Angkor Wat

April 5, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

Hello everyone!

Today we had the joy of seeing Angkor Wat as well as two lesser temples (Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdai). We originally intended to also explore Angkor Thom, but we decided to leave that for day 2 of the ruins after we spent twice as long as expected at Angkor Wat, our first stop of the day.

For anyone who can make it out to Siem Reap, the ruins here are truly amazing. We were both blown away time and again as we turned corners and climbed to new heights. It's hard to put into words how amazing these places are. We also rode through Angkor Thom in a tuk tuk and it looked so cool! We wanted to make sure we had enough time and energy to truly explore that area, thus we made the aforementioned decision to postpone it for another day.

Angkor Wat is huge! And very well preserved/reconstructed. We were able to see tons of bas-relief art as well as climb to the third level of the ruins, which were several stories tall. Rachel's aunt Miriam is an expert on this area so we don't want to misquote any facts about Angkor Wat. Needless to say, you should visit if you ever have the opportunity, and, if you're interested, do some reading online to learn more. We can't stress how amazing Angkor Archaeological Park is and how glad we are to have a whole week to explore the area.

Ta Prohm was also especially interesting. At this site there has been some significant reconstruction work done in certain areas, but not to the level that Angkor Wat has been worked on. Thus, there were many unique views of trees growing out of or on top of ruins, as well as a loosely guided path that allowed for what felt like exploration within a mostly untouched wilderness. Of course there were many other tourists present, but part of the fun of this area is feeling like you are the first adventurer to rediscover these amazing landscapes.

Coming up the rest of the week: massage day, sunrise at the ruins, Angkor Thom, sunset at a yet to be determined location, other ruins, and a potential day trip to a nearby lake with significant biodiversity.Read more