Photos from Siem Reap, Cambodia

I Also Ran A Half Marathon There

Mar 04, 2025

A few years ago, my wife and I, along with a friend, signed up for the Angkor Wat Half Marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Cambodia is a small country with a sad history. Today, it is still a poor country with a corrupt government, which I experienced myself going through its customs. The man checking my passport explicitly asked for cash from me. When I told him I did not have cash on me, I’d remember that sad face forever. He looked like he was abandoned by his whole family.

That was only the beginning of our fun. One of the perks of authoritarianism is that the government gets to do whatever it wants, no questions asked. The day after our arrival, and one day before the race, the government announced that it was going to hold a national prayer event at Angkor Wat, the ancient temple. Of course, the main selling point of the race was that the route went around the scenic temple. And the organiser announced that it had to change the route at the 11th hour. Angkor Wat was cut out, and the remaining route doubled over to make up for the distance lost.

The nightmare just began. Thanks to the prayer event, thousands of monks, VIPs, and normy attendees flocked to the Angkor Wat area, while thousands more runners were trying to get to the start line of the race. It was a gridlock. As our tuktuk-motorised tricycle taxi-approached the epicentre, we saw runners abandoning their rides and starting to run towards the starting line, which we later learnt was a huge mistake. The race was still about 5 kilometres away.

The race itself was fine once we got to the starting area. There was a slight delay due to the traffic situation. The route was mostly flat, and we got to see some remains of old temples except for the main one. It was hot, but not terribly so. It would’ve been a much cooler run had there not been that last minute change.

Anyway, after the race, we stayed for a few more days. And here are a few photos from the streets. I’ll probably do another post about the ruins of the temples.