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Published: June 21st 2010
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When we arrived in Siem Reap there was a Tuk Tuk driver waiting for us with our names on a card, arranged by out Phnom Phen guesthouse (we'd booked to stay there when we got back to Phnom Phen and left our big rucksacks there so got full special treatment!) so didn't have to face the usual scrum, this was great but our poor driver was crestfallen when we said we didn't need him to take us round the temples the next day as we were cycling round. He did all he could to persuade us we would probably die from heat exhaustion by doing so, but we were determined. In the end we did agree to book him for that night to buy our tickets and see sunset.
The city was very quiet when we arrived, Siem Reap is basically used as a base from where people tour The Temples of Angkor and is therefore really quiet during the day so we wandered round the local market, and enjoyed what felt like having the place to ourselves.
Later in the afternoon when we headed to the temples to see the sunset I got my first glimpse of the
biggest one, Angkor Wat. Wow, it's like seeing someone famous that you've seen many many times on tv in person. Just stunning.
We watched the sunset over Phnom Bakheng which is the temple that everyone really goes to at this time. It was a steep climb to get there, and so so busy not to mention boiling hot at the top but as the sun went down it actually got very quiet and we stayed until we were among a final dozen or so people that were asked to leave as it was closing. Those last quiet moments made it very much worth it.
So we did as we said and got up early, hired 2 bikes and cycled to and around the temples. Was brilliant, just absolutely incredible. Could go at our own pace and generally found we were behind the main crowds which meant there were even a couple of temples where we saw no other tourists at all! Xan has been to the temples before and did a great plan which meant we saw a great mixture of greatest hits, fab views and quiet interesting temples.
You can literally buy a week ticket to
go round them there are that many, a night and one very full day was perfect for us though. In a nutshell our rough route was as follows:
We started at Angkor Thom, which is not a Temple but a whole walled city that houses a lot of the most impressive/best known of the temples and structures. There are five gates (to call them gates doesn't really do them justice, more huge, intricately carved stone archways in the walls) - North, South, East, West and Victory.
We cycled in through the South Gate and straight to Bayon, just a beautiful temple that has 216 huge carved faces looking out in all directions above you!
From there we headed to Baphuon which is being rebuilt after being taken apart by archaeologists before the civil war and whose records of how to put it back together were destroyed. They're getting there but it's one hell of a job often called 'the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle'!
Before leaving Angkor Thom through Victory Gate we stopped at Terrace of Elephants - a 300m long stone walkway with 3-headed elephant's guarding the entrances! Though how they came up with the name
is anyone's guess.
Our next major stop was Ta Prohm - one of my favourites - it was used in 'Tomb Raider' and 'Two Brothers'. Although some areas have been preserved others have been left as it was found with the jungle growing through over and around it. So cool to see huge trees growing through the stone.
We then went to Ta Som, which is similar in that it's been taken over by nature but a lot smaller and quieter than Ta Phrohm, was lovely to walk round it in peace.
Our penultimate stop was at Preah Khan, one of the largest complexes. Even though it's one of the main attractions we literally saw two other people the whole time we were there (and think I probably gave them a hell of a dirty look to say 'what are doing in our temple!')
We finished at Angkor Wat, it is just immense. Even the moat round it is impressive. The temple itself is just huge, iconic, stunning. There is a small lake in the grounds that catches the reflection of the three stone peaks perfectly. Couldn't recommend people go enough, worth visiting Cambodia just to
see. Amazing!
We cycled back to our hotel, tired and more than likely a bit smelly and sweaty but was so chuffed we'd done it on bikes. Just brilliant.
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