Great Wall.

Badaling

Rome2Rio identifies many options of transport between Beijing and Badaling. The easiest way to reach the Badaling section of the Great Wall is to take the Beijing subway to the Huangtudian Railway Station. From here you can board a train that will take you directly to Badaling. This trip is the easiest and most direct way to visit the Great Wall from Beijing, which is why so many tourists opt for it.

Mutianyu

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My experience getting to Mutianyu was slightly different. I was fortunate to have my friend Dong as a local guide. I met Dong in law school in the United States. She grew up in Southern China and lived in Beijing. Dong asked me to meet her at the Dongzhimen bus station around 8:30 AM the day of our visit to the Great Wall. We planned to take a public bus all the way to the Great Wall for about $3 USD with just one transfer.

Travel by Local Bus

The ride out of the city provided a unique perspective on life in urban China. We traveled through smaller cities around Beijing using both highways and local roads. From the looks of things around us we could have been driving through somewhere in the United States: it would have looked the same except for the Mandarin writing on the signs.

The bus made multiple local stops in the different towns as we approached the wall. Looking around at the other passengers, it was clear this was transportation used mostly by locals rather than tourists. My dad, who was along with us, and I were the only non-Chinese people on the bus. We clearly stuck out as foreign tourists.

Transfer to Private Car or Taxi

At one stop, a man from outside saw us on the bus, boarded the bus through a back door, and approached us speaking broken English. Not knowing what he wanted, I tried to ignore him and pretend I spoke another language. Dong was sitting behind my dad and I, and we heard her speak Mandarin with the man. Suddenly she told us to get off the bus and quickly. I had no idea what was going on. Were we in danger?

To my surprise, as we left the bus we followed the man and got in his car! It turns out he was a taxi driver. It had been obvious to him that two white people on the local bus in that area were trying to visit the Great Wall. Had we remained on the bus it would have taken another half hour to reach the Great Wall. With our new taxi driver we were just a five minute drive away from the entrance.

Visiting the Wall

A visit to the Great Wall of China includes much more than just wandering around an elevated stone path for a few minutes. At most sections you will find a small village, information about the Wall, and transport up to and back from the landmark.

Reaching the Wall

In the Mutianyu section visitors purchase access to the wall at the main entrance. Your ticket includes a chair lift ride up and either a chair lift or a toboggan ride down. We all opted for the toboggan ride ticket seeing as that was one of the main reasons I had chosen to visit this particular section of the wall.

The chair lift from the village to the top of the wall took about ten minutes. As an avid skier, I had been on many chair lifts before. I sat back and enjoyed the views of the surrounding Chinese countryside during the trip up. If you are not accustomed to riding on chair lifts, make sure you lower and raise the safety bar at the appropriate times (there are signs), sit all the way back in the seat, and don't rock the chair! If fear of heights is an issue, just watch the chair in front of you. There will be plenty of time to take in views of the area from the top of the wall itself.

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"Climbing" the Wall

The night before our visit to the Great Wall, Dong took my dad and I out to dinner. When we discussed our adventure planned for the next day, she kept talking about "climbing" the Wall. I kept imagining us having to climb up the side of the wall from the ground! I was very pleased, though slightly confused, when I selected the chair lift option at the entrance and learned we would be dropped off on top of the wall.

The climb to which Dong was referring occurs once you are on the wall. Because it was built many centuries ago, the architecture of the wall is imperfect. Additionally, the expanse across which it stretches is marked by rolling hills. These factors mean visitors must exert some effort to hike along the wall between the watch towers. At various points you travel up or down along the paths on top of the wall following the hills. In some areas there are stairs to climb. Other areas are not well kept and are tricky to navigate. The stairs are not always evenly spaced. I thought this was a result of bad technology or architecture at the time, but this was often done on purpose to throw off intruders trying to run up and down the wall.

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If you are not expecting an active hike, you can still visit the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. The chair lift drop off was intentionally set at a part of the Wall that is flat and well-maintained in almost perfect condition. If you are able to travel further and make the hike you will be well-rewarded with the natural beauty of the surrounding area, the uniqueness of each historic watch tower, and the thinning out of crowds as you travel further from the entrance point.

