Day 74 - Temples of Angkor (Day 1)

Was picked up by the tuk tuk at 4:30am and headed over to Angkor Wat to watch the sunrise. The morning was quite chilly and there were about 200 people waiting to see the sunrise. A 3 days temple pass costs $40. When the sun finally rose, you couldn't see it as the sky was very cloudy. It was quite unfortunate, but it was worth being a the temple with less people than during the day.

Angkor Wat was huge and beautiful and surrounded by a moat. Words cannot describe how amazing the architecture here is. Especially since everything was built by hand. I love how everything is covered in ornate carvings and statues. I can't believe I'm actually here!

From here we went to Banteay Kdei. This temple was beautiful as well with different architecture than Angkor Wat. There were amazing windows all over the temple. It was smaller but more ornate than Angkor Wat. The temple was built of inferior grade sandstone so it's apparent how weathered and worn the temple is. Across from the temple is Srah Srang, the King's swimming pool. Which is not very well preserved as it wasn't finished.

There are so many children here trying to sell souvenirs, flutes and bootleg books at the entrance and inside the temples. They are very persistent and mob you once you start walking toward the temple. I have a feeling that this is going to happen at every single temple. A lot of the kids do their homework though. They asked me where I was from and when I said Canada they would ramble off random facts like: "Ottawa is the capital, you speak English and French, it is very big". It was quite weird when it happened the first time but got old after about 3 kids said the same thing.

The next temple we went to was Ta Phom, the famous temple with the tree growing into it and out of it. It was absolutely beautiful. It looked like it came right out of Indiana Jones. The trees planted themselves in the roof and started to grow into the temple. There were many spots where the trees took over. It added to the mystique of the place. It was very impressive.

Ta Keo was the next one on the list to see. This temple had steps so large that I had to bend my legs past perpendicular to climb the gigantic stairs. This temple was unfinished and it was very noticeable because it lacked any decorations or carvings. I was very skeptical of climbing it but I'm glad I did. The view from the top was amazing.

The Angkor Thom complex of temples includes the Terrace of Elephants which was quite impressive at it was really expansive and well maintained. Down the road was the last temple we were going to see today called Bayon. This was the temple with the smiling faces carved into it all over the place. There are 216 of them in total. I really enjoyed this place. It's my favourite one so far. I'm amazed at how different each temple is and how they are all so original. I can't wait to see more tomorrow.