Sunrise over Angkor Wat

We were up at 4 AM and out the door by 4:30 so that we could get our tickets and head to the biggest temple in the world. At the ticket station they have to take everyone’s picture as your picture appears on each individual ticket. We then drove to the temple and made our way to a viewing spot so we could see the sunrise over Angkor Wat. The air was still and humid and it was probably at least 28° when we were there at 5 AM. This is also one of the reasons we had an early start because it gets so hot so early and we had a lot to do today.

Our groups at perched on one of the stone structures as we watch the sunrise over anchor walk. Although I don’t have anything like a bucket list, this would probably be some thing that I would’ve put on it. It was incredible to see the sunrise over the huge temple And I think we got some great pictures.

After taking millions of photos, along with all the other tourist, we got to go eat our hotel breakfast in a small little restaurant, which was a welcome reprieve from the heat. I also got to have a Vietnamese iced coffee which I haven’t had since leaving Vietnam, and was very grateful for especially this early in the morning. Once we were all done our breakfast, we begin to explore the temple along with our guide.

It’s hard to explain the temple, but Brad took so many pictures that I’m hoping they’ll do the talking. Angkor Wat is the largest temple in the world and it has gone through a number of conservation efforts to maintain and preserve its history. It was built in the 12th century and the one thing I was really impressed by (beyond its vast size) was the depth of the stone carvings. The murals and pillars were all something special to behold.

We spent about two hours going through the enormous temple before departing for the “Tomb Raider” temple, which was made famous by the movie. This temple was really neat because there are trees growing right through it! They will trim the trees, but they have become part of the structure they don’t remove them. We also saw the craziest bee nests in one of the trees! They looked completely alien!

We had one last temple to visit (keeping in mind we had been up for six hours already and it was getting hot!) and it was the Bayon temple. We stopped for a cold drink and to see the monkeys! Tong even fed the monkeys some of our bananas leftover from our breakfast. They were so cute!

After the last temple, we went out for lunch. On the outside, it looked like a rundown shack, but it was simply hiding a beautiful dining room (with AC!). We had pineapple beef and cashew chicken. I also had a lemon soda because they are so delicious and refreshing!

Back at the hotel, we crashed hard for two hours. Then, feeling sleepy, we headed down for a dip in the huge pool and indulge in happy hour. SE Asia seems to absolutely love cocktails and extensive happy hours! We sipped our midori sunrises while basking in the cool pool and felt refreshed afterwards.

Dinner was at a G for Good place called New Hope. We got there by using the lady tuk tuk drivers, which is meant to increase the number of women driving in the city. At New Hope, their goal is to provide education, health care, and training for students to work in hospitality. We had a young girl present our meal to us to practice her English, and she did so well! We then absolutely feasted on banana flower salad, wontons, curry, and beef lo lak (Brad’s favourite Cambodian dish!). We had lovely fresh fruit for dessert.

Back with Ms Kim (our lady tuk tuk driver), she navigated us across the city to the Phare Circus. This is basically a Cambodian version of Cirque du Soleil. The Phare program trains disadvantaged youth in the arts and this is one way the program is funded. The circus featured a story about a bar in Phnom Penh and the artists did all sorts of contortions, stunts, used the silk ropes, and feats of strength. It was stunning and I don’t know if I stopped saying “wow” for the entire hour!

A few of our group members headed to Pub Street for a night cap and we were back to our hotel by 10:30. It was one of the longest days yet, but so much fun!Baca lagi