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Descending the Wall

One of the most unique features of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is its toboggan ride to the bottom. Though you have the option to return to the village by chair lift, complete your visit by taking the toboggan down. Even Michelle Obama chose this option during her visit! Each rider rides in their own toboggan with a handle to hold onto that also contains a break. You use the break to control your own speed. The track looks like a metal luge or skeleton racing track traveling through the woods from the wall back to the village. The ride down takes five to ten minutes depending on your chosen speed. All three of us visiting the Wall that day took advantage of this option.

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Mutianyu Village

Complete your visit to the Great Wall by exploring the shops and eating in the restaurants in the Mutianyu Village. Though the area may seem touristy, we had delicious authentic food served to us in a village restaurant, and then bought a few trinkets by which to remember our visit.

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At the end of our time in Mutianyu, we met our taxi driver - who had waited for us the whole time! - who took us back to one of the main bus stops in the area where we boarded our public transportation back to Beijing.

I highly recommend selecting the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall to visit. Regardless of which section you choose, make sure to add this day trip to any itinerary of a visit to Beijing.

Planning a trip to Beijing and looking for a great hotel? Check out the options here: Beijing City Hotels.

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Learn how to visit the Great Wall of China with my travel tips and advice!

What to Expect on Your Halong Bay Cruise

by Kelly | Sep 9, 2018 | Asia, Day Trips, Travel, Vietnam

Last year, my friend Sarah and I went on a 2-day/1-night Halong Bay Cruise. Halong Bay (sometimes written as Ha Long Bay) in Northern Vietnam is one of the most beautiful places to which I’ve ever been. UNESCO designated the area a World Natural Heritage site in 1994. The Bay, which covers over 600 square miles, is home to 1,969 limestone islands. If you are planning to spend any time in Northern Vietnam, you should add Halong Bay to your itinerary. If you want to learn more about what to do in Hanoi while you’re there, check out my blog post on 48 Hours in Hanoi.

Read on below to learn what your 2-day/1-night Halong Bay cruise experience may be like.

Halong Bay Cruise – Day 1

Trip from Hanoi

The departure port for all of Halong Bay’s junk boats is about three hours from Hanoi. Your driver will pick you up from your hotel in Hanoi and drive you to the port. Along the way, you will probably stop at a rest stop/marketplace in the countryside. The goods in the marketplace are beautiful hand-made Vietnamese items like tapestries, glass bowls, woven fabrics, and lacquered vases. You know everything is authentic because you can see the goods being made right in the marketplace! Note that payment for everything, including food and drink, is cash-only. If you don’t have a chance to buy something on the way to the boat you will likely stop here again on the way back.

Port Arrival and Departure

From what we could tell, all of the junk boats departed from the same port. When we arrived there were hundreds of people waiting to board the myriad junk boats in the harbor. Our guide led us efficiently through the crowds to our dinghy that brought us to our boat. We were on board receiving the safety protocols within an hour of arriving at the port. We then had some time to settle-in and explore the three ship decks before the armada of junk boats made their way into the Bay.

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Armada of Halong Bay cruise junk boats

Your visionsof Halong Bay may include a sole junk boat floating along by itself among the islands. In reality, most of the cruises travel the same routes at the same time. The boats are far enough away from each other that you don’t feel as though it is merely a ship caravan, but the only real difference among cruises was probably the accommodation and food quality. Though we were not on the most expensive cruise, we were impressed with everything our boat offered. The one issue was that WiFi was “available” but didn’t really work. Even so, this “problem” added to the secluded nature experience of the weekend.

Lunch

Once our Halong Bay cruise had set sail, we were treated to the most delicious lunch. Dishes were served one at a time, and they just kept coming! There were vegetables, rice, fish, and other meat along with delicious sauces. All the food on the cruise was included, but drinks cost extra at about $5 USD per drink. If you buy drinks, you will keep a tab throughout the trip and pay at the end.

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The dining room on our junk boat

Hang Sung Sot Caves

The Hang Sung Sot cave complex was the first stop for our Halong Bay cruise (and many other cruises). Hang Sung Sot means “Cave of Surprises”. Many of the islands have caves in them. The Hang Sung Sot cavern is one of the largest in the Bay. We spent about an hour hiking up to the cave entrance, exploring the cavern, and taking in the sights from a few hundred feet above the Bay. During our visit, we were told about the natural history of the caves and some Vietnamese folklore, like the importance of the dragon and the tortoise to the area.

