Day 4- Sunrise at Angkor Wat and Elephant Ride

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4:50am the alarm went off since Sak was picking us up at 5am so we could see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Very early morning with a long day ahead of us.

1st Temple Sunrise at Angkor Wat built in 1113 and finished in 1150 with later additions. Angkor Wat is the World's Largest Religious monument. As we arrived at the temple is was still dark out and LOTS of people walking with us to enter the temple gates. Sak told us once inside to go to our left so we could see 5 of the towers, if you stand straight in front of it you only see the front 3 towers. A tour guide inside told us the sun normally comes up around 6:10am but it was very cloudy so we were worried it was going to be like our sunrise in South Korea and not really happen. But then the sun peaked from behind the mountains and clouds and it was amazing. After the sun rose we took about 2 hours to tour the grounds.

2nd temple Baksei Chamkrong built in 948 is a small single tower temple with VERY steep stairs. I only made it up 2 of the 4 sections of stairs then turned around. Pete climbed all the way to the top.

Elephant Ride a short walk from Baksei Chamkrong was an area you could ride on an elephant to the next temple through the South Gate to Bayon. We decided to pay the $15/person fee and ride then elephant. There are 3 places around the temples you can ride an elephant and I think this is the best. You pass by the wild monkeys and get a long ride for your money. Oh yeah they don't like to take their own currency only USD. See another blog post for the video of the ride.

3rd Temple Bayon built in late 12th century This temple was amazing for it has faces all around the temple in stone. We got our picture taken with Cambodia girls in traditional clothing. Also bought fresh pineapple outside the gates for a quick snack 2 for $1, so refreshing.

After Bayon we decided it was time for lunch since we were up early and had M&M's for breakfast. We had Sak drive us back into Siem Reap since we wanted something different than what the food stands around the temples sold. We ended up at a French Bistro and had great sandwiches. We MISS sandwiches SO BAD, hard to find in Asia and we lived on them in CA. Pete ordered another sandwich after his first one cause he was hungry and it was SO GOOD.

4th temple Sras Srang built in mid 10th century, remodelled late 12th century. This is different than the other temples also since it is stone around a large lake in a shape of a rectangle. At this temple a girl about 6-8 years old wanted me to buy some bracelets or cold drink from her and I refused cause you get tired of them asking at EVERY temple. She gave me one bracelet for free as a gift and I gave it back several times saying I couldn't take it for free since she needed the money. As I walked away she put it on my shoulder so I had to take it. I now wear it often to remind myself of how blessed I am with the life I have had.

5th temple Banteay Kdei built in late 12th century to early 13th century. We walked across the street from Sras Srang into this temple and you walk out the other side where Sak was waiting for us. As we walked up to the temple more girls were asking us to buy scarves, water, etc. I asked her how old she was and she said 14. She then proceded to tell Pete he would die if he didn't drink water that he didn't to buy water from her. They also asked if our tuk tuk driver was on the other side cause if he was we wouldn't come back their way to buy water from them. "Maybe when you come back" is ALWAYS asked of you to buy when you enter the temples.

6th temple Ta Prohm built in late 12th century is where Tomb Raider was filmed with Angelina Jolie and is known as the Jungle Temple. Video of this is posted in our video blog. Also at this temple our low battery light came on for the camera and I wasn't happy since we wanted to go back to Angkor Wat to take a picture with the sun on the temple. Conserve Conserve and this time I brought the battery charger since it died on our last trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge.

7th temple Ta Keo built in late 10th to early 11th century we didn't even get out of the Tuk Tuk cause we were so tired and hot. We just asked Sak to drive by slowly and head to Angkor Wat for our picture.

As we rode back to Angkor Wat we passed through the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom similar looking to North and South Gate. We then drove slowly passed the Terrace of Leper King and Terrace of the Elephants, too exhausted to walk and we could see it from the road. The clouds were getting dark and we were about 5-10 minutes from Angkor Wat with a low battery in our camera. We passed by the monkeys one more time and I actually fed them this time, no picture since the battery was low.

Once we got to Angkor Wat it started to rain lightly, then started to pour. We took cover in one of the libraries in front of the main temple area. I took one picture of Pete through the doorway then asked a bystander to take a picture of us. Once he snapped the picture the camera shut off. YEAH we got one picture of both of us in front of Angkor Wat and it was artistic. As we walked back to the tuk tuk we got soaked but it felt good since it was another long hot day. At this point it was 2:30pm and we started at 5am.

We got back to the guesthouse showered and rested. We were to stay one more night in Siem Reap then take a 4 hr bus ride to Phnom Penh at 2pm on Sunday since the 7am bus was sold out already. We were told by a few different sets of people that Phnom Penh wasn't that nice. At 6pm Pete came up with the idea to skip Phnom Penh and go to Sihanoukville, beach area on Gulf of Thailand along the Southern Coast of Cambodia. I said OK lets go!!! The bus left at 8pm and we needed to get tickets and get picked up to get to the bus terminal. We packed, got dinner at Viva, mexican food from the 1st night, then got back to the guesthouse in time to get picked up at 7:30pm.

We finally felt like true backpackers making decisions on a whim with no reservations in Sihanoukville. The bus stopped in Phnom Penh then continued on and arrived at 5:40am. This bus was more comfortable than the ride from Bangkok to Cambodia.

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Photos

Relief at Angkor Wat
There were hallways with reliefs sketched into the stone, AMAZING work.

Pete donated to the boys
they were creative and didn't just beg for money they used their talents singing in Khmer(language of Cambodia)

Ta Prohm
Tomb Raider filmed here

Ta Prohm
Jungle Temple

Angkor Wat in background
soaking wet from the rain

Comments

[Mom]

day 4
The pictures of the sun rise are beautiful!!! The tree roots are something to see and the"two soaked ones" look cute in the arch!!!!