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Sunrise at AngorWat
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With the year coming to a close, and with next to no travels except in the beginning of the year, I look back fondly at 2019, which happened to be the year when I realised my dream of finally travelling to Cambodia and see the beautiful, and mesmerising ancient Angkor temples.
I was awestruck with the architecture of the massive temples of Angkor which were built between the 9th to the 13th century. There were thousands of temples built during that time, and quite a few remain till this date but not all are in the best condition.
I was dying to visit Angkor Wat, one of the largest and best temple complexes in Angkor. This temple complex is a Buddhist temple complex built in early 12th century; It was originally a Hindu temple complex dedicated to God Vishnu. Since the ruler during that time was Emperor Suryavarman II who was a Hindu. This UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the largest religious monuments in the world, and is spread across 400 acres.
Our travel to Cambodia started with us landing early in the morning at the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. We did a little bit of a city tour on the day we arrived; We planned to do more of Phnom Penh on our way back. We were much too excited to focus on anything else other than reaching Siem Reap, which is where we would spend the next three days visiting the ancient temples of Angkor. We took the Giant Ibis bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It was a pleasant 6 hour journey, with a few halts in between (for lunch and tea).
Upon reaching Siem Reap bus station, the first thing we did is we hired a Toto. This Toto was going to be our transport for the next three amazing days at Siem Reap. We were lucky to find a very helpful and polite driver, who doubled in as our tour guide sometimes:)
In our three day stay, we did about 15 temples, and every single temple was worth visiting.For someone like me who loves ancient architecture, it was a indeed a dream come true.
Some things to consider if you plan to travel to Angkor. These temples require a lot of walking and climbing stairs, so carrying a sturdy pair of shoes is a must. We travelled in March, and it was very very warm making it difficult to cover too many temples in a day...best to travel around December-January.
I am going to start by sharing pictures of Angkor Wat temple, although, we did not start our agenda with Angkor Wat complex first. On the day we reached Siem Reap, it was almost evening, and we rushed to catch the sunset in the Pre Rup temple complex. I will post pictures from Pre Rup as well...but not just yet, I will start with Angkor Wat first.
The morning we did Ankor wat, we started very early since we wanted to catch the Angkor sunrise. It was still very dark when we reached, and we thought we were the first few to arrive...we were in for a surprise!!! The entire complex was already filled with tourists like us, eager to catch the sunrise!
We somehow managed to find a quiet place from where we could get a decent view of the sunrise.
It was a beautiful experience indeed. I am sharing some pictures of the sunrise at Ankor Wat complex.I will post the temple complex pictures in detail in my next post.
Stay safe and have a fabulous week ahead!
