Since I came back from Phuket this May, I was planning another short trip as my birthday was approaching. Angkor Wat appeared in my mind many times.
The upcoming dragon boat festival would be a good chance. I booked accommodation and flights right after my decision, and went through a few travel posts absently. That was all I did before departure.
I booked the flights from trip.com. Depart: Hong Kong -> Ho Chi Minh City -> Siem Reap, Return: Siem Reap -> Phnom Penh -> Hong Kong
5月从Phuket回来之后不久，突然间想到不久后就生日了，恰逢端午节，于是想利用短暂的长周末去一下吴哥，一个出现在朋友圈无数次的地方。
秉承我一贯的作风，定好时间，订好机票和住宿，草草地在蚂蜂窝看了几篇游记，然后就这么出发了。
携程trip.com上买的机票，去程：香港->胡志明->暹粒，回程：暹粒->金边->香港
But after I booked the flights, I realized the transfer time is a bit too short. There is only 55 minutes buffer for the transfer. Although I was concerning, I still chose to trust the travel agent as it is interlining ticket.
I specifically chose to depart at midnight so I can arrive in the morning. But obviously I have never thought about where I can sleep during the transfer.
I had a long working day. When I finished work, it was almost 9pm. I gotta eat something in the airport lounge before departing.
Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh) airport is not a fancy airport. I was walking around and found a sleep zone. The cost is US$7/hr.
买完机票才发现，原来回程在金边中转的时间只有55分钟，虽然有些担心，可是心想既然联程机票是这么卖的，应该是没有什么问题吧。特价机票是无法改期的，你们应该懂的。
特意选的凌晨起飞的航班（红眼航班），想到早上到了暹粒就可以直接出发吴哥窟了，可是没想好半夜到了胡志明去哪里睡。
出发前的一天工作比往常更忙碌，忙到9点才回家拿行李赶去机场。在机场的Lounge吃了些东西之后，便前往胡志明了。
简陋的胡志明机场，有一个Sleep Zone，US$7/小时。
Finally I found a place to have a nap. My alarm was set in my home timezone by mistake, so I woke up one hour earlier.
The air craft is a ATR-72, the smallest airplane I have ever seen. The distance between Sieam Reap and Ho Chi Minh is quite short, around 1 hr of flight.
On arrive, the weather was extraordinarily good with brighter sky. I felt lucky as I was not asked for ‘tips’ by the immigration officer.
Everything was great so far.
在机场游荡了几圈以后，决定躺下小睡一会。其实睡得并不好，由于时差我提早了一个小时醒来。
搭上了有史以来我坐过最小的飞机。胡志明距离暹粒只有短短1小时的航程，起飞没多久就要降落了。
到达的时候，天气无敌的好，我还庆幸着，而且入关的时候“意外”地并没有被索要小费。
所以对于我而言，到达的这一刻，整体的体验都是极好的。
As a Buddhism country, this Buddha was the first object I saw at the checkpoint.
In case to be overcharged, I booked a Tuk Tuk from the Hostel in advance. The driver was already waiting outside, lifting a name board. He was also the guy driving me for tour in the following two days.
Lub D is the only and the best hostel where I’ve ever lived. There is one in Bangkok and Phuket as well. It seems to be eauropean backpackers’ first choice.
As a solo backpacker, I prefer staying in the hostel like this.
怕到时被宰，于是提前向住宿的Hostel预订了Tuk Tuk，司机很准时在机场外面等候着。随后的两日游（小圈+大圈），都是这个司机载我。
Lub D是我住过最最最最最好且舒适的Hostel，在Phuket和Bangkok都有。也是无数欧美背包客的首选。
作为独行背包客，当然不想住酒店那么无聊。
This place is damn decent, especially at a low price. Price is even lower than a meal.
Generally, Thais can speak better English than Khmers do. The staff at Lub D can speak great English. I would give 10 scores for the comfortably, easy communication, hospitality, etc.
Those western backpackers like staying aside the swimming pool, doing nothing, and heading out to the clubs at night. This is their style of enjoying the long holidays.
