It took a little doing but we managed to squeeze in a side trip to Siem Reap at the end of our trip. Angkor Wat gets all the love, but the temple complexes in this region are vast and varied.
Of course Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are the most well-known. They've also been the best excavated and maintained, so, despite thousands of tourists each year, the incredible structures - and more impressively, stone carvings - remain.
Angkor Wat (Jessica Liles)
We approached Angkor Wat from the back side. It's a small detail, but it meant that our first views were almost completely void of other travelers - an amazing feat at such a destination. It's little touches like this that let us know our guide was truly a pro.
The detail in the stone etchings is incredible, especially after so much time has passed. They still stand out with incredibly intricate detail. Banteay Srey, with its pink sandstone, was the most impressive to me. Just imagining the simple tools these were made with is enough to boggle the mind.
Pre Rup Temple (Jessica Liles)
We also had the chance to see Ta Prohm, which is most well-known for being featured in the movie "Tomb Raider." I failed to watch the movie before the trip, but I could still appreciate the massive jungle trees growing up and around it. This particular site is notable because it is only just now really being excavated and, in some cases, rebuilt like a puzzle. There was an entire front lawn with pieces of stone laid out, each one painstakingly numbered as archaeologists attempt to rebuild the structure.
Banteay Srey (Jessica Liles)
Temple fatigue is definitely a real thing though, and by our final afternoon, we decided to bow out of our last visit to relax by the pool and get a massage. We did, after all, have a long trip home still ahead of us.
Clara Tort has been our Travel Advisor for Buenos Aires, then for Iguazu, then for Mendoza and Aconcagua Trekking, and then for Patagonia and Fitz Roy trekking. She has navigated with us through our travels, and now we are coming back for more- onto Machu Pichu and Peru.
Gus ORDONEZ
2 hours ago
Mary Curry made the experience wonderful for the second time. She is the reason we returned to Adventure Life to book our second cruise on WindStar. She is tireless, well informed, pleasant to work with and totally reliable. If you offer employees bonuses, give her one! there who answered to phone to help us book shore excursions were also very good and easy to work with - and we demand rather an lot of help.
Laura Flanagan
3 hours ago
The people assisting you have traveled with many of these companies or done the very same trip in the past. That kind of experience in invaluable when selecting a trip for yourself.
Sue Stephens
20 hours ago
Kaweskar tour Skorpios III
Fantastic trip. Great food, wonderful scenery. Very fortunate the tour was under-subscribed (32 of 90 possible bookings) so it was really comfortable. Half this number was comprised of a tour from USA. We shared a table with an older couple - Ian and Helen, but everyone was friendly and excursions were efficiently run. We benefited from a requested cabin upgrade which saw us in the best suite.
John
2 days ago
First of all we were told that we could tailor our trip to our interests which is fantastic. We needed several iterations to get our trip itinerary nailed down. Our contact at Adventure Life responded quickly and we settled on a trip in a matter of weeks.
