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Published: February 10th 2010
We purchased a three day ticket which allowed us to visit any of the temples over three days at a cost of US$40 each (other options are one day and one week). We decided to build up to the big and more well known temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom by visiting the smaller sites first. We recruited a tuk tuk driver to take us to the Roluos Group of temples which are about 13km out of Siem Reap. This area was the first major capital of the Angkorian era. We visited the three main sites and although many were in ruin, we were impressed by their size and design. We spent a few hours wondering around trying to imagine how these structures were built and how grand the area must have looked many centuries ago.
There were the usual children selling postcards and water, one particularly cute little boy, about 3, was selling postcards. He could count to ten, the number of postcards he had, in English and say “one dollar”. Not knowing the going rate for postcards we purchased one for 2000 riel (50 cents). We discovered later that the going rate is 10 for one dollar!!
The following morning we woke early to see Angkor Wat. We had decided to hire bikes to allow us to see the temples at our leisure and after swapping one bike because of a flat tyre, we set off on the 7km ride. Sadly we were just a few minutes too late to capture the bright orange morning sun over Angkor Wat but it looked beautiful as we were riding through the forest lined road.
Angkor Wat is massive and well preserved; it is the largest religious building in the world and one of the seven wonders of the world, although it is having major restoration work completed at the moment. We were able to explore the grounds and inside the temples which are 65 meters tall.
Our next stop, Angkor Thom, was a short ride away and the breeze gave a welcome relief from the heat which was beginning to build. Angkor Thom is a walled and moated city and was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. We rode through impressive gates into the walled city before stopping at Bayon to see the giant stone faces.
After stopping at a few of the smaller
temples we headed for Ta Prohm which is the temple Natalie was most looking forward to seeing. This is the temple made famous by Tomb Raider with the tree roots growing over the walls. It was amazing to see how nature had taken over such an impressive structure and we sent time exploring the dark corridors and grounds of this huge temple.
Happy with all the temples we’d seen we rode back to town to relieve our sore bottoms and hot bodies with a shower and an ice cold drink.
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