住宿的费用只不过是在这里吃几顿饭的价钱。
高棉人的英文比泰国人要差不少，Lub D 的工作人员英文都还行，交流没什么问题，而且特别友好且朴实，真的值得给满分。
欧美背包客的度假方式很奇特，无论去到东南亚的哪个国家，都是喜欢在泳池或者海滩边晒上一整天太阳，夜晚去酒吧夜蒲。
I got to Lub D at around 10am, after a quick refreshment, the Tuk Tuk driver drove me to start the tour.
The ticket for 3 days is US$62. Cost of Tuk Tuk is US$20-23/day.
If you don’t mind being exposed in the dust (After wiping the sweat with a piece of tissue, it turned brown completely). Tuk Tuk is a pretty interesting transportation that can make you feel close to the nature, especially when you are exclusively sitting on it and shooting everything from the first person angle.
十点左右抵达Hostel，先吃了个brunch，然后中午出发准备游大圈。
三天的票价为US$62，Tuk Tuk 一天包车费用大致US$20-23
其实如果不介意路上扬起的尘土（是的，擦汗的时候整张纸都是黄色的），Tuk Tuk 游览的感觉很地道且接地气，尤其是一人独占一辆车，以第一人称视角拍摄。
There are tens of guides about the best routes on the internet. I did mark down some of them. But I didn’t follow it as I was so lazy that I couldn’t get up early. I went out almost at noon these days. So I was not able to go to all the temples in the guides listened to the driver’s suggestion instead, and selectively went to a few of them.
On the first day, we went through the big circle. The first one was Preah Khan temple.
This temple became the only one with sunshine. Nice weather went away afterwards.
But it’s a bit over my expectation. Any slight movement could make me sweating. I couldn’t imagine I would suffer from thunder storm right after exiting the temple.
网上有各种大圈、小圈、外圈的安排路线，而我实在是太懒，早晨也起不来，几天都是中午才出发，所以无法把所有的寺庙都走一遍，也只是听取司机的意见（其实也没辙，寺庙在5:30pm全部关门），选择性地去了几个。
第一座前往的便是圣剑寺（Preah Khan)
是这天暴雨前第一座也是唯一一座艳阳高照下游览的寺庙。
这座寺的面积大到有一点超乎我的预期，尤其是酷暑下走动两步已经满头大汗。谁要光线还这么好，当时谁知道出了这个寺以后迎来的便是暴风雨呢？
Then we went to Neak Pean. It was raining like hell. I had to stay inside the Tuk Tuk and wait for almost one hour, then stepped out. There is a long bridge to the next temple. It is not amazing at all. The temple sits in the middle of the pool.
My smart phone was almost running out of juice, but the power bank somehow stopped working even I was pretty sure it had been fully charged.
I lost interest in the following small temples and couldn’t tell any difference between them.
随后到达龙蟠水池（Neak Pean) 后便是一阵暴雨。其实这个寺并没有什么可看的。只是有一条很长的桥。躲在Tuk Tuk里静静地等待了将近一小时，雨才变小。眼看着雨势不会停了，才撑起伞出去。
此刻只想吐槽小米的充电宝(10000mah)，已经几次在满电的情况下，无法充电。手机快没电了却充不了的感觉，就像是看见了海市蜃楼般无助。
之后去的几个寺，不记得名称，也感觉大同小异，加之手机电量见红，兴致不高地便回程了。
It is highly recommended for see the sun rise and sunset aside Angkor Wat. I was telling myself I can NOT MISS it. The driver said he would wait outside at 5am the next morning. If the weather looks good, we would drive to Angkor Wat.
But I was extremely tired as I didn’t sleep the day before. The next day, when I woke up, it was already 6:00 am. It was fully bright. I rushed downstairs. As expected, the driver was waiting outside, but I still tried to confirm if I woke up earlier, would it be possible to see the sun rise? The driver gave me the best answer: “I don’t think so". He made me not regret for my laziness. I went back to continue sleeping. We agreed to leave at 10:00am. But I woke up late again.
The rain in Siem Reap seems periodic. It usually rains a little bit in the morning, but for long. It turns sunny at noon. Thunder storm catches up around 3pm. Then it won’t stop until 6-7pm. At night, it is normally cloudy.
On the next day, we wen through the small circle, majorly for Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Angkor Wat is the most famous temple/attraction in Cambodia. I’m 1000% sure most people come here because of this. It started raining when I was on my way out. Fortunately I had photographed enough before sky turned sad. But taking photos is tough work here as you can barely avoid other tourists from showing their asses in your scene or staring at you.
