Day 7: The Mighty Angkor

We woke up very early that day to catch the sunrise in Angkor Wat. At 4.30 a.m. we already left the guesthouse. Heavy rain fell all over the night and we were afraid that we couldn’t see the sunrise. We went by tuktuk and it only took about 30 minutes from our guesthouse to the Angkor complex. Angkor wat complex is really huge. It’s almost impossible to travel from one wat to the other wat by foot so you must rent a bicycle, motorcycle, tuktuk or car to travel around Angkor Wat Complex.

Before we enter the complex, we had to pay the ticket first. There are three type of tickets; one day ticket (USD 20), three days ticket (USD 40) and one week ticket (USD 60). If you are a history lovers or have an interest in archeology, I suggest you to take the three days or one week ticket. But if you’re just an ordinary traveler like me, trust me, one day is more than enough. The ticket itself is quite good. The officer will take our picture and print it out to the ticket. Carry your ticket at all time in Angkor because there will be regular checks for the ticket at almost sites within The Angkor Complex.

At 5.00 a.m. we had arrived at Angkor Wat. It was very dark. Other than car’s and motorcycle’s lamp, there was no other light but The Wat was already packed with many tourists. Thirty minute later, the sky became blue but we were very disappointed because the sky was very cloudy. We failed to see the sunrise in Angkor Wat.

Mission: failed. The sky was cloudy.

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

We started to explore Angkor Wat. It was a very large temple. The Angkor Wat was built in 1200 A.D. by King Suryavarman. This temple is a Hindhu temple where Lord Vishnu was worshipped. At that time, Kingdom of Khmer reached its golden era and their territory was from Thailand to Vietnam. It was believed that one million people had lived in this Angkor town at that time, making Angkor the biggest city in Southeast Asia at that time. But then, Kingdom of Khmer became weaker and finally collapsed. The Angkor complex itself was left by its citizen and was forgotten. In 1960s, Angkor Wat became one of the prime tourist destination in Asia, even Jacky Kennedy went to Angkor. But after Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia, the tourism in Angkor collapsed until early 2000.

You can see some parts of the temple were restored

Mighty Angkor Wat

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

There was a large artificial lake in front of the Angkor Wat. The lake was also built in Jayavarman Era. Quite amazing huh. There were a lot of aggressive monkeys inside the wat. Be careful, they could grab your snacks, accessories, and even your camera. When we came to the Angkor Wat, some parts of the wat were renovated, which was quite disturbing.

Inside Angkor Wat.

Be careful, they could grab your camera.

This is the artificial lake in front of Angkor Wat

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After almost three hours in the Angkor Wat, we moved to our next destination, Bayon. The distance between Angkor Wat and Bayon is about 5 km. Before entering the Bayon Temple, we stopped first at the “city gate”, which was still far away from the temple, to take pictures.

From Angkor Wat to Bayon

Bayon Gate

Bayon gate

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

The trademark of Bayon is four-sided-face giant stone statue which is easily recognized. Every tower in this Bayon temple contains that four-sided –faces. The temple itself wasn’t as large as Angkor Wat. Many parts of the temple had been ruined and I could see some restorations have been done. Just like Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple is a Hindhu Temple.

Whose face is this?

Can you count how many faces in this pic?

Bayon Temple

Every tower has four faces. Can you see them?

Some parts are just like this

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After visiting Bayon Temple, we visited some little temples which were less famous than Angkor Wat and Bayon. At 12 p.m. we took a break for lunch. There was a food hawker complex near The Elephant Terrace temple. The food was expensive and the taste wasn’t really great. Definitely my worst lunch in Cambodia.

A temple near Bayon

Next destination was Ta Phrom. This temple was really popular among the tourist, definitely the highlight of Angkor complex besides Angkor Wat and Bayon. Have you ever watched Tomb Raider? If you have, you may recognize a few scenes from the movie in this temple. The popularity of Ta Phrom was huge because of Tomb Raider. Some even said that Ta Phrom is Angelina Jolie temple.

Ta Phrom

Angelina Jolie Temple

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

But other than Tomb Raider factor, Ta Phrom itself was really stunning. It is best known as the temple where many big (really really big and old) trees have been left intertwined with the stonework. It’s like a perfect combination between nature and human work. This place is definitely my favourite temple in Angkor. Just like in Angkor Wat and Bayon, there were some parts of the temple that were in restoration.

Fantastic interaction between The tree and the stone

If you watch Tomb Raider, you can easily recognize this place

Ta Phrom is amazing. Definitely my favourite place in Angkor

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After Ta Phrom, we visited many small, less famous temple. Honestly, I felt bored because there were nothing special at those temples (at least for me). In my mind, they started to look the same, from one temple to the other temple. It was 4 p.m., we were already bored, got nothing to do, but we had to stay at Angkor to watch the sunset.

Mati gaya

I love this place

Just another temple in Angkor Complex

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

At 5 p.m. we went to Phnom Bakheng. It’s the best place to see the sunset. Apparently, to reach Phnom Bakheng wasn’t easy at all. All I can say is prepare your stamina. First, we had to climb the hill. The path was really long and twisty. After we reach the top of the hill, again we had to climb the temple to reach the top level of Phnom Bakheng Temple. The stairs were really narrow and sharp, we had to be careful. Finally, we reach the top level and I must say that the view from up there was really fantastic. You could see Angkor Complex in 360^o view. I even could see Angkor Wat from here. Really beautiful. Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy again. We failed to see the sunset.

View from Phnom Bakheng. See. the sky was cloudy again.

Sunset in Phnom Bakheng

The temple itself is quite beautiful

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

We went back to Siem Reap town. We decided to taste The Cambodian version of KFC since Vietnamese KFC tasted great. The menu was different from Vietnam and Indonesia. Apparently, Cambodian KFC was more expensive and less delicious than Vietnamese KFC. Cambodian KFC also didn’t provide rice. After having meal, we went straight to the Inn and rest. We didn’t go anywhere because we were very tired. Besides, we had to wake up early to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur.