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The reason for going to Siem Reap is to see Ankor.
Ankor is an amazing area with the temples of Ankor Wat, Bayon, Pra Kahn, Banteay Srei, Ta Prom etc.
In my opinion it is not possible to describe the area in terms of words that will cover the experience of being there. It is a total experience the appeals to all of your senses, the smell of the jungle, the beauty of all the temples, the feeling of the very detailed carvings and the silence in some of the temples.
Each temple has it own "world" and uniqueness, Ankor Wat has the looks of the mighty palace, Ta Prom has the atmosphere of being in an Indiana Jones movie, Bayon has more than 200 big (human size) faces pointing in all directions and Banteay Srei has the most detailed carvings of the Khmer stile.
So fare there is not that many tourists compared to the size and mightiness of the area. I am convinced that Ankor will turn much more popular for tourists as soon as it will be more save to travel in Cambodia. A part of the experience at Ankor was to walk around and feel the atmosphere. Unfortunately I am afraid this experience and feeling will vanish as soon as more people will visit the ruins of Ankor, while that makes it harder to walk around on your own.
One of the best experiences in the area was to watch the full moon to the East raising over Ankor Wat, facing West. It was unbelievable to see how the rising moon slowly and gradually illuminated the towers of Ankor Wat. It was like watching something that was set up, like in a movie, because of the perfects of the scene. For sure, recommended!
In total I spent about 3 days driving around with a guide, and I could easily have spent more!
Ankor Thom
Ta Prohm, Ankor