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Published: January 23rd 2013
Hello All
This is a quick blog for our visit to the Main Temple of Angkor Wat. there will be another blog covering the other temples.
We woke early to see the sunrise, 4:45am!! Out Tuk Tuk driver who we had arrange to be our driver for the next 3 days was waiting outside our Siem Riep guest house for us and we eagerly set off excited to finally be heading to the world famous Angkor Wat. Even at that time in the AM Siem Riep was pretty busy, and as we got to the entrance gate of the complex it went from busy to outright manic!!
There were people everywhere, thousands of them, plus thousands more in buses and coaches. Once we had our passes we jumped back into the Tuk Tuk and joined the hundreds of other Tuk tuk’s as we raced towards the main complex dodging people and bikes and avoiding collisions with buses as we went. The road to the main temple was like the M25 in rush hour. We pulled into the car park that our driver assured us was opposite the main temple and headed out in search of Angkor. It was
still really early in the morning and it was pitch black as we joined the crowd of people making their way across the causeway over the moat to the main temple. My first impression was how vast it was, and this was just the outer walls, not the main complex.
We made our way through the outer perimeter which was impressive enough and headed to the lake on the inside of the temple complex that is directly opposite the main temple. Although we still could not see the temple, we knew we were in the right place as there were thousands of people around the lake all waiting for the first glimpse of Angkor. As the sun started to rise you could slowly make out the outline of the main temple in the growing light as it was silhouetted against the rising sun. If I am honest it was not the best sunrise I have ever seen but it was still very worthwhile and the main temple is an awe inspiring piece of architecture.
Over the next 3 days we visited the main temple complex four times at different parts of the day. My favourite times were an
hour after sunrise when all the tour buses and people had rushed back to Siem Riep for breakfast and at sunset. Although the sun does not set behind the temple at sunset (we did sunset on another day at a guide book recommended sunset and the place was even busier than sunrise) I really enjoyed seeing the last rays of sunlight and how the temple changed as the light faded over Angkor. Plus it was a lot quieter at sunset and you can have a cold beer and relax as the sun goes down.
Next blog is the Beautiful Bayon temple plus the Tree Temple of Ta Prohm
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Emma
non-member comment
Did you climb up? So scary. I waited at the bottom instead.