Angkor Wat Temple Tour Tips - How To Make The Most Out Of Your Visit 

Thank you so much, Carolann! You have no idea how much your comments mean to us. It's always helpful to know what our viewers want to see. We do work really hard to try to bring you the best content possible, so it's encouraging to know that it resonates with you. ♥️ -Judy

Thank you, Eric. Cambodia is amazing and its people are some of the kindest we’ve ever met.

Just saw that you watched the video we linked to in your previous comment. We are in Vietnam and saw My Son today, which highlights Vietnam's Champa Empire culture. We are so grateful to be traveling and having these experiences and learning about special places like Angkor Wat. -Judy

Thank you so much, Julie! This means a lot to us. Kevin worked exceptionally hard to edit this episode because it was such a powerful experience for us and he wanted our viewers to feel that way, too. We appreciate having you along with us on our travels! -Judy

Hi Muhammad, yes, it was a very powerful place. It was a great experience. Thank yo so much for watching and for this very kind note. -Judy

You should visit Cambodia now or soon if you can for a vacation if not for retirement. Life is short. We have another video you may have seen from our time in Cambodia which is linked below. Thank you so much for sharing your story. We would like to visit Cambodia in the winter months. We loved Cambodia! -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

We were thrilled with Angkor Wat. It was so much bigger and more interesting than we imagined. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave us this comment! -Judy

Thanks so much for watching, David! Have I sent you our link to our other Cambodia episode? Here's the link just in case. We love Cambodia, too! Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching. It is a very cool place! It would have been nice to have had more time to wander on our own, especially at some of the less touristed temples. Next time for sure! -Judy

Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words, Garth. It means a lot. Not sure if you are traveling to Egypt, but we have an entire playlist from there, which I'll link below. Also, we absolutely loved Cambodia if you are considering a visit. The people there were so kind. We are so glad you found our channel! -Judy Egypt travel series: ru-vid.com/group/PLNT98lWfwdF1WcH9GxfK4ngH49MXf5oOv Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Hi Thera, thanks for watching! I think if you want to do something enough, you can make it happen. Angkor Wat is a very special place, and we also loved our time in nearby Siem Reap. -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Hi Ricky, thanks for the clarification and the respectful way you broached the topic. We listened to various online recordings of all the places in order to try to get them right, and if Bayon is the only one that's egregiously mispronounced, we'll be thrilled. We always try to do our best. Thank you for watching! -Judy

Thank you so much for watching, Enrique! We always love hearing from you! -Judy

We did not know what to expect, but Angkor Wat blew us away. Frankly, our entire time in Cambodia exceeded our expectations. Here's a link to our first episode from Cambodia (Siem Reap): Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Angkor Wat was such an impressive place. The scale of it took our breath away! -Judy

Thank you so much for watching. We have another video from Cambodia, which stole our hearts. We would love to spend the winters there! Also, we spent a month in Vietnam and are going back to Central Vietnam in a few weeks in order to experience more of it. The location we were in in Saigon wasn't the best, but we had a great tour that showed us so many things we didn't see for ourselves. Here are links to the videos. We hope you get your wish and your family can visit! -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html Vietnam video series: ru-vid.com/group/PLNT98lWfwdF0w1OZR1ZwgqGRPRMKXZaNB

Thank you so much for your very kind hospitality, Vireak. We loved Cambodia, and you and Ananda played such a big part in our experience. ♥️ -Judy

Thank you for watching, Linda. It was a very cool place. We are not people who stay up so late typically, but we were scrambling to get out our packing video, which took up way more time than we expected! We were bleary eyed, but it didn't stop us from loving Angkor Wat! -Judy

Thanks so much for the clarification and for watching! -Judy

Hi Peggy, how wonderful to hear that you were able to visit Angkor Wat so many times. I am sure that there were new things to see every single time you visited. Yes, the people of Cambodia were absolutely amazing. We weren't aware of how much education is required, but we've found that to be true in a few different places in the world. We love hiring tour guides. They typically enrich an experience significantly. Our guides in Angkor Wat were good, but not great, unfortunately. -Judy 🎥 Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching, Claudia! We always love hearing from you. Thanks for validating our suggestions, too! It's quite a compliment from someone as well traveled as you! ♥️ -Judy

Hi Merlin, Thank you so much for watching! I'm seeing that Angkor Wat closes at 6pm, so it doesn't seem feasible to do night tours. It looks like it was an option around 2009-2010, but it doesn't look like it's possible now, unfortunately. If you find out differently, we'd love to know! Good luck with your hobby! -Judy

It’s not allow at night tour I asked the tour guys few days ago

Ok thanks a lot

Thank you for subscribing and watching, Annette! We had actually considered visiting that temple as part of a bike tour, but we ran out of time. Cambodia is such a special place. Do you have a favorite city? We loved Siem Reap, but I know there's so much more of the country to experience. -Judy

Hi Judy we loved Seam reap and both said we could go back and not even visit the temples, just soak up the atmosphere of the city, we loved Phnom Penh as well, the only disappointment we had was sihanoukville ( aweful place ) luckily we were just passing through to koh rong samloem.

