Angkor Wat is a massive temple complex. That means it's not just a handful of buildings in one central location. While Angkor Wat is the name of the main temple, there are no fewer than 25 other named temples throughout the complex. And the entire area is about 500 acres. That's really big. I was trying to think of a good way to help quantify the size. A football field, for example, is about 1.3 acres. Central Park in NYC is 843 acres, so I guess you could say that Angkor Wat is just over half the size of Central Park. Unlike Central Park that is surrounded by a city, however, Angkor Wat is surrounded by jungle.
So, what am I getting at? What am I trying to say? I hear you... "stop rambling" you say. Get to the point. I'm saying that for a place that caters to over 2 million visitors a year, don't expect any amenities. No bathrooms, no where to buy food, no souvenir shops, no picnic areas, no benches, no trashcans, no where to sit (except on the temple rocks themselves), nothing. No handicap access to anything! You are there to see ancient temples...and that's it! What that means, is that you have to have a plan.
I read everywhere that the most popular thing to do is to get up super duper early, see the sunrise, and then head back to your hotel for breakfast. Then around 10:00, the temples get much more crowded with everyone returning. I also read that if you stayed at the temple immediately after sunrise when everyone else returns to their hotels, you practically get the temples to yourself. Truth: since we were there during the peak of summer, we never really dealt with a ton of crowds except at sunrise and sunset.
We got up around 3:30AM and met Adam at 5AM to drive to the temple complex. Like the previous day with the disappointing sunset, we also had a rather disappointing sunrise. Maybe it's the time of year, but we just didn't get those brilliant pinks and reds that you can sometimes see during a sunrise. On our drive into the complex, I snapped this picture.
 |
| Sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia |
By the time we got to the actual main temple and crossed the moat and bridge, this is all the sunrise we saw.
 |
| Sunrise at Angkor Wat - Cambodia |
As the crowd started to dissipate, J and I took every opportunity to head directly into the main temple and explore while it was empty.
 |
| Angkor Wat Sunrise Crowd - Cambodia |
The giant empty temple and deserted corridors really gave a spiritual and somewhat eery feeling to the whole place. For a few brief moments it felt like time stood still, and we were transported to a time long forgotten.
 |
| Empty Corridor at Angkor Wat - Cambodia |
A special shoutout to our tuk tuk driver, Adam. I know I mentioned in my previous post that Adam took really good care of us throughout the day. When he picked us up in the morning, he took the water bottles that we brought and put them in the cooler he kept on the back of his motorbike. When we arrived at the first temple, he told us exactly where he'd be waiting for us, and he gave us each a bottle of water that he pre-chilled.
After spending as much time as we liked at Angkor Wat (just the main temple), we met Adam where he said he would be, and from there we continued along what's called the Short Circuit. Although Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples, Angkor Thom is by far the largest city within the complex. On our way to Angkor Thom, Adam stopped at this small structure. I can't remember the name and can't find anything about it in my notes, but I remember him saying something about a "his" and "hers" temples. Throughout the complex, there are so many of these smaller buildings that had some significance to the Khmer rulers at the time. It's sad how much knowledge about these cultures has been lost.
 |
| His/Hers Temple in Angkor - Cambodia |
Southeast Asia has no shortage of monkeys. We saw these little guys all over the place, especially in Cambodia and Malaysia. They were by no means friendly or domesticated, but they sure liked mango and knew that tourists were their prime source for getting such sustenance. (Side note - although I mentioned there was no food sold or permitted inside the temple complex, there were a few spots where local women and children sold fresh fruit. For $1.00 you could get a bag of fresh mango or pineapple to eat as you drove. They certainly weren't all over the place, but Adam knew where to look when we expressed hunger.
 |
| Authentic Angkor Monkey |
 |
| Approaching Angkor Thom |
If you look at a map of Angkor complex, you'll easily recognize just how much larger Angkor Thom is than Angkor Wat. Angkor Thom, like Angkor Wat, had a surrounding moat. To cross the moat, they had what are called Naga Bridges. These ancient structures featured statues holding a long serpent, and the two sides are engaged in a type of tug of war.
