We arrived in Siem Reap early afternoon, and our hostel owner recommended that we visit Angkor Wat at sunset, then again the following morning for sunrise. We needed no further prompting and hopped into a tuk tuk.
Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of Angkor Wat at sunrise because closing time of the site and actual sunrise overlapped, so we could only view it from afar.
We woke up at 4:30 and bleary-eyed, stumbled into a tuk tuk to return to Angkor Wat. I was surprised to see crowds so early in the morning, but it seemed like everyone had the same idea. It was absolutely worth it, despite not having the place to ourselves.
After exploring Angkor Wat, we made our way on foot (which was much further than we thought) to Angkor Thom, where we were greeted by a bridge of stone faces. Angkor Thom was equally as busy as Angkor Wat. And out of the two, this was my favourite.
We only spent a brief evening, and a few hours the next day around Angkor but it's not hard to see why some travellers spend days exploring Angkor. Though we only went to the two most famous temples, there are over 50 temples around Angkor stretching over 400 square kilometres. The intricacy and detail within the temples are amazing - you could spend hours pouring over these alone.
Tips:
- I would definitely recommend going at sunrise over sunset, if you don't have time to do both. It's the coolest time of the day and it's a lot more peaceful wandering around at this time.
- After 5pm, buying a ticket for sunset enables you to use it for entry the next day.
- Don't follow the crowds - Angkor is a massively popular tourist destination and the throngs of people everywhere do take away the sacredness of the temples.
- If you have money to spend and limited time, tuk tuk is a convenient way to travel. However, bikes are much cheaper and allow you to journey off the roads.
No comments
Post a Comment