First Tour of Angkor Ruins

We woke up bright and early at 4 AM to catch the sunrise at the Angkor temples which we heard was a must-see. We arrived at Angkor Wat at around 5 AM to get a front row seat and waited for the sun to make an appearance. Unfortunately it was slightly cloudy, even rained a little so the sunrise was a bit underwhelming. It just went from not being able to see the temple at all to being able to see its outline, no cool colors or anything like that. If you ever see the temples during sunrise, bring a flashlight! It was pitch black when we arrived at the gates and luckily I had a keychain flashlight in my bag (thanks Haj!) so we were able to get to the temple without tripping over anything or falling into the moat, haha.

Angkor Wat, not to be confused with the collection of Angkor Temples was massive and complex. I loved the carvings on the walls that told traditional stories popular in the Angkor period and the layers of corridors that would make this place the perfect site for hide and go seek. There was a lot to explore at this temple alone, we spent about 4 hours here. Next, we went to Angkor Thom which is a collection of structures built by King Jayavarman VII in the late twelfth century. We saw the quirky multi-faced Bayon, the endearing Terrace of Elephants, and the mysterious Terrace of the Leper King so there was a lot of walking and a bit of climbing up the steep steps. It was getting hotter during the day but we still managed to finish out our small tour by visiting the height-happy but otherwise not so notable Ta Keo and the jungle-esque Ta Prohm where Tomb Raider was filmed. Really fun but tiring day, we have more temples to see tomorrow.

Apologies for a brief post but my traveling partner is getting hungry and impatient so more updates later! Hehe.