I didn’t have that much time to visit every little temple inside the Angkor Thom. So I chose the most typical one, Bayon.
由于网上看见很多人推荐要在吴哥窟前的河边欣赏日出和日落，第二天也是满怀期待地准备去看日出。司机告诉我 5:00am 在楼下等我，如果天气好，就出发。我信誓旦旦地答应了。
可是由于前一晚转机几乎没怎么睡，到达后还玩了一整天，我算是累趴了。
第二天醒来的时候已经6:00am了，想想司机应该已经在楼下等着了，我便匆忙跑下去，果然司机在门口，我真是有一万分的歉意，虽然天已经亮了，我还是问了问司机，“今天，有日出吗”，司机的回答：“嗯，没有”，或许这是我最想听到的答案。我告诉他我回去再睡一会儿，10:00am再出发。然而我再次醒来，已是11:00am，顺便把午饭吃了，所以和前一天一样，再一次12:30pm才出发。
暹粒雨季的雨感觉很有规律，早晨下一段时间，持续的时间不长，中午左右便放晴，太阳很火辣，然后到3：00pm左右开始下暴雨，一直下到6-7:00pm，晚上又是好天气。
第二天最重要的任务便是 吴哥窟（Angkor Wat），吴哥王城（Angkor Thom)。还是由于我懒的缘故，也并没有时间把吴哥王城里面的寺都一一走遍，于是选择了最具代表性的巴戎寺（Bayon）。
吴哥窟游览得差不多准备回程的途中，便开始下雨了，幸好在蓝天白云的时候多拍了几张。可是人特别多，想要拍几张没有游客入镜的照片也不是那么容易。
In some Chinese travel posts, the authors share and teach how to take stunning photos (for girls) in Ankor Wat. They suggest girls to wear colorful dresses for high contrast, so the photos will look fantastic.
That is why I saw girls in red dress at every corner and they are all Chinese.
网络上很多游记和攻略都提及过吴哥窟很适合拍照，但是建议女子身穿颜色比较艳丽的衣服（比如红色），这样强烈的色彩对比比较能拍出漂亮的视觉效果。
于是，会看见满地（原谅我有些夸张）红衣女子摆pose拍照，且全部都是中国人。
Bayon is one of the top ranking temples. It is famous of ‘Smile of Angkor’. You can see hundreds of different faces there. On stepping into the temple, rain stopped but I lost direction in a while.
巴戎寺也是很热门的寺庙之一，原因也可想而知，便是最具代表性的“吴哥的微笑”。有几百个脸孔雕刻，表情各不相同。
进到巴戎寺的时候，雨也差不多停了。很快我便忘记了东南西北，不记得是从哪个方向进来的了。
There are a few guys actively talking to Chinese(only Chinese). They ‘hospitally’ guided me to walk around and take photos “for free".
But I knew there is no free lunch, I was expecting to hear a specific price. I asked him: “Do you charge?". He replied: “This is my job. Cambodian children have no knowledge. They are too poor to go to schools. I’m helping them". He told me he is an English teacher. He normally teaches the kids at 6pm. He talked a lot about the brief history of Bayon. I was thinking he is probably a volunteer. But I still couldn’t understand why he is doing these for free.
He seemed very nice and continuously took photos and panorama for me.
进去后，会有人和你搭讪，他们专门找中国人，并且会用中文和你交谈，还会“免费”带你拍各种照片，告诉你从哪个角度、应该怎么拍。
看到他这么“热心”，拍了好几张照片之后，我当然知道 no free lunch的道理。所以我问他，“这些都收钱吗？”
小伙子的回答是：“这是我的工作。柬埔寨的小孩没有知识，他们没有钱读书。”他还告诉我他是学校的英语老师，一般晚上六点钟给他们上课。中间穿插着跟我讲述巴戎寺的一些简单的历史。虽然我并没有理解这些话和我刚才问的收不收钱有什么必然联系。
小伙子又是给我各种拍Panorama（全景照）。
This temple is worthy spending enough time. But I was almost 100% led by this guy. Then he took me to the exit. I was about to thank him verbally.