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Hang Sung Sot Cavern

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View from the island with Hang Sung Sot Cave

Ti Top Island

Your next stop will be the beaches of Ti Top Island. Ti Top was a Russian cosmonaut who visited Halong Bay in 1962. During his visit to the Bay, Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh named an island after him. His statue is one of the first things you encounter when you arrive from your junk boat. Just beyond the landing site is a recreational beach with a swimming area, sand to lay on, concessions available for purchase, and even a volleyball net! Our cruise gave us about an hour to enjoy the area on the first day. We sat on the beach enjoying fresh coconut water and fruit, then spent some time swimming in the warm Bay waters. The one downside to the area is the presence of jellyfish, but overall it was a fun experience.

Statue of Ti Top that greets you on Ti Top Island

Ti Top Beach

Evening Activities Onboard

Happy Hour

Upon returning to the junk boat, you have time to shower and enjoy a (complimentary) drink on the roof deck before dinner. With about 20 guests on board, you have plenty of space to spread out and grab a deck chair to watch the islands sail by. You also have the chance to meet some fascinating travelers from around the world. I encourage you to use your downtime on board to learn about the other guests’ experiences.

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Roof deck of our junk boat

Dinner

Dinner again consists of many different courses served individually. For this meal, the head chef puts on a show cooking the main dish on the stern of the ship! The V’Spirit Cruise chef put on a show for the guests with lots of fire and theatrics while cooking a fish-and-vegetable stir fry for us all to enjoy.

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On-board cooking demonstration

Squid Fishing

You will probably have the option of trying to go squid fishing after dinner. When your junk boat anchors for the night and shuts off its main lights, your guide may hand out long rods with strings attached that you hold over the side of the boat in the hopes of catching squid. If you do manage to catch something, it will be served the next day for lunch. However, none of our guests had any luck fishing, so our boat had extra squid on board to serve us anyway.

Trying to spot squid for fishing over the side of the boat

Halong Bay Cruise – Day 2

You may have the option of an early-morning Tai Chi class on day two. After class, during breakfast, you Halong Bay cruise guide will tell you about the activities for the day ahead. These activities include kayaking among the islands, visiting a floating village, a cooking class during lunch, and a visit to a pearl factory on the way back to Hanoi.

Tai Chi

I am not usually an early-riser or a morning person, but when presented with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a tai chi class on a junk boat roof deck while floating through Halong Bay, I had to take advantage of it. The boat’s instructor led the guests through a series of gentle exercises to help wake us up, get our blood flowing, and connect with the nature around us. No rooftop or beach yoga class has ever been as peaceful as this was.

Early morning tai chi class

Floating Villages

Halong Bay used to be filled will permanent residents in floating villages. These consisted of rafts tied together with house structures atop them for living and schooling. The residents ate mostly fish caught in the Bay. They made money by selling goods to tourists on the junk boats. Recently, the Vietnamese government provided incentives for the residents to move from the floating villages into land communities. It is considered both safer for the residents and better for the environment for them to live on land.

While controversial in many ways, one downside of this policy for tourists is the lack of floating villages to now visit. Our tour group saw just one in the area in which we went kayaking. There was one resident who pulled up to our boat to try and sell some things, but the village wasn’t as active or bustling as it probably would have been years ago.

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Woman from a nearby floating village selling her wares to tourists in the Bay

Kayaking

The majority of day two was spent kayaking in our own little corner of the Bay. Each junk boat has its own space in which to go kayaking: no other boats were in our area. We had the choice to just kayak around the bay or explore the caves and shores of the islands around us. Sarah and I opted for the latter. We had the best time traveling between the islands to see their natural beauty practically untouched by humans.

(photo credit: Sarah)

Cooking Class

On the way back to port you will probably receiving a cooking demonstration and class from the head chef. We saw myriad vegetables transformed into beautiful flowers with a paring knife. Then, we were provided ingredients for spring rolls and taught how to add water to the rice wrapper, choose our fillings, and wrap the rolls. These became the first course in our filling lunch, the last meal on our Halong Bay cruise.

