Angkor Wat

Before arriving in Siem Reap from Phnom Penh, we weren't expecting much more than a small village from which to base ourselves out of while exploring the temples. We were wrong. It's a bustling city, and although it's proximity to Angkor Wat is it's main attraction, there's plenty to keep visitors occupied when they are templed-out.

We arrived late in the afternoon and got a room in what has to be described as a dump. The room smelled, there was no ac, the fan was noisy, and there were mosquitoes everywhere. The only good thing that happened that night was that we were happy to find another all-you-could-eat, cook-it-yourself barbecue place. With only two of us, instead of six like last time, there was plenty of real estate on the grill and we definitely got our fill!


We spent a very uncomfortable night in that room and awoke wanting to find a new place first thing. We did find a new place, a rather nice one, very quickly. After we had checked in and washed the other place off of us, we went for a walk around town to get our bearings. It was actually somewhat scenic.





That afternoon, we had heard that the temple was free after five if you had tickets for the next day, so we jumped right on a Tuk-Tuk and went to see one of the famous temple sunsets over the jungle! In our haste, we failed to realize that Angkor Wat itself is not the best sunset viewing spot, but we were very anxious to see the ruins that we had heard so much about. When we arrived, we did a hurried lap around the outside of the temple trying to find a good place to see the sun go down, but there wasn't a great spot. So, we relaxed and took it for what it was, albeit somewhat disappointed and underwhelmed...








Mattie was convinced(by a good salesman) into buying some palm juice. It didn't taste very good, but he did take our picture!





We went home that evening, and I must admit, we weren't very excited about looking at temples for days at a time. But, we were there, so we were determined to do it anyway. We hired a Tuk Tuk driver for the next day who promised to meet us at five in the morning so we could see the sunrise.
He did meet us, at five, and took us directly back to Angkor Wat, which IS a great spot for sunrise, as opposed to sunset. We literally took hundreds of pictures.



We waited for what seemed like hours, and then, finally, the sun came out


There was quite a crowd


And everyone was happy





After that we went into the temple proper, armed with our guidebook that gave explanations of all the bas reliefs that line the outside of the temple, telling stories of past battles. From floor to ceiling, intricate stone carvings like this went on for thousands of feet. Mattie was super excited!


The architecture was really pretty in the morning too.





We spent a couple of hours here walking around every floor all the way up to the top, and then made our way to the exit. Each of the temples we saw were lined with moats, sometimes over 100 meters across!


After becoming better acquainted with Angkor Wat, any inhibitions we had about seeing the temples were completely erased, as we began to appreciate what an incredible thing we were seeing. It is, after all, the largest religious monument in the world.

The next temple, Banteay Srei, was about 30km away, so we enjoyed a Tuk Tuk ride through the Cambodian countryside.


Although the next temple was much smaller, the details of the artwork were better preserved.








Our next temple stop was Ta Phrom, which hadn't yet been reclaimed from the jungle. After Julian's experience in central America with yet-to-be uncovered ruins(they just look like hills), he wasn't very excited, but it turned out to be his favorite stop of them all. The trees here are incredible - it's amazing how they have grown directly on the ruins.








Here's a person next to that for scale - the trees are enormous!












Any Tomb Raider fans reading this? If so, this should look familiar.


Yes, that's Mattie at the bottom. And here's Julian next to some more roots - how does the building hold up that huge tree?


And so it went, temple after temple...








We looked at about seven temples before ending at the huge complex of Angkor Thom. Here is the gateway into the palace.


The parade grounds(including the ever present Tuk Tuks,) called the Parade of Elephants.


And a few enormous structures. Here is the Baphuon.


And the Bayon












To finish off our sightseeing, Mattie was robbed of her water bottle by some monkeys in the jungle and we escaped to the top of Bakheng Hill to watch the sunset from above the jungle canopy.














Oh, then we had margaritas and Mattie got her feet eaten off by fish.








- JMatt

Location:Siem Reap, Cambodia