 |
| Naga Bridge at Angkor Thom |
At Angkor Wat, there are probably 3 temples that people are the most excited about seeing. First - Angkor Wat itself. Second - the Tomb Raider Temple made famous by the Angelina Jolie movie back in 2001. Third - the Bayon temple...otherwise known as the temple of faces. Inside the ancient city of Angkor Thom is where Bayon is located. This massive temple has numerous levels, but the most notable thing about this temple in addition to its architectural style are the 216 gigantic faces on the stone throughout the temple.
 |
| Bayon - Angkor Thom, Cambodia |
 |
| Bayon - can you see some of the faces? |
After Bayon, we didn't return immediately to Adam. The Angkor Thom complex is massive and there are many things to see besides the main temple. There is a large field that connects some of the other temples on the grounds and the famous Elephant Terrace. Just beyond the Elephant Terrace we found a corridor that shielded us from the scorching sun for just a few moments. We were delighted to find the most fascinating carvings and to enjoy a brief respite from the heat.
 |
| Baphoun Temple - Angkor Thom, Cambodia |
 |
| Elephant Terrace - Angkor Thom, Cambodia |
Our last stop for the morning was Ta Phrom, more famously known as the Tomb Raider Temple. There are two main reasons why this temple is so famous. First, because it's the location of the movie Tomb Raider, but secondly, because little has been done to restore/preserve this temple. You can see obvious signs where nature tried to reclaim this structure. Unlike the other temples, where conservationists have done some diligent work in removing the jungle overgrowth, one of the reasons they filmed the Jolie movie here is because it looks even more primitive and undiscovered or forgotten than the others. In several of my pictures below, you can see where the tree roots have grown over the rocks giving it a very "Indiana Jones" or "Tomb Raider" feel.
 |
| Approaching Ta Phrom - Cambodia |
 |
| Famous spot inside Ta Phrom with tree growth over the temple |
 |
| Ta Phrom reclaimed by nature - Cambodia |
 |
| One of the Ta Phrom side structures with a tree growing out of the middle |
After we finished climbing around Ta Phrom (I'm not sure how else to describe what we were doing. The stairs are steep and uneven. Many stones have fallen, and you can trip or roll your ankles at any moment if you don't step carefully), we noticed the crowds starting to pick back up. It was just after 9AM if you can believe it, but we already spent 4 hours in this massive place. As the sun grew hotter and we grew hungrier, we decided to head back to hotel for a late breakfast, a nap, and a swim.
We returned to Angkor Wat around 3:30 that afternoon. We went to Preah Khan and Ta Keo. Preah Khan had a lot of nooks and crannies to discover. Before we got here, I researched that the two best places to see the sunset were Phnom Bakheng where we tried to see sunset the previous night and Ta Keo. Since we had an epic fail at Phnom Bakheng, we planned to stay at Ta Keo for sunset on this particular evening. This massive temple is a bit off the beaten path, and on this hot May afternoon, we were two of the only tourists there. The stairs had not been restored and were choppy and uneven. In fact, I was so scared coming back down that I did so sitting on my bum. I've never been afraid of heights, but that place made me really uneasy for some reason. As sunset approached, I suddenly changed my mind, and decided I wanted to see my last sunset at the main Angkor Wat temple. We had seen sunrise that morning, and I thought that sunset would create some beautiful back lighting for the temple. What I failed to realize, however, is that they close the bridge to Angkor Wat at 5pm...just before sunset. We stayed as long as possible, but the guards kept shooing us off the bridge.
This is the best picture I could get before we were sent on our way.
 |
| Last glimpse of Angkor Wat as we departed |
We could have gone back to Phnom Bakheng at that point, but remembering the lines from the previous day, I had no desire to go through that again.
Instead, we went back to the hotel, ordered dinner in our room, sat through a brief blackout, and went to bed.
Tomorrow, we'll head back to Bangkok for a day of R&R before heading to Malaysia.
Thanks for reading!
- Foxy the Traveler
No comments:
Post a Comment