Vegetable flowers prepared by the head chef

Pearl Factory

On the trip back to Hanoi, we first stopped at a local pearl factory. Halong Bay is filled with oysters that the Vietnamese use to create pearls. We were shown how a pearl is initiated in an oyster, how the pearl forms, how it is harvested, and how it is made into jewelry. Of course, part of this tour included the implication that the tourists should purchase some of the final products, but I found the prices outlandish for Vietnam. Luckily, the sellers weren’t too pushy and we could admire the jewelry without buying anything.

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Watching pearls pulled from oysters at the pearl factory

My Halong Bay cruise experience was phenomenal; I recommend it to anyone planning to go to Northern Vietnam! If you want to have the same experience as Sarah and I, you can book the cruise we took here: V’Spirit Cruise.*

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Our global cruise group and guide!

*Note that if you use this link I receive some compensation at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

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How to Spend 48 Hours in Hanoi

by Kelly | Sep 3, 2018 | Asia, Hanoi, Travel, Vietnam

Aside from wanting to visit every country in the world, Vietnam was never high on my travel priority list. I didn’t know much about the country and had heard great things about places like Thailand and Indonesia so I thought they would be my next Southeast Asian destinations. However, last year a friend who knows how much I love traveling was looking for someone to explore Vietnam with her. She implored me to look into the country before saying “no.” After doing some research, mainly on travel blogs like The Blonde Abroad and Nomadic Matt, I determined it was a great time to visit Vietnam! See below for recommendations from our first stop, the capital city Hanoi.

Favorite Tourist Attractions in Hanoi

Hanoi’s Old Quarter

We arrived late on a Saturday night in Hanoi after traveling for over 20 hours from Boston by way of Tokyo. Our hotel, Hanoi Imperial Hotel*, was located in the Old Quarter a few steps from Hoan Kiem Lake. Though it was very late, we were able to find dinner by the lake and explore the plaza. There were locals who were sitting around on plastic stools talking and listening to music. The atmosphere was very relaxed, which was exactly what we wanted after a long flight. We bought a couple of beers from the convenience store for less than $1 and wandered around the area. The lake was beautiful with the bright red bridge in the center. Though the temple was closed at night, we still explored its exterior architecture. We even encountered a man meditating on a rock pile, who had been so quiet and still when we first passed him we didn’t even notice he was there!

Man mediating by the tree on top of the rock monument

Tran Quoc Pagoda and Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum

The next two days were spent walking all over the city doing sightseeing. We traversed the streets in the heat up to West Lake, a bustling shopping and food area with the Tran Quoc Pagoda on a peninsula in the center. This was where we encountered our first cultural difference experience. While it was easily over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, no one was allowed onto the peninsula with bare shoulders or knees. My friend was reasonably wearing a tank top. This caused her to be barred from entry not only by the groundskeeper but even other locals! This happened again later at Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, showing that the custom relates more to their perception of respect and reverence than religion.

Inside the Tran Quoc Pagoda

Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum: we were not able to go inside as Ho Chi Minh was not even there! He was in Moscow at the time.

Perfume Pagoda and Temple of Literature

Both the Chinese and French influences were prevalent throughout the city. China is the regional hegemony and shares a border with Vietnam. It has controlled the Vietnamese land many times throughout history. This is apparent in the architecture, language, and religion in Vietnam. When visiting the Perfume Pagoda and the Temple of Literature, I felt like I was back in Beijing. The architecture is exactly the same as the Chinese Buddhist temples and the Confucian temple of learning. The concept of having a non-religious temple complex build for higher learning and education was also very Chinese.

Perfume Pagoda

Inside the Temple of Literature you can see the Chinese influences and food offerings made by locals

The French influence was prevalent less in the tourist attractions and more in the buildings around the city. It was characterized by the bright mustard-colored paint and European designs. Most of the buildings are now Vietnamese government buildings, though there was one church that was clearly French-colonial too.

Hoa Lo Prison

The other French architecture remaining in the city was the Hoa Lo Prison. Built by French colonists in the late 1800s, the prison was originally used to house Vietnamese dissidents. When the Vietnamese threw out their colonists and were fighting Western powers during the Vietnam War, they used Hoa Lo Prison to house Prisoners of War (including John McCain). The experience visiting the prison was sobering but also fascinating and something I recommend to everyone who visits Hanoi.

