I am finally able to post the pictures of one of my favourite locations in the world. Angkor, the former capital of the Khmer Empire. I can’t begin to imagine how grand this empire must’ve once looked. Judging by the buildings that are still around, it must’ve been quite a sight. The fact that the buildings look rundown nowadays adds to the charm.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is only one of the many temple complexes we visited in Angkor in 2009. We arranged with a tuk-tuk driver named Tola who we met after arriving at Siem Reap by bus, that he would take us around Angkor for two days. The area was completely different than I had expected. It’s actually a huge jungle and the temples are very widespread, not to mention the fact that in the heat and humidity it’s very difficult to walk around. It was challenging but totally worth it, because I have seen some of the most beautiful temples I will ever see. In my opinion it’s best to travel around by tuk-tuk because the wind is very refreshing.

The way I will structure this post is by first telling you my favourite temples and then I’ll post the full list of temples we have seen in those two days and I’ll post the remaining pictures underneath that. I will not go into detail about the temples themselves because you will be able to Wikipedia this kind of information yourself.

Favourites: Bayon

My absolute favourite temple is Bayon. There are 54 towers with four faces each, totaling 216 faces. There is still a debate as to who is being depicted in the faces. I hope you all agree this temple complex looks insanely impressive?

Favourites: Ta Phrom & Ta Som

Two more favourites of mine are Ta Phrom and Ta Som.The first is famous because it was shown in the Tomb Raider and the second is just beautiful. It’s better to visit Ta Som if you have a limited amount of time because it isn’t has busy as Ta Phrom but equally gorgeous. The reason I like these two temples so much is because they have been overgrown with trees.

Actually I found all temples that are overgrown with trees beautiful.

Sunset at Bakheng Hill

The large number of visitors makes Phnom Bakheng one of the most threatened monuments of Angkor, but to watch the sunset there is pretty amazing. The below picture does not do the scene any justice but you get a nice look at the area.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Another must-see is the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and rainy on the day that we went so we didn’t see the change of colours properly. This did not ruin it at all, because even just the reflection in the water is gorgeous. A while ago I wrote a blog about my trip to Australia and the sunrise at Uluru, the one at Angkor Wat is more impressive.

Temples I visited in Two Days
1. Ankor Thom
Bayon
Baphuon
The Elephant Terrace.
The Terrace of the Leper King
Five entrance gates
Phnom Bakheng

2. Little circuit
Ta Keo
Ta Prohm
Banteay Kdei
Prasat Kravan

3. Big circuit:
Preah Khan
Ta Som

Word of Warning: Vertigo

If you’re like me and you’re afraid of heights when you might fall off of something, you will not be able to climb many of the structures. In some instances I had to really push myself to climb up. For example, the temple Bakheng where you can view the beautiful sunset, you have to climb quite a few steep steps. Up was not an issue for me but climbing down, was a challenge. That’s why sometimes I chose not to climb up.

Conclusion

Visiting Angkor for two days is such an amazing thing to do. Tola our tuk-tuk driver was great and we even went out with him and his friends the last night of our stay in Siem Reap. I will not forget this whole experience any time soon. The next stop on our South East Asia Trip would be Bangkok, which I will describe in the next post.