The stunning view and fabulous history of Angkor Wat

Hello All,

So we didn't exactly get up at 4:30 a.m. as we had planned to bike to Angkor Wat since it was still dark outside and we were too tired to rise that early in the morning. We did however get up around 6:00 a.m. and started our trek to Angkor Wat around 6:30 a.m. We biked about 7km to Angkor Wat which is the temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation—first Hindu, dedicated to Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction. I cannot begin to explain how stunning the temple and the view is from all angles. It is an enormous temple with intricate carvings of various battles and celebrations. Since it was quite expensive to hire a tour guide we decided to stop off at the market across the street and buy a tour guide book on Angkor and all the surrounding temples and sites. As we walked through Angkor Wat I would read out the passages in the guide book that would help explain some of the depictions and carvings on the wall. The history and stories are all extremely fascinating. While I was reading we were approached by an American named David who lives in California. He told us that he arrived with his Norweigan friends but because they had already seen Angkor Wat they left him there to tour the place on his own. He said he would love to learn about the history of Angkor Wat and asked if he could tag along with us. He was such a nice guy that we immediately welcomed him into our group of three. We learned a great deal about his interesting life and Angkor Wat.

Half way through our tour of Angkor Wat we ventured back to the market to rehydrate ourselves and eat a little something. The heat was literally unbearable and we simply could not stop sweating. I was drenched and dirty from head to toe. I think that we have spent most of our money in Southeast Asia on water and drinks to hydrate ourselves as we are constantly sweating and losing water - haha. After we resumed and finished our tour of Angkor Wat me, Marlon and Fred hoped back on our bicycles to see some other temples in Angkor. David decided to join us but since he couldn't rent a bike out in Angkor he hoped on a Tuk Tuk and followed us on our journey. We made a quick pit stop at a lake where local Cambodian children were jumping off a tree and swimming in the water. It looked like so much fun but as the water was really shallow we decided not to venture in despite the fact that we all needed a good cleaning by then. We then continued on and saw three more temples - Prasat Kravan, Ta Som and Preah Khan. One of which is where they apparently shot Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie. All of the temples were breathtakingly beautiful and the architecture was outstanding - I don't even think the pictures I took will do it justice. After visiting the temples and being completely drenched in sweat we decided to head home. Marlon but his bike on a Tuk Tuk and drove back with David. Fred and I decided to continue our journey home on the bikes. As a result we got to see much more of Angkor and a few more buddha statues and temples. We even climbed all the way to the top of this extremely tall temple. The view at the top was phenomenal the trip down was not as pleasant :)

We also made one last pit stop before trekking back when we saw a bunch of monkeys at the side of the road. We took a bunch of pictures with them and vowed to come back the following day with some food so we could feed them - they were sooo cute!! The ride back was going pretty smooth until Fred's bike started making this really weird clinking sound. We stopped at the side of the road and inspected his bike when I noticed that he had ridden over a huge nail!! The nail was stuck in his back tire and had already deflated the tire completely. Fred decided to pull the nail out, keep it as a souvenir and continue on the bike despite the flat tire and constant sound of metal scraping on the road. It was quite an amusing site given that all the locals and foreigners who rode past him on his bike would look at his wheel and then burst out in laughter....it was hilarious. I must give him props though because he lasted on that bike for the next 20 minutes it took us to get back to the hostel.

By the time we got back to the hostel (about 12 km later) we were completely exhausted and drained of all energy - we probably burned about 10,000 calories that day...lol...okay maybe not that much but a lot. I could barely make it up the four flights of stairs to our room. When I arrived in the room I took a nice long hot shower and rested for a bit before heading out for some much needed and deserved dinner. After dinner we went and got foot, back and neck massages $5 USD and headed home for a good nights sleep. We are headed to Ankor Thom tomorrow except this time we are taking a Tuk Tuk :)

Miss you all!!

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Part of trip: Southeast Asia & Australia

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