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Published: April 15th 2009
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Well first of all let me say Angkor Wat is definitely not the eighth wonder of the world. I would go as far as to say its well within the top three! I've seen a few of them now and trust me, this place is amazing.
The thing that surprised me the most was that there is actually dozens of other awesome Wats and other temples in the area too, some very close buy. Anyone who just goes to Siem Reap and only does Angkor Wat is really missing out.
I arrived in Siam Reap which is the main town right on the doorstep of Angkor Wat late on a Friday night. I had really been looking forward to this part of the trip since I left Australia months ago and wasted no time the next morning in getting up a 4.30am (yes that is right mother.. 4 AM) just to make sure I could see a sunrise at Angkor Wat. Unfortunately about 2000 other people also had the same idea but it was still well worth it. The main picture on this page/blog is what you can typically see at sunrise.
Now, for those of you who
don't know it was built about 800-900 years ago and is the largest religious temple in the world. In fact it’s even got a massive moat around it that would make any good European castle builder who's worth his salt shudder in awe. Whilst it is starting to decay at little there is now a constant refurbishment program in place to restore it and from what I could tell it seems to be working well.
Overall I would have spent about 4 hours at Angkor and most of it was spent simply wondering around just gazing in awe. To think that this place was built almost a 1000 years ago, stood the test of time, was forgotten about for a few hundred years and then rediscovered in the late 1700's is just amazing.
The way it works when you go to Siem Reap (for all those avid travellers amongst you) is you have the choice of a 1,3 or 7 day ticket to see the temples. Its kind of like an access all areas pass, once you buy it you can go to any of them you want as much as you want within the timeframe.. Now there
not stupid and you simply can't do it in one day so most people seem to go for the 3 day pass. For interest sake I did it in two days, well I should say that after two full days I was all templed out.. Templed… I don’t think that’s actually a real word is it?
Also you’ll need your own personal tuk tuk driver each day to taxi you around everywhere. Most things are located within about 10km of the town, outside of this zone you need to be very specific with your driver about where you want to go. The going rate is about US$13 for the whole day but depending on how much they want the work they’ll always negotiate with you, especially if you use the same one every day. Also from my point of view its important to get one that is a local and can speak reasonable English. They tend to know a bit more about the area and you can actually communicate with them.
Anyway have a look at the photos and I’m sorry there’s so many. I actually took over 300 at Angkor Wat so I’ve actually done well to
cut them back to just this lot.. And I know it goes without saying but its even better in person than it looks in the photos, but I guess that’s the same with a lot of things hey.
Hope you enjoy them!
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