Angkor Wat without other tourists

---

A 4.45 am start so we could get our tickets for the temples and get to Angkor Wat for sunrise, although it was obvious with the cloud cover that we would not be seeing any sun for the next couple of hours.

Rather than go to the usual vantage point to watch the sunrise with hundreds if not thousands of other tourists we got our driver to take us to the east gate. We were dropped at the ticket booth where I think the ticket checker wasn’t used to having tourists go in that way and then had a stroll for several hundred metres through a forest until we got our first glimpse of Angkor Wat in four years. Because of the trees you don’t get that initial wow factor you do from the west gate as the whole temple opens up, but there was something really special being totally on our own in a forest in the semi-darkness watching the temple slowly reveal itself. It was eerily quiet which just added to the atmosphere. What a magical way to start your thirtieth wedding anniversary. We were on our own exploring Angkor Wat, and soaking in the silence for nearly half an hour before others started filtering in – a truly magical experience and one I would recommend to anyone who wants to avoid the crowds and the noise that some disrespectful visitors make in such a sacred site.

I knew we had made the right decision when we finally went around to the west side and saw the scaffolding and tarpaulins covering large parts of the temple – even if it had been a perfect sunrise the pictures would have been less than perfect.

After exploring the temple we had breakfast at the stalls across the road and moved on to Bayon. Having been four years before we only wanted to go back to those we really enjoyed last time, so from there it was back to Ta Phrom. Ta Phrom is undergoing a major restoration with large parts of it being pulled down stone by stone, obviously to be rebuilt again with damaged and missing stones replaced. That was enough of ‘templing’ for one day with Koh Ker and Beng Malea to follow later in the week. It was also starting to warm up so didn’t need too much more climbing.

Our big day finished with a very big night in Pub Street. It was raining so things had cooled off nicely. A couple of drinks followed by a great Khmer platter and a half decent bottle of merlot (nicely chilled) followed by more drinks at several other bars and it was time to go back the hotel. It was well worth the dollar for the tuk tuk ride.

---