Are you templed out yet? Angkooooor

Sep 17 Templing it

When you get up really early you would like to be rewarded with something special, and today was such a day. Getting on a Tuk Tuk at 5 in the morning should reward us with a breathtaking sunrise over Angkor Wat. Well that was the plan anyway. We got a good spot in the crowd with a great view of the Temple and got breakfast served to us right there. Sweet start to the day. The sunrise itself was nothing like imagined. There was no red, yellow and orange lights as in all those beautiful pictures I've seen. Instead there were plenty of clouds. Essentially we missed the whole spectacle and instead of Angkor Wat being colored impressively it just went from dark to light, that was that. At least breakfast was good. And since all the crowds move away on their buses right after sunrise we had Angkor Wat once again almost to ourselves. That luxury doesn't get old.

What still annoys me though is the scaffolding in front of Angkor Wat. It's a horrible green and spoils pretty much every picture. Couldn't they not have done it in at least some decent color? Maybe gray or so, so it wouldn't be the one thing that is catching attention.

Behind the restaurants close to Angkor Wat there's a temple with a school for orphans and the kids are happily playing around. Lovely to watch. We explore Angkor Wat inside and out and lastly we would like to climb up to the inner sanctum (the one where we should have paid $ 20 for extra to climb after closing time yesterday). Bad luck once again it only opens at 7.45 in the morning. After we've practically decided to move to other temples and come back later time goes by fast anyway and we pass the next hour (yeah, we did get up early) with taking crazy pictures and photo ops around the temple, some results of which you can see here. Not all pictures should be taken in a temple, but hey who judges that anyway? Finally 7.45 exact we climb (literally climb, the steps are damn steep) the 4^th level of Angkor and it was worth the wait (it may even have been worth the $20 last night – for all of us – but too late for that now). It's also the only place in the whole Angkor area where they enforce the covered knees and shoulders rule, luckily I am prepared with a shawl to wrap around my offending knees. The view from the 4^th level great. You can see the whole Angkor area, the moats and lake in front and all the forest covers around it. Even the hot air balloons in the distance. I am enjoying this, even though there's a few isolates souls besides us now. It's still fairly empty. A lot of similar looking pictures later we search for our dozing Tuk Tuk driver and head to the 2^nd famous temple of Angkor the Bayou temple at Angkor Thom. On the way we pass through the famous South Gate with the bridge in front. All the guardians watching the temples. The faces on the bridge and on top of the gate are really impressive. Maybe even more so than Angkor, hard to decide. Behind the South Gate there's cheeky monkeys jumping up and down – parking cars – and trying to get food from the vendors along the way.

The Bayou temple is fantastic. The gigantic faces everywhere and by far not as renovated as Angkor Wat. More of an adventure to climb up and down and around. But by now the crowds have caught up with us and it's harder to get isolated pictures at the Bayou. And the heat.... phew. But if you ever make your way to Angkor, definitely see the Bayou. Stunning.

We further walk to some other temples and palaces in the Angkor Thom area. Some are closed -we are not too unhappy about it, the heat is sweltering, and have each finished one big bottle of water by now, at least. Some of the area is overgrown by gigantic trees, hundreds of years old and that gives Angkor the mystical feel I've heard about. There's another steep climb up the Royal Palace with another great view. But the area is so vast and so covered in lush greens you can't see the next temple although they are not that far from each other. After walking through the famous Elephant's Terrace and Terrace of the Leper King it's Tuk Tuk time again. It is actually truly enjoyable to enjoy the breeze and sit down for a minute. We've been templing for about 6 hours now and it is time for a break. We forego all suggestions from our driver to see another temple before and insist on lunch right away. And it was the right choice. Guess who we run into at the Lunch place... Vilma and Marcus, the rest of the temple party, who did not want to get up so early for sunrise (good decision considering what we didn't get to see). There are quite a few lunch places around Angkor but apparently all Tuk Tuk drivers stop at the same place, or at least ours did. I am having a Khmer Lok Lak, inspiring name so it needs to be tried and doesn't disappoint. Beef fried with veggies and egg and lots of onion and whatever else they throw in there. And a gigantic portion, very unusual for South East Asia. Nom, nom, and on with the Temple Tour. Next up is a photo stop at an unfinished temple Ta Keo. Guessing there is no great view that's one temple we don't climb up on and continue to Ta Prohm. the Temple that's become famous through Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider. It's still fully overgrown with gigantic trees that are now part of the temple and make it look more authentic than the other ones that have been prepped and trimmed for tourists. Again there's barely anyone there besides us so which makes it more adventurous when you are climbing through the dark alleys of the temple no other soul in sight and not knowing where you'll get out again or seeing the tree trunks that are all over. If it wouldn't be for the scorching heat this would be even more enjoyable.

The moment we leave the Ta Prohm area there's a massive amount of kids running after us trying to sell us everything useless and barely useful. Almost everything is 'on dollaaa' and for my purchase of those kids my friends will make fun of me for weeks to come. Whatever it made the kids happy that someone but something off of them and got them to stop following us. That's the disadvantage of being the only tourists around. All the touts are on to you.

Next temple on the list is Banteay Kdei, old overgrown and no tourists and smaller than most of the other ones we've seen so far. Cows, ducks and chicken are casually grazing on the temple grounds, not many kids selling stuff, it would be a photographers dream. But after templing since sunrise we are pretty much templed out by now and can't enjoy Banteay Kdei as much as we could if we would have seen it earlier.

I convince the Tuk Tuk driver to drive us around the big circle without charging an obscene amount extra, we are already paying a reasonable amount and we enjoy the nice breeze we get while driving. Most of the temples around the big loop can't be seen from the road but we are too tired to walk around more temples know and just enjoy the scenery. Life even in the temple area is blossoming. There's rice growing, kids bathing, cows swimming, locals pedaling around. It's wonderful just to watch how relaxed everyone is and enjoy watching them live their live for the seconds we drive past them.

Back in Siem Reap a shower is everything I need right now, and possibly a small nap. We also run into Markus again who decided not to go to Angkor today and just stroll around Siem Reap again. He is chilled and relaxed. A nap is unfortunately barely possible since the heat is stifling and our room has a felt 45 degrees. Whatever, we are only here for a short time that should be enjoyed.

All 6 of us manage to meet up again and head out for dinner to a restaurant a friend that used to live here recommended. What's there to say, the Cambodian food is nice but the rest of the food is, ah well not that great. But what do you expect when you order a Tenderloin Steak for $ 3 in a hole in the wall restaurant in Cambodia?

We make it to the Night Market just to have time for a bit of shopping before they close. Another nice cocktail. It's gonna be a good night's sleep tonight.