The Temples of Angkor

To see the beautiful sunrise over Angkor Wat we had to get up at 4.30am. You can imagine how much of a struggle this was for me. But considering our room was hotter than outside, I had an incentive.

We had booked a tuk tuk driver who would be our 'servant' as he put it, for the day. He would wait for us outside each temple and drive us to the next one. We were wearing clothes to cover our knees and shoulders and we were already hot at 5am. It wasn't looking good.

After a short nice breezy ride we arrived at Angkor Wat in time for the sunrise. We had been told that the best place to see it was next to the pond as we would be able to see the reflection in the water. We waited about an hour and a half for the sun to rise and there were definitely some fed up punters (perhaps including me) thinking that the 4.30 rise wasn't necessary. The rise itself was a bit of an anticlimax. The sun was only brought to our attention when an American women shouted 'THAT'S PATHETIC', and we all noticed a small pink circle through the clouds. We were slightly disappointed at first but as it continued to brighten we got some beautiful pictures and decided that it doesn't get much better than seeing the sunrise over the largest religious monument in the world.
After an interesting breakfast of banana pancakes in 'Tiger Woods' stall we explored inside the temple, we spent a good two hours in Angkor Wat admiring the architecture and taking pictures.

We then moved onto the next temple, Angkor Thom and then the Bayon and then the Baksei Chamkrong, Banteay Kdei, Banteay Samré, Banteay Srei, Baphuon, Chau Say Tevoda, East Baray, East Mebon, Kbal Spean, the Khleangs, Krol Ko, Lolei, Neak Pean, Phimeanakas, Phnom Bakheng, Phnom Krom, Prasat Ak Yum, Prasat Kravan, Preah Khan, Preah Ko, Preah Palilay, Preah Pithu, Pre Rup, Spean Thma, Srah Srang, Ta Nei, Ta Prohm, Ta Som, Ta Keo, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King, Thommanon, West Baray, West Mebon.

I'm joking, we definitely did not see all of these archeological points of interest in Angkor (who knew there were so many!!) but we definitely covered a lot of the temples! As it started to get hotter our eyes were blurring and they were all starting to look very similar. Templed out may be the phrase we were looking for.

We however did not let this take away from the incredible morning we had had. It is something everyone passing through Cambodia absolutely must see! I would just recommend wearing comfortable shoes, light appropriate clothing and take lots of water!

My favourite temple was Ta Keo as it was like a climbing frame, the steps to get to the top were literally vertical and you could see for miles once up there.
Tash's favourite was Ta Prohm as this is where Tomb Raider was filmed, she relished in pretending to be Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft diving and ducking through the ruins. Who would know she wants to be an actress?

We had a wonderful day and these are some of the stunning snaps we took.

Lotsa lurve
H & T