Thang Long Imperial Citadel

The Imperial Citadel also provides a sobering experience to Western visitors. Restored to its current state in the late 21^st century, you can see influences from both Chinese and French architecture in the Citadel. The grounds are beautiful to explore and almost no area is barred to tourists. The complex has been used for government and military functions for centuries. This seems normal until you realize that includes Vietnamese military functions during the Vietnam War. Tourists can visit the room where generals planned attacks on Western forces and the bunker rooms where they hid when under attack. It is another can’t-miss attraction when you are in Hanoi.

Down the stairs leading to the basement bunker

Nightlife

The nightlife in Hanoi is casual and unique in culture, like many other things in the city. If you prefer lounging in high-end clubs, Saigon will be more your speed in Vietnam. If you want to hang out with the locals and wander the streets from bar-to-bar in a vibrant, outdoor city at midnight, be sure to do so in Hanoi.

We were the only non-locals in this bar at the time! They all deterred us from ordering the street food they kept bringing in, probably for the best.

Vietnamese Culture in Hanoi

In Hanoi you can’t help but experience the culture firsthand, even as a tourist. There didn’t seem to be any way for my friend and me to insulate ourselves in a Western-culture bubble while in Hanoi, not that we wanted to!

Food

One of the most important parts of any culture is the food! We enjoyed meals at fancy-but-cheap restaurants and local hot spots with open air seating and plastic stools. Our favorite dishes were the spring rolls (both fried and fresh), beef pho, and Vietnamese barbeque.

Dumplings and hot & sour soup at Fu Rong Hua

Fresh Spring Rolls

Beef Pho Soup, local fish, and local Vietnamese wine from the Dalat region

Hanoi BBQ Barbecue Barbeque Vietnamese Food

Barbeque on the street at Bo Nuong Xuan Xuan

Papaya shrimp salad, fresh and fried spring rolls, and soup at Ngon Villa

Eating Bun Cha at the same restaurant President Obama visited with Anthony Bourdain, Bún Chả Hương Liên!

The “Obama Special” Bun Cha meal

Blind Massages

Because of the purchasing power parity in our favor, my friend and I knew that we wanted to get massages while in Vietnam. We had one at our hotel for $20 which was amazing. The next day we found a spa on a side road in the Old Quarter that we liked even more, the Midori Spa Hanoi. The services here were great and the massage was only $15. Best of all, the spa was also part of a social justice project. All the masseuses were blind! In Vietnam, where most jobs are service-related, sight-impaired citizens have trouble finding meaningful work. The Midori Spa hires blind people, trains them in massage therapy, and has them work like any other masseuse would. We loved being able to help such a great project and also relax while on vacation.

Shopping

Most people I encounter who visit Vietnam talk about the amazing bespoke clothing they have made for themselves. Unfortunately, my friend and I did not dedicate much time to shopping and therefore ran out of time to have self-designed clothes made. However, I purchased an original dress from a tailor tailor in the Old Quarter a couple of hours before we left for the airport. She even customized to my body by bringing in the waist and raising the hem. The shop had a number of dresses pre-made by the seamstress, and she also offered bespoke services, so if you are looking for specialty clothing I would search for bespoke tailors in Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

Cultural Differences

There were cultural differences in Hanoi that seemed odd to my friend and me, as there would be in any setting different from where you live. We arrived in Hanoi for the National Day weekend celebrations. During this time we saw an unusual Vietnamese custom tied to both the culture and religion: the burning of money as an offering to ancestors. We saw many piles of stuff burning in the middle of sidewalks and roads on the first day, so we thought everyone was burning their trash. We later learned that those were all offerings to ancestors. This seemed odd but acceptable until we saw one woman burning multiple $100 USD bills at the Perfume Pagoda. Perhaps she was wealthy, but she looked no richer than anyone else we had seen on the streets of Vietnam. It seemed completely irrational to us that someone would burn that much money as an offering, especially when we had not seen that much anywhere else in the city.

