17 to 19 November 2009
Day 1 of exploring Angkor was done in a tuk-tuk with four german boys, spanning the afternoon seeing the main sites (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm).
Day 2 I only hired myself a motorbike with driver at nearly 4pm and was back at 6pm, having seen the further afield Banteay Srei, and Pre Nup at sunset.
Day 3 I rented a bicycle and headed out around 11am, but stopped at the Tonle Sap Exhibition on the way, and had a ‘massage by the blind’. But then I biked around the ‘big circuit’ of Angkor, stopping at quite a few temples I hadn’t seen on the first day, biking 35kms in total.
I didn’t see a sunrise, only one sunset, and didn’t make full use of my three day pass, but I’m happy with what I did see, it was beautiful. And so many people don’t even make it past one day, and I wasn’t expecting to!
I do recommend getting a three day pass, or at least spending more than one day in Siem Reap, and at least going one whole full day. And for those that like these things, you could easily spend a week here.
My favourite is Ta Phrom and Ta Som, where there are trees growing over the ruins. You can’t say nature has been let run it’s course, because a lot of the jungle has been cleared, just leaving the really cool looking trees/roots behind. But they make for great photos.
Banteay Srei was the most detailed. Unbelievable that they carve such details into stone, over a whole temple. And many of the other temples were similar, with so many walls of carvings, like huge Angkor Wat (the main temple).