Hi Annette, yes, we fully agree. Angkor Wat was a bonus, but it's the people who stole our hearts. Interesting about Sihanoukville. We probably would have skipped it because we're not beach people. However, I have heard that Koh Rong Samloem is supposed to be worth the trip. We weren't sure about Phnom Penh since we heard it's got more of a business city vibe, but it's helpful to know that it was a place you enjoyed since we absolutely will be back in Cambodia! -Judy

Hi Mike, thank you so much for watching. We really didn't know what to expect or even understand fully what makes Angkor Wat so important, but after researching and visiting the museum to get additional information, it was more clear to us. It's a powerful place for sure. We're pleased to hear that our video made an impact, especially if you've seen it before in person! -Judy

Hi Annette! We drafted a pros/cons list of our tour company, which is below. We should have used the third day on our pass to explore on our own in order to be at our leisure and take more photos. Our tour was rated 4.9, so I don't think any public tours are going to be any better (guides were encouraging people to leave positive reviews). In looking at private tours, they were about $400 for two days, which was too steep for us. I think you can make our tour work for you if you are well informed before you arrive because we only learned a subset of things that we would have liked to know. See below. Malis Restaurant is an upscale restaurant where we celebrated Christmas dinner, and www.embassy-restaurant.com is even more in the "fine dining" category-we didn't eat there, but when we were looking for a Christmas dinner, it was sold out. If you choose Malis, the chicken curry in the banana leaves was a wow looking meal, but there are better recommendations (one of our commenters made some suggestions). PROS - We liked that they took us to interesting temples so we didn’t wander around and get lost; we didn’t really hit a lot of crowds; tourism in Cambodia has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but they knew how to time things to avoid most of the crowds. - They also provided as much refreshing, cold bottled water as we wanted so we stayed well hydrated - They arranged pickups and drop-offs. Our initial pickups were via Tuk Tuk and we were dropped off at a more centralized place where everyone was gathered and then we hopped on a bigger bus that was comfortable and air-conditioned. - They provided a few tidbits of interesting information that was useful - Our group was around 16 people. t wasn’t too large, but it was nice to bond with people from all over the world and get to know them. It was especially fun to share the sunset together. It felt like we all were part of something very special. CONS - We had a different guide each day and they both spent too much time talking about things that didn’t really enhance our experience. - They were a little hard to understand; They stayed outside some of the temples and left us to wander alone and didn’t provide as much detailed information as they could have. Also, the drives to and between temples could have been better utilized by filling us in on more detail about what we were going to see in each place - Not everyone who attended the first day’s tour was on the second day’s tour, so that was a bit of a bummer. - We did get to meet a few more people this way, so that was an nice offset.

Also, did you see our Cambodia video, Annette? Malis Restaurant is covered in it. -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Hi Kim, I would give yourself a month. It should only take a week to ten days, but if you made any mistakes, it will give you time to get it fixed and resubmit it. Also, there are certain times of year (mid April) when the office is closed for New Year, so you're at the mercy of an occasional backlog. We hope you have an amazing time in Cambodia. It was one of our favorite places. Here's a link to our other video. We'd love to know what you think after you return! And I highly recommend our Airbnb host! -Judy 🎥 Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching! It's an incredible place with so much history! -Judy

We were interested in Myanmar, but it currently has an "avoid all travel" warning. We're glad you enjoyed Angkor Wat. The scale of it shocked us, too! Thanks for this comment! -Judy

