Cambodia – Angkor Wat

A few days ago we learned about the dark history of Cambodia (read my blog about The dark history of this beautiful country), so today it was time for a more happy adventure. We made aquantaince with Cambodia’s great pride: Angkor Wat

Extremely early birding
The alarm went off at 04:15 am because we had a tuk-tuk driver waiting for us to take us to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise behind the old ancient temples. At the entrance we had our picture taken to be printed on the day-pass to Angkor Wat (at 05:00 am, really?!) Then we drove off to the temples. Together with thousands of other tourists and aspiring photographers we watched the night turn into day and saw the magical silhouette of Angkor Wat appear in front of us. After we were sure we had captured this mesmerizing image both in pictures and in mind, we returned to our tuk-tuk to take us on a big temple tour. Early birding to see Angkor Wat is not only a good idea if you want to see the sunrise, but you also  to explore the temples while the sun isn’t burning as bright, and the temples are not yet overly crowded with Chinese tourists trying to capture everything (but mostly themselves) using massive iPads.

Tuk-tukking around the temples
Since we had chosen ‘the Big Tour’ our tuk-tuk driver Kouch, a lovely 27 year old Cambodian who turned out to be a real ladies man, showed us the most beautiful sights. The temples of Angkor Wat go back for centuries, with the first one built around the 9th century. Angkor Wat is huge, so exploring it by bike or by tuk-tuk is advisable. Kouch took us to 7 temples, one more magical than the other. If you go explore the temples on your own make sure you stay on the paths, as there still might be some landmines lying around.

Angkor Wat, you photogenic you!
After having shot hundreds of pictures and when the sun began burning bright on our scalps it was around 12:00 pm time to go back to the hostel to chill out and let all the beauty we just witnessed sink in. Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words, so here’s some of the eye candy I captured in image today:

Tomorrow we have to say goodbye to this amazing country because we head off to Laos. We’re very excited for the new adventures that await us there!