Chow & Mehul

Angkor Archaeological Park

We arrived in Siem Reap on Saturday afternoon, and wanted to see the sunset from the Angkor Archaeological Park. We got to the main entrance just after 4pm, and were told that the ticketing counters were closed for the day, would only start selling tickets for the following day at 4:45pm. We were then told to wait 45minutes, even though we insisted that we wanted a 3-day pass which we would be happy to start use of on the day itself!

Angkor Wat is phenomenal! The grandeur of the place is overwhelming, and one can only imagine being there during its time. The sun was low in the sky when we arrived, and we headed into the center of the temple. We climbed up the steps of one of the towers in an effort to see the sunset from high up.

This is not the popular spot for sunset, and sure enough, I can't say it is at all spectacular from here. We watched the sun for a bit, and then headed farther into the temple to explore as much as we could before it got too dark.

The following day, we set out at 5:30am, in hopes of catching the sunrise. Our hotel room rate had breakfast included, so we had asked the kitchen to pack a couple of hard boiled eggs and toast for us to bring along.

I had not expected cold weather, which was silly, as it is, after all, winter right now! The morning was chilly. It was not unbearable, but the tuk-tuk was open and the wind blowing on us made it cold. Since I had no sweater, I had grabbed a towel from the hotel room to wrap around myself.

It was 5:45am as we approached Angkor Wat, and boy, there were tour buses galore. We had thought of going to Sras Srang to see the sunrise, but Bo told us that at this time of the year, the sun would rise behind the trees, not over the water. He suggested instead that we go to Phnom Bakheng instead.

It was a good 15 minutes hike up the hill to the temple, and it was worth it! There were just a handful of people, and we climbed up one of the pillars and sat there to see the sunrise. No doubt it would have been spectacular from Angkor Wat, but with all the people there, I think we made the better choice!

Our second stop was at Ta Phrom. The compound had been invaded by trees, whose thick roots grew through the rock and all around the buildings. It is not to difficult to imagine how this place could have been totally hidden by forests!

Next, we went to Sras Srang, a man-made reservoir. We took a short walk by the water, and saw kids from a nearby village playing. After that, we went across the road to see Banteay Srei, before heading to Angkor Thom for lunch.

We visited Bayon after lunch. This is a Buddhist temple, and has many pillars with 4 faces of Buddha. At the highest level, we were at eye-level with the faces. There is also the "bas-reliefs" which depicted stories of their time. We also went around Angkor Thom - walked through the Terrace of Elephants, and took a look at Baphuon (it was not open to public, but we saw it from a distance).

The final temple we visited was Preah Khan. By then, it was late afternoon and the temple was rather quiet - which was nice!