Thank you so much Juan! We absolutely loved Cambodia. We are currently in Thailand and are planned out for all of 2024 and a wish list a mile long for 2025. We are loving our nomadic life! -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Pretty impressive, don't you think?! We have another incredible video from Siem Reap that's also worth watching, so I'll link it below. Such a great country! -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could We Live Here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching, subscribing, and for your lovely comment! We appreciate it so much! Did you happen to see our other video from Cambodia? The people of Cambodia were some of the kindest and friendliest people we've ever encountered. -Judy 🎥 Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching! We loved our time in Cambodia. Have you seen our other episode from Siem Reap? The people were some of the kindest we've met. -Judy 🎥 Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for your hospitality. Angkor Wat was stunning, but we also absolutely loved our time in Cambodia overall. Here's our first video from there if you're interested. -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could We Live Here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to leave us such a lovely comment! We appreciate it so much (and thank you for subscribing!). We hope you have an amazing time in Angkor Wat. One thing we didn't do that we might have enjoyed was to this tour by mountain bike that got very high reviews: www.airbnb.com/experiences/900137?location=Krong%20Siem%20Reap%2C%20Cambodia&currentTab=experience_tab&federatedSearchId=cf40f44d-5ec8-4a2d-a076-beda71878125&searchId=09aa3092-a3c5-40f6-abc9-d3cb6249f896&sectionId=a9b8310e-7e6c-4729-8780-374f7d51aac8 It looked fantastic, but we were wiped out from the heat and our two-day tour. We don't earn anything by recommending this tour above, but it looked really interesting and our communication with the guide was excellent. You might also want to watch our video from Siem Reap if you haven't already. We'd love to know your thoughts when you return! -Judy 🎥 Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

@@FindingGinaMarie ok Muchas Gracias! and More Power!

We agree; it is a must-see place in the world. We wish we spent even more time exploring it. There was a bike ride to some of the smaller temples we wish we had been able to book as a complement to the bigger tour we took. -Judy

So glad to hear you enjoyed it! We love Cambodia and find its history to be fascinating and tragic. -Judy

It was pretty cool, Rebecca. It pays to do your homework in advance because the history is so fascinating and it made us appreciate everything we were seeing in a much deeper way. It is always a joy for us to hear from you! -Judy

@@FindingGinaMarie I agree. Doing even a bit of research prior to visiting places like this really enhances the experience and allows you to more fully appreciate it.

It's a very cool place. This Saturday one of our tours from Hoi A will be to My Son Sanctuary. Not nearly as large, but the history of the Champa Empire is likewise as fascinating as the Khmer Empire. Thanks so much for watching, Tram! -Judy

That is the perfect word for it! It was truly amazing and EPIC! Thanks for watching! By the way, have you seen our other episode from Cambodia? I'll link it below if you're interested in it! -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

If you want to make comments, you need to be a whole lot more respectful. You can disagree with us, but we don't tolerate that kind of rude treatment from anyone. We weren't at the temples for the time you mentioned, but if we were, so what? Angkor Wat's history is fascinating and we barely scratched the surface of the history and sites here. People spend sometimes four days here exploring well beyond what we were able to see. -Judy

@@FindingGinaMarie well at one point in your video you said you arrived at 10 am and we’re still there at sunset…only going by what you said

Fabulous! So glad you got to watch beforehand. We had so much great footage of Angkor Wat that we weren't able to squeeze in much video from our visit to the museum, but if you can spend some time there, it will give you a bit of additional context. We wish we would have used our third day of our tickets. Big regret. Tell us what you think of it! -Judy

​@FindingGinaMarie Thank you. I'll go to the museum today

@@flutingaround Our video may have given you sufficient background if you can’t make it there.

​@@FindingGinaMarie By the way, the opening trailer with dramatic music was pretty epic! 🛕

Kevin is so happy to hear you say that! He wanted a beat that would mimic some of the scale and impressive energy that Angkor Wat generated, so I'm glad to hear it accomplished that. Thank you so much! -Judy

Thanks for watching! We haven't really talked about how we afford it in depth, but we discuss that we chose health over wealth and that we have investments we are living off of. We haven't had to file taxes yet, so this will be the first year for dealing with them, but our income is not a lot compared to our full-time jobs. We address these questions in various episodes in our full-time travel playlist. We earn very small money through RU-vid and also are sponsored by some of our viewers who we call Gelato Scoopers. We spend around $4-5K per month to travel full time. We offset expensive countries with stays in cheaper ones, we slow travel versus fast travel. We still like being able to vote in California elections and we have driver's licenses that are still valid in California. We'll see what this year brings and make adjustments. If we have any learnings that will be useful, we definitely will pass them along! -Judy

@@FindingGinaMarie I build out business channels and their socials. Once they pass the 10k followers or subscribers I recommend they start adding additional revenue streams besides patreon, memberships, buy me a coffee, etc. Have you thought about making e-cookbooks? 52 easy and delicious recipes from around the world. If you have a bit of camera and editing skills you can create all types of digital prints and art. Check out Zen Water cooler and Crafty Stax, turn a photo of an antique car or old house into a sketch, blueprint, painting etc. Creat different colored maps of the places you've been etc. There are sites that list companies looking for UGC user generated content, have sponsorships etc. I'm sure there are a bunch of woolen apparel companies that would love to sponsor your channel $200- $2,000 a month is very common. Looking forward to your next videos. Happy travels. 🤙

