Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

  

 

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Siem Reap, Cambodia is a tourist Mecca for its ancient temples collectively known as Angkor which has been a World Heritage Site since 1992.  We arrived on a hot afternoon and after a quick swim in the hotel pool to cool down, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us to the ancient ruins in the late afternoon in order that we could be in place to catch the sun set over the towers of the mighty Angkor Wat ruins.

First, we stopped at the visitor's center to purchase our admission tickets.  We chose to go with a three day pass and after being photographed and handed our personal entry ticket, we were on our way to see the 7th Wonder of the World.


Sunset at  Bakheng

A Wat is the Khmer name for temple.  Angkor Wat is the largest monument of the Angkor group.  We arrived in time to gain access to the Bakheng temple which some guidebooks claim is closed once it reaches capacity.  This temple itself is an architectural wonder.  However, once we climbed to the top we could see below us the five towers of Angkor Wat (symbolizing the five peaks of the mythical Mt. Meru) which is a vast sculpture and it was evident why it is on the world wonder list. 

All of the temples are located within about a fifteen minute drive of Siem Reap, the former capital, and its many hotels.  The temples are scattered and would be a long hike on foot.  One option is to rent bicycles to ride between the temples.  Since our hotel did not stock bicycles and it would have required a ride into town, we went with the faster option of hiring a tuk tuk.  Little did we know then that our driver, Mr. Ro, would be our driver, guide and friend for the next three days.

The next morning Mr. Ro picked us up at our hotel at 5:00 a.m. and deposited us outside the temple of Angkor Wat where we waited with hundreds of others for the sun to rise over the magnificent fortress.  After watching the sky change shades of pink, purple and orange, we took photos and selfies of the impressive towers with the sun rising behind them and reflecting in the water basin.  If we were not already impressed, we ventured inside and saw that what looked like one mass of stone was really a series of courtyards, towers and galleries that were not visible from the outside.  Throughout, are intricate stone carvings, reliefs and statues.  We were inside from about 7:00 a.m. until noon and probably could have stayed longer except that we needed to move on to another temple.


Sunrise at Angkor Wat
 

Etching at Angkor Wat

After spending the morning at Angkor Wat, we visited the much smaller Ta Prohm.  This temple was chosen to be left in its natural state, showing how most of Angkor looked upon discovery in the 19th century.  Silver-hued trees grow out of the ruins, pulling up stone with their roots.