Vietnam/Cambodia Day 10: Steung Trang to Siem Reap

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Overnight, the Jahan moved to the town of Steung Trang to prepare for our travel to Siem Reap and the Angkor temple complex. As is typical for cruises, we had to get off the ship promptly at 8am to allow the crew to prepare for their next cruise. We bid the crew goodbye and boarded buses for Siem Reap, about a 4 1/2-hour drive. Along the way, our new local guides pointed out some of the agriculture on the route, including cashews (apparently Cambodia’s number one export, to our surprise) and groves of rubber trees. We also stopped at a roadside rest area where we marveled at some of the unusual snack items that they offered, particularly unusual flavors of potato chips.

Eventually, we arrived at Siem Reap, where we are staying at the Raffles Grand Hotel. It is indeed a grand hotel, in an updated classic style. We were a little earlier than check-in time, so we immediately went to the restaurant for a buffet-style lunch. Our rooms were ready after lunch, so we got cleaned up before our late afternoon excursion to Ta Prohm, the first of several temples we would visit in the area. Ta Prohm is notable for being featured in the movie “Tomb Raider”. It is distinguished by several trees that have grown over portions of the temple, with roots descending the sides of the buildings to the ground. We stopped several times for our guide to take pictures of us with these tree roots.

Dinner was on our own this evening, but neither of us was very hungry after the filling buffet lunch. We met Dave and Jan in the hotel’s Elephant Bar, an elegant cocktail lounge featuring an extensive gin selection. I had their featured gin and tonic, while Kenna had a Singapore Sling in recognition of Raffles’ origins in Singapore. We split a club sandwich, which was enough food, and headed for bed early. Tomorrow will be an extra early day!

This article is part of a series about our recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.