Thank you very much for these suggestions and for taking the time to post this thought-provoking comment! -Judy

Offhand, we aren't seeing the information in our notes. We are getting conflicting information when we look online, unfortunately. We tried to get out as much as we could as Kevin seems to recall that the fees were on the higher side. We always suggest that you choose the local currency (by local we mean USD or Riel) rather than your home currency. It's always a better bet than using your own currency. The ATMs we went to only gave us US dollars, not Riel. Some people use a Charles Schwab or Wise account to circumvent fees. Charles Schwab will refund your fees at the end of the month if you use a bank that charges fees. Sorry we couldn't help a bit more. Our link to our video about our time in Siem Reap is linked below to answer other questions you might have about our time there. -Judy 🎥 Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

@@FindingGinaMarie Thank you so much for the info. I will check out the Charles Schwab as you suggested. I hope one day, they will have an international bank where I can transfer between the US bank to Cambodia without a huge fees. I felt so uncomfortable carrying a large sums of money around when traveling there. Your videos are so beneficial to us that wanted to travel around the world like you do. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

If it helps, we were paying by credit card at least half of the time, Lev. We would withdraw around $200 or $300 at a time, but things weren't outrageously expensive, so our cash went a long way. We bought our tour tickets and tickets for Angkor Wat online by credit card. And we probably spent about $30 in fees (maybe much less), so it wasn't completely outrageous for being there an entire month, including over the more expensive Christmas holiday when we celebrated with a few more expensive meals. We are so happy to have you travel along with us and will do our best to answer any other questions you may have! -Judy

Gary, respectfully, that's your opinion and we disagree with it. We had a good experience overall with our tour and felt like a trained guide gave us better information than a driver would have. And for what we saw, we felt the price was very affordable. And sorry, but no, everybody else does not hire a tuk tuk each day to see it. -Judy

@@FindingGinaMarie you were in Siem Reap for 5 minutes and like others who are there for 5 minutes and put up “expert” videos you make assumptions and mistakes . Those of us who have lived there have just a little more experience and we know what goes on and how to do things. The normal and best way to see the temples is by Tuk tuk. As you move from temple to temple in the Tuk tuk the air is like air-con. which keeps you lovely and cool . You’re stuck in a cramped bus locked away…it’s by far the worst way to see the temples…be told and accept the truth.

We share our experiences and we don't pretend to do anything more. By no means do we ever say we are experts. And while you may think that's the best way, we were cool and comfortable and got to meet some lovely people on our bus tour. We don't have a monopoly on RU-vid. You are welcome to create a channel and tell people the "right way" to visit a place, but like everything, there's no right or wrong way and you might find other "experts" who have their own opinions contrary to yours. -Judy

Thank you so much for watching! We loved Cambodia! Here's our other video from there that you might enjoy! -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Hi Shiv, You are mistaken. Angkor Wat is a Hindu temple complex, but it was not built by an Indian king. Instead, it was constructed by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. It gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century. This change reflects the shifting religious landscape of the region, as Theravada Buddhism became more prominent in Cambodia. It represents the grandeur of the Khmer Empire and its architectural achievements while reflecting the cultural and religious transformations that have occurred in Cambodia over the centuries. -Judy

@@FindingGinaMarie Hi Gina, you are right but the Suryavarman was the descendants of great chola dynasty ruler who eventually ruled all over the East Asia including cambodia, gradually the Great Ashoka emperor spread budhhism all over Asia, so it converted also by a overlapping of two religion. But many Aritectur of Angkor wat shows it was fully dedicated to Lord vishnu.

While both the Khmer Empire and the Chola Dynasty were influential powers in their respective regions during their time, they operated independently and there is no known lineage connecting the two. -Judy

Thank you so much for watching, Chiet, and for leaving us this kind comment! Here's our other video from Cambodia that you might enjoy. -Judy Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

We would love to! We have a lot of places in the world we want to see, but when we're ready to move at a slower place, this is one of the places we'll be spending time in, especially in winter. We loved Cambodia so much! -Judy I think you saw our Siem Reap video, but I'm linking it again just in case you missed it: Siem Reap, Cambodia-Could we live here?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tO5oep_lMoI.html

Thank you so much for watching, Vy! We loved our time in Cambodia! -Judy