Serenity & Splendour

In SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA – home of Angkor Wat – time unfolds like silk. Ambika Muttoo discovers that, between the temple shadows and the ancient ruins dotting jungles, its stories unfurl unhurriedly

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Siem Reap feels like it's been painted from memory. At sunrise, the jungle exhales mist across the moat of Angkor Wat, where stone apsaras seem to stir from sleep. City streets are framed by pastel shutters, and gold-domed pagodas peek out behind French Colonial façades. There are monks robed in the colours of the marigold, and tuk-tuks that whir by in a blur of ochre and teal. Everything here feels faintly cinematic, with the composition and colour sensibilities of a Wes Anderson film: quietly profound, yet whimsical. And, while the town's design and spirit offer endless charm, its soul lies in... stones.

Siem Reap is the keeper of temples and not just of Angkor Wat. There are hundreds of them. Some are grand and world renowned; others are half swallowed by the jungles. We soon discovered a three-day trip here is not enough. A travesty, in fact, which we're here to correct. The scale of what there is to see – Angkor Wat at sunrise, the smiling Buddha face towers of Bayon, the jungle-strangled ruins of Ta Prohm (aka the temple from Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider), and the thousand carved lingas at Kbal Spean – is overwhelming even with a week. Add to that the lesser-known temples scattered across the countryside, the vibrant night markets, and the floating villages of Tonlé Sap and you quickly realise this isn’t a quick-stop destination. Three days? You'll leave more behind than you'll take in.