Another difference that I had expected but my friend had not was the “paparazzi” experience. There are very few white people who visit Vietnam, so seeing us was a rare experience for local people. I never felt unsafe because of my ethnicity or hair, but it did result in many people taking pictures of us or with us! The first time it happened, two women who did not speak English were holding their camera out to my friend at a tourist attraction, so she thought they wanted us to take a picture of them, but after some gesturing we learned that her companion wanted a photo with us. This happened a few more times throughout the trip, an experience we had fun participating in. However, there were also a number of people who randomly took photos of us as we passed them on the street and sat in restaurants. They were less than subtle about it, an unusual experience that made us understand better how celebrities must feel trying to live their everyday lives.

Overall, our visit to Hanoi was incredible in unexpected ways, and I would highly recommend it to anyone considering Southeast Asia! I know there are some negative reviews about Vietnam in a few travel blogs, but as long as you are ready to accept the cultural differences and recognize when something is part of their culture versus locals trying to take advantage of tourists, you will have an enjoyable trip.

*Note that this is an affiliate link, meaning that if you make a booking using this link I get some bonus at no additional cost to you. Still, I will only link to and recommend places I actually enjoy and want to recommend! Thank you!

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Cambodia!

by Kelly | Jun 24, 2018 | Asia, Cambodia, Siem Reap, Travel

In the 28 years and 11 months of my life, I have spent less than 24 hours in Cambodia. Still, that was sufficient for me to definitively call it one of my favorite places in the world. From the friendly people to the beautiful landscapes, to the rich (though sometimes sad and terrifying) history, Cambodia is one of the best countries to visit, and I cannot wait to return.

Siem Reap

My trip to Cambodia centered around Siem Reap, the city closest to the Angkor temple complex. Upon exiting Siem Reap’s airport, my friend Sarah and I were greeted by David, an employee of the hotel we were staying at, with a big smile and a sign with our name on it. David took us to our transportation – a personal motorized tuk tuk – helped us secure our belongings, and then got on board with us and handed out cold Cambodian beer.

Once we arrived at our hotel, the Khmer Mansion Boutique Hotel, the incredible service and amenities continued and the staff went above and beyond to care for us, even though we were only staying for one night. It may have helped that (as far as we could tell) we were the only guests there at the time, but I cannot speak highly enough of the place, especially for less than $50 per night. For example, when we first arrived Sarah and I were given welcome refreshments, and then found our names laid out in flowers on our beds in the room. David was identified as our personal assistant during our stay, and though we did not ask much of him, he was always available when we called.

Welcome snacks and drinks to enjoy upon arrival at our hotel

My name in bamboo sticks with flowers on my bed

Pool area by night

Seeing as we only had one night to enjoy the city and we had to be up at 4 AM the next morning for a sunrise tour of Angkor Wat, we grabbed a quick happy hour drink by the pool and then set out to find some dinner before bed.

Siem Reap is a small “city” in a less-developed country, but it has a bustling night life! Most of the activity happens on Pub Street and in the Night Market, both of which were walking distance from our hotel. Because of the tropical climate, all the bars, clubs, and restaurants are open-air, with a few stand-alone locations in the middle of the street, like this bar on wheels.

We found a nice restaurant to eat dinner at on Pub Street and then wandered through the Night Market and back to our hotel before calling it a night. While we did not do any shopping that night, we did take a quick break for a foot massage and fish pedicure! The fish actually eat the dead skin off your feet for a few minutes, leaving them feeling very smooth afterwards. The experience is as strange as it looks. Be warned if you have a fish pedicure yourself that it tickles: I spent most of the time with the fish laughing out loud, both from the tickling and at the absurdity of what I was doing!

Nightlife on Pub Street

Here I am getting a fish pedicure!

Angkor Wat

The next morning we woke up at 4 AM to meet our tour guide for Angkor Wat . You’ve no doubt seen photos of the Angkor temples before, likely at least Angkor Wat; perhaps you learned about the temples from watching Angelina Jolie in the movie Tomb Raider, which was filmed on-site in Cambodia. However, as with many wonders in the world, photos and videos do not do this area justice. First of all, the Angkor complex covers over 400 acres, so it is incorrect to think of it as just one temple. Second, the temples are awe-inspiring in person in a way that cannot be conveyed through photos. Finally, being able to actually touch, climb, and walk around in the temples is an experience that could never be brought to life with a picture. I spent the entire day being enraptured by the temples we explored, each so different from the others and yet connected through their stories and history, both ancient and modern.