He took out a piece of paper in front of me. I eventually understood how it works. It says a XX association. But all the descriptions were in Chinese only. I doubt he targeted on Chinese only. There were donation records in the back. I didn’t read the description about the so called association and turned it over. I saw around 10 donation records(all written in Chinese). ￥200, ￥500，US$100, etc. It looked like a guideline implying how much you should ‘donate’. I was about to donate HK$150, but he seemed not satisfied with that, and he asked me to donate HKD$200. I felt really uncomfortable after hearing that. From my understanding, a proper charity organization should not set a minimum donation amount. But he literally thought that I donated too little. Even though I donated HK$200 eventually, I still have massive doubts in my mind. I could not believe that this is a real volunteer for education.
Then I found my Tuk Tuk and went to the next temple. I didn’t know I was in ‘Ta Prohm temple’ until some staff introduced to me. This temple is where <Tomb Raider> was shooting (Angelina Jolie ver. not the new Tomb Raider).
其实这座寺庙真的很值得一看，只是旁边这个小伙子几乎左右了我的路线，我几乎是在他的“带领”下游完了整座寺。
然后他送我到出口，当我准备满怀感恩地向他道别时，他从兜里掏出一张纸，上面用中文写着一个XX协会（所有的文字只有中文），我没怎么看具体的简介，翻过来，后面是一个捐钱的表格，记录着十几个捐赠者的姓名和捐款金额。于是我秒懂了，看着上面的捐赠记录￥200, ￥500，US$100，或许也暗示着你大致应该捐多少。于是当我掏出HK$150的时候，他似乎不是很满意，问我能不能捐HK$200，这时的我感觉不太对劲。按照我的理解，正常的慈善机构捐款，不应该有金额限制的，何况我并不是捐零钱，但他却觉得我“捐”少了。虽然最后我凑够了HK$200给他，可是全中文的记录、只有中国人的捐款、还嫌捐得少等等这些都使我无法相信他是一个纯粹的募集学费的义工。
怀着可疑的心情找到了Tuk Tuk车，前往下一个寺。到了目的地，进去瞎转悠，听工作人员介绍，才得知，这便是我之前就计划要去的塔布隆寺（Ta Prohm），电影安吉丽娜朱莉版《古墓丽影》的取景地。
The staff was unexpectedly hospitable and guided me around. He showed me where people usually look for and took photos for me. But he was doing this completely for free.
工作人员也是很热情，带我四处游览，可能也是看在临近5:30pm快关门的缘故吧。告诉我古墓丽影是在哪里拍的，还给我四处拍照。（等一等，这种情形感觉似曾相似？），不过这回工作人员是真的出于好心，没有其他要求。
Honestly, Tomb Raider is a big aspect that makes me decide to come to Cambodia. There are many Angkor elements in the game and movie. I’m a loyal fan of tomb raider.
其实这次来也是因为古墓丽影游戏和电影中都充满了吴哥遗迹的元素。让朋友误以为我是古墓丽影的狂热粉丝。
On the last day, I hired a car to travel through the outer circle. We visited Banteay Srei -> Beng Milea -> Preah Ko -> Ba Kong.
The driver could speak a little English. We could have some simple communication. The temples are far away from the town. From one temple to the next, it takes 50min – 1 hr. That’s why Tuk Tuk is not recommended for travelling around the outer circle.
最后一天去外圈，由于路程比较远，所以包了一辆轿车。行程大致是女王宫（Banteay Srei）-> 崩密列（Beng Milea）-> 神牛寺（Preah Ko) -> 巴孔寺（Ba Kong）
年轻的司机小哥英文也还可以，全程可以聊一会儿天，前往女王宫路程大约1小时，从女王宫到崩密列也大约需要50分钟，这也是为什么搭Tuk Tuk游外圈并不适合的原因。
女王宫（Banteay Srei）
Beng Milea costed US$5 extra. It started raining again when I got in. I walked around the ruins within a few minutes. It rained more and more heavily. I found a wood house to hide for a while. It was actually 40 minutes.
The entire Beng Milea is green.
崩密列（Beng Milea）需要额外US$5 的门票。到达这里的时候也是下起了雨，冒着雨转了一大圈，突然雨下得更大了，只能躲进小木屋避一避。这一避又是四十几分钟。只感觉整个崩密列是一抹绿色。
The weather turned back and forth. After the thunder storm stopped, I headed out to Preah Ko temple.
