Angkor Wat
Thousands of years of history and one day to explore the "essentials"! The temple of Angkor Wat is one of almost 2000 temples that exist throughout Cambodia. The Angkor Wat temple is located within the Angkor Wat Archaeological Park site just out of Siem Reap (about 7km from the centre of town). The site is listed with UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and is one of the seven wonders of the world. It covers approximately 163 hectares in land size. Originally a Hindu temple, the temple is now Theravada Buddhist.
It's a big ask to get people up and about at 4:30am in order to be at the complex before sunrise, but that was our task. It was made easy by this fantastic team who have been eager to participate in everything put before them. On board and with Park passes in our hands we moved into position for the rising of the sun. The morning was a beautiful one - quite cool and with a slight breeze. The crowd was reasonably sized and the ever popular selfie stick had to be avoided in order to get a clear shot of the temple. I think the trick of the sunrise is to wait. Whilst daylight had broken, the best images came when the sun was rising just above the temple, rather than just above the horizon.
Following breakfast, we set out on exploring the main temple. Big thank you to our tour guide Vuth from Jayakiri Angkor Tour - check him out on Facebook if you are in Cambodia and tell him we sent you. Vuth has an amazing knowledge of the temples and is able to share this information in an easy to listen to way.
Second stop was at the Bayon Temple - this is the temple of the faces. 54 pillars, each with 4 faces - 216 faces in all. Luckily for us we had the opportunity to explore the temple as the upper area will be closed to visitors in the near future in an effort to preserve the temple. From here we visited Baphun - a temple that was relatively recently opened for exploration to the public. This temple has a HUGE number of steeply inclined steps - some of which are stone and some of which are wooden. A large number of our group made the journey to the top.
We recovered over lunch and then visited Ta Prohm - another well photographed temple. This temple is famous for the large trees that have grown in, on, around and over the stone structure itself.
Again, enough from me and over to other members of the team:
"Angkor Wat was amazing! There was so much history there. Our tour guide Vuth taught us all about the four temples we visited. My favourite temple was Ta Prohm temple where Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie) was filmed as the ancient trees were beautiful."
- Whitney
"Angkor Wat showed us the amazing side of Cambodia, with many historically beautiful temples, giving us an insight into the history of Cambodia. With many stairs to climb, we made our way around the temples, fascinated by the intricate details that can be seen within the walls of the Angkor Wat temples. Our tour guide was amazing, as he shared his great knowledge of Cambodia's history, placing emphasis on the religious aspects of the temples. Overall our day was an amazing experience for all, as we made our way through the 4 magical temples."
- Bella, Zazney, Jessie-Rose, Tahlia, Hayley and Emily.
It's a big ask to get people up and about at 4:30am in order to be at the complex before sunrise, but that was our task. It was made easy by this fantastic team who have been eager to participate in everything put before them. On board and with Park passes in our hands we moved into position for the rising of the sun. The morning was a beautiful one - quite cool and with a slight breeze. The crowd was reasonably sized and the ever popular selfie stick had to be avoided in order to get a clear shot of the temple. I think the trick of the sunrise is to wait. Whilst daylight had broken, the best images came when the sun was rising just above the temple, rather than just above the horizon.
Following breakfast, we set out on exploring the main temple. Big thank you to our tour guide Vuth from Jayakiri Angkor Tour - check him out on Facebook if you are in Cambodia and tell him we sent you. Vuth has an amazing knowledge of the temples and is able to share this information in an easy to listen to way.
Second stop was at the Bayon Temple - this is the temple of the faces. 54 pillars, each with 4 faces - 216 faces in all. Luckily for us we had the opportunity to explore the temple as the upper area will be closed to visitors in the near future in an effort to preserve the temple. From here we visited Baphun - a temple that was relatively recently opened for exploration to the public. This temple has a HUGE number of steeply inclined steps - some of which are stone and some of which are wooden. A large number of our group made the journey to the top.
We recovered over lunch and then visited Ta Prohm - another well photographed temple. This temple is famous for the large trees that have grown in, on, around and over the stone structure itself.
Again, enough from me and over to other members of the team:
"Angkor Wat was amazing! There was so much history there. Our tour guide Vuth taught us all about the four temples we visited. My favourite temple was Ta Prohm temple where Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie) was filmed as the ancient trees were beautiful."
- Whitney
"Angkor Wat showed us the amazing side of Cambodia, with many historically beautiful temples, giving us an insight into the history of Cambodia. With many stairs to climb, we made our way around the temples, fascinated by the intricate details that can be seen within the walls of the Angkor Wat temples. Our tour guide was amazing, as he shared his great knowledge of Cambodia's history, placing emphasis on the religious aspects of the temples. Overall our day was an amazing experience for all, as we made our way through the 4 magical temples."
- Bella, Zazney, Jessie-Rose, Tahlia, Hayley and Emily.
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