Sun rising behind Angkor Wat

The Angkor temples were created as part of the capital city of the Khmer Empire beginning in the 9th century AD. Influences from many different religions can be seen within the temples thanks to their transferred ownership over many centuries. The main religions seen in the architecture are Buddhism and Hinduism.

Hindu carvings on the walls

Receiving a Buddhist monk’s blessing for good luck

In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge took over Angkor Wat as offices and living quarters as they carried out a genocide across Cambodia. Our tour guide told us a heartbreaking story about how his parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge when he was seven because they were educated (a lawyer and a doctor). Our guide was forced to collect elephant dung from the fields during the Khmer Rouge’s reign, and did not go to school again until he was 16 years old. The fact that he was fluent in English was unbelievable after learning this, but even more unbelievable was how he told this story so matter-of-factly after pointing out some Khmer Rouge bullet holes in the side of Angkor Wat. The country has put itself back together the best it could after the genocide, but signs of pain are still all around even forty years later, from the warning signs for landmines to the jewelry made from bullet casings found in the fields.

The rich history of the Angkor temple complex, along with the unparalleled beauty of the area, makes for an amazing day.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you take the trip yourself to see Angkor Wat and the other temples:

All visitors must have their shoulders and knees covered during the visit. When temperatures soar over 90 degrees and humidity is high, this can seem prohibitive, so I recommend investing in a pair of linen pants or sweat-wicking leggings and a light-colored, light-weight or sweat-wicking t-shirt.
Many different tour options are available to visit the complex. We opted to upgrade and take a private tour in an air-conditioned car. Although the price was high compared to other options, we had no regrets: we got to cover more area and see more remote temples than if we had tried to walk everywhere, and it was so refreshing to get back into the air-conditioning to move to the next location each time. By the end of the day we were feeling bad for the people who had chosen tours by the open-air tuk tuks, and even with our method of transportation we still got in a lot of walking and exercise within each of the temples.
The sunrise tour is worth it, despite the early departure time. There are mixed opinions on the internet about this, and we did not get to see a sunrise as much as a “sky lightening,” but driving to the temple complex in the pitch black and experiencing Angkor Wat first thing in the morning without many people was pretty cool. If you take this option, you will end up standing across a pond from the temple for at least an hour waiting for the sun, but it is worth arriving early to get a spot in the front row. Be sure to hold your ground, as many more tourists will arrive just before the sun rises and try to push to a front position. After sunrise you should be able to return to your hotel for breakfast before the full-day tour begins.
On the other hand, the sunset from the top of the hill is not really worth it. We trekked up the hill at least an hour before sunset and found that there was nowhere to sit that would provide any type of reasonable view. After wandering around for 15 minutes exploring this final temple we decided not to wait for a “sky dimming” similar to the “sky lightening” that morning.
In just one day we were able to see the three main temples (Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, and Angkor Thom) as well as two other more remote temples, but in the future I would give myself two or three days to explore more of the Angkor complex, plus another day or two in Siem Reap and the surrounding area. One day was not enough!

Trees growing into the stone at Ta Prohm, prominently featured in the Tomb Raider movie.

Landmine victims playing music for donations on the Angkor complex paths: one of the few methods they have for supporting themselves and making money as amputees in Cambodia

Just hanging out with the faces in the Angkor Thom complex

Ta Nei temple, one of the remote temples our guides took us to where we were the only people exploring the grounds at the time

Nose to nose with one of the Angkor Thom faces

The only benefit to hiking up the hill for sunset: meeting (but not riding) an elephant on our way down

Here is a link to the tour company we booked through: Happy Angkor Tour. At this time I receive no compensation for you booking through this tour group, just the satisfaction of helping you on your travels and directing customers to a survivor of a devastating genocide.

After visiting Cambodia, I wanted to learn even more about its recent history and the Khmer Rouge genocide because the effects were clearly so raw with the Cambodian people. I recently read First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers (P.S.) by Loung Ung, a survivor of the genocide: if you want to learn more about this period of Cambodia’s history I highly recommend this well-written and well-thought-out book.

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Tips to visit Siem Reap and Angkor Wat in Cambodia