Cambodia: Siem Reap & the Angkor Temples


We arrived on a short flight from Bangkok and cleared the airport quickly and easily. We had prebooked Adan World Hostel on a recommendation from a friend in Bangkok and they organised to pick us up from the airport in a tuk-tuk. More on that hostel elsewhere because it was great and comes highly recommended. Obviously the main thing everyone comes to Siem Reap for is to see the Angkor Temples: a group of over 100 ancient temples strewn across the area, all built between 750 and 1100 years ago.

There are various ticketing options but the standard is a 3 day ticket at $40. You can go and buy this from 4.30pm on the evening before you want to start, which will allow you to go to Angkor Wat straight after for the sunset – essentially a free bonus visit when the light is particularly golden and favourable. We negotiated with a tuk-tuk driver called Ras to take us for the sunset and then to take us to all the main temples for the following 3 days. We paid $7 for the sunset trip and $50 for the following 3 days, which covered all of the main sights. Some guide info said you could get drivers for as low as $12 per day, but when I thought I was haggling with a guy who makes so little, an extra £5 each didn’t feel like much of a stretch. Plus it turned out Ras was safe and took us on a decent route which meant some temples weren’t too crowded – nice!

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Our Angkor tuk-tuk driver, Ras

We took in the first sunset at Angkor Wat in amazement at the scale of the place. Within the moat and gates lies a huge grassy complex and the largest religious monument on the planet in the centre. The sunset light is particularly golden and appealing and the best photos are to be had from the left hand side by the lake (also the most common photo angle, just google Angkor Wat to see what I mean).

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It was great to get a first look at the site as we would return in the morning for sunrise after a 5am start time.

One word of advice which may just be common sense – bring a sweater – it’s pretty damn cold at 5am, especially when motoring down the roads in an open tuk-tuk! It doesn’t really warm up til about 8am either so be prepared. It’s also really dark so bring a torch too.

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The sunrise itself is a strange experience. It should be a beautiful serene sight, but there are so many people there for ‘that photo’ that the magic is a bit tarnished by the glow of cameras and phones. A couple of shots is all that’s needed (and you can wait 10 minutes or so from the first light which will mean you can shoot at better quality) and then kick back and enjoy the scene unfolding.

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Angkor Wat sunrise crowds

Despite this cynicism it was still a wonderous sight and from the we ventured into the temple to explore. The Wat is huge and is encircled by beatuiful stone carvings around its vast exterior. You can climb all the way to the top but just like the Grand Palace in Thailand, you can’t have bare knees or shoulders.

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Stone carvings at Ankgor Wat

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View from the top of Angkor Wat

Moving on from Angkor we were driven round the major temples on the ‘short tour’ (which took 9 hours). That is the Angkor Thom complex, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and about 3 other smaller temples en route. We did the rount backwards from the usual which meant we got to Banteay Kdei before it got very busy and that made for one of the best visits of the day. The temples are so peaceful and pretty when there is no one around and you get a real feel for exploring and can imagine what might have been like to discover them in the jungle after centuries of decay. That peace does get a bit punctured when a coachful of Chinese tourists come flooding through in a rabble!

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Bateay Kdei temple

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Stone carving at Banteay Kdei

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We did get a blessing from an old bhuddist lady at a small shrine in Banteay Kdei too, which was a nice touching moment.

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It also made it trickier to get photos with nobody in them. We had to quickly discard the British polite way of not wanting to intrude because you’d be waiting all day to get anywhere otherwise! Still, I do like a challenge! On top of Banteay Kdei I’d rate the Bayon temple in Angkor Thom as another favourite – the huge stone faces and overall intricacy was awesome.

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Bayon temple, Angkor Thom

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Stone face carvings at the Bayon, Angkor Thom

Ta Prohm is famous for its huge trees which look amazing, but these trees are also found at some of the less crowded temples.

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Ta Prohm temple tree

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