大雨过后，我又四处转了转，之后前往神牛寺（Preah Ko) 天气却又变好，真是捉摸不透。
Ba Kong is one of my favorite temples, having such gorgeous view.
巴孔寺（Ba Kong）其实也算是我最喜欢的寺庙之一了，有一种登上了天庭的感觉。显然，这与当时突然爆好的天气是脱不了干系的。
I didn’t have any food during the day. I bought two bamboo rice with red beans. It tastes really delicious. US$1 for each.
从早上到下午回去，一整天就靠吃了这2个竹筒饭。网上吐血推荐的，尝了以后感觉确实不错。正好端午节当粽子吃了。US$1/个，在去崩密列的路上有卖。
I saw many people complaining that there is nothing else to do in Siem Reap except watching the rocks.
Absolutely not! I lived close the pub street and night market. It took me 5 minutes to walk there. Having some snacks and juice is really cheap. Juice: US$1 for a big cup. Massage: starts from US$5. The price is far lower than my expectation. Although the massage service is not comparable with the one in Thailand, it is still a good place to relief after a hard day.
I mentioned about the short transfer time previously. I contacted the customer service once I got to the hostel. But the connection to trip.com was as slow as 56 Kbps internet. The call was interrupted at any time, or they couldn’t hear my voice at all. I had to redail in, wait for uncountable time, and repeat the same conversation. It is frustrating. Eventually I got a definite answer from trip.com saying the transfer time is enough.
The flight from Siem Reap to Phnom Pehn was cancelled one day before returning. The next day I called the customer service for arranging alternative flight, otherwise I could not catch the flight to Hong Kong and the next flight would be two days after.
But it did not work….
I called them back and forth, after disconnecting, redialing in, repeating the same question, endless waiting, etc. I still got no solution. I’d already spent 3 hours on the call.
The next day, I had to buy air ticket from Cathay Pacific on my own to go back to Hong Kong.
Till now, Trip.com has compensated me for partial loss. Cambodia Angkor Airline has compensated US$60 only.
其实在暹粒的这几天，很多人说除了看石头以外就没有什么可干的了。
其实并不然，这几天的夜晚都没怎么下雨，正好住在酒吧街和夜市的附近，所以可以去酒吧街吃一些小吃（路边的炒菜味道一般，柬埔寨菜式也有些像泰国菜，可是却比泰国菜差了十万八千里），买鲜榨果汁也只要US$1/杯，份量很足。还可以找个店按摩放松一下，虽说这里的按摩店力度并不如泰国的泰式按摩店。可是我嫌泰式按摩下手太重，也只是选了普通的头肩背的按摩，所以总体来说我觉得还不错，而且，只要US$5－7／小时起，真是便宜到有些难以置信。不过千万别忘了给小费。
之前提到了从金边转机回香港的时间只有55分钟，其实在我刚到达暹粒的时候就有打过电话给携程的客服，也是担心万一时间不够的话怎么办，由于柬埔寨的网络真的很差，网络电话时常中断，而且对方常听不见我讲什么，然后重新拨打、等待、接入人工服务后又要重新描述情况，非常耗时。而第二天从携程那得知航空公司给的答复是时间够用。
可是在临走前的一个晚上却收到吴哥航空取消航班的邮件通知。第二天中午我看到邮件后立刻联系携程到了金边后有没有备选航班，担心当天回不了香港。
此处省略一万字。。。
电话一来一回，经历了抱怨、断线、重拨、无数次复述、漫长的等待、投诉之后，加起来的通话时间已经超过3小时。
在金边留宿一夜之后，第二天还是只能自行购买国泰的机票回香港。
截至今天，携程赔偿了部分损失，而吴哥航空只赔偿了60美金。
The overall experience is good enough. Ankor Wat is perfect place for taking photos. People are nice, there is more fun at night than Panglao Island Phillippines, and the cost is fairly low. But the returning experience is too horrible.
一句话总结：此行的过程很美好，吴哥很适合拍照、这里的人很朴实，夜生活比起菲律宾邦劳要丰富不少，消费低，可是回程却很糟心。
