Siem Reap Temple Marathon - Day 1

I arrived in Siem Reap at 4am. I didn't have a hostel booked ahead of time, which was not my wisest move, because I had no destination. I wasn't alone though, I had my traveling buddy, Octavio, so I was safe. There was this jerk tuk-tuk driver who kept trying to charge us extra money to drive 5 feet. Needless to say it was a stressful morning.  We ended up checking into a hotel way out of our budget, sleeping until early morning, then checking out and negotiating it for half price. Not too shabby.

This diversion was fortuitous because on the walk to find less expensive lodging we met Chantha, a tuk tuk driver. He helped us find a room for $5 a night (awesome) and offered to drive us around the temples for the next three days at a pretty good rate. He ended up being the coolest guy, always making sure we had cold water and even letting us nap in the back of the tuk tuk.

Chantha's tuk tuk

The first half day of our 3 day temple marathon took us to the Roluos temples, Preah Ko and Bakong. It was a good warm up.