Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

On our journey from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh we travelled through lots of interesting small villages and lush countryside, a nice distraction on yet another six hour bus ride. We were feeling pretty exhausted from a hectic last week, so we decided on an early night and a long lie in the next morning.

After a reasonably lazy start to our first day in Siem Reap (sleeping and eating), we organised for a tuk-tuk driver to take us to Bakheng Hill so that we could watch the sunset over Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, a heavy rainstorm denied us of a good sunset, but the lack of crowds did ensure that we got a peaceful first glimpse of Angkor Wat. We were both looking forward to fully exploring the temples the next day.

It was a 4am wake up call the next day in order to make it to Angkor Wat in time for sunrise. Bleary eyed and a little groggy, we stumbled through the temple grounds in the dark and ordered a coffee and a chair in prime position for the famous sunrise. Unfortunately the sunrise didn't quite deliver, but we still managed to shoot over fifty pictures - see above for the pick of the bunch.

At around 7am we began to explore inside the huge temple itself. It was at this point that we realised just how incredible this place was - it is definitely up there with Machu Picchu, Iguassu Falls, and the Grand Canyon! It took us over two hours to have a good look around the grounds and marvel at the incredible architecture and detailed carvings. It is amazing to think that this place was built in the early 12th century!

After a much needed breakfast it was time to move on to Bayon Temple, which is situated just inside the ancient city walls of Angkor Thom. We both really liked this temple; it has over 200 massive faces sculpted into it's towers (see above).

It was a day of many temples, which also included Chao Say, Thommanon, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei, and Srah Srang. Of these smaller temples the overgrown jungle temple of Ta Prohm was our favourite. There were many huge trees and roots entangled within the ruins - it was really spectacular and quite different from the other temples!

It was only midday when we arrived back to our hotel in Siem Reap, but after eight hours at the temples it was definitely time to go back to bed! Overall, we had had a great day at the temples, which lived up to our high expectations and will certainly feature in our 'top five of the year'!

We had one more day in Siem Reap so we took the opportunity to relax, visit the night market, and go for some good food. Next stop...Bangkok - our final stop of the year!