This sunrise tour included transportation and a guide for 10 USD1 each. It’s a very early start with the tour agency picking us up from our hotel at 4.40 AM. We were taken in a 4×4 buggy to the main road where the tour bus was waiting for us. Once everyone had arrived, it was then a 10-minute drive to the ticket hall for the Angkor Archaeological Park. Some people had already been on other tours so they already had a multi-day ticket. Those who needed to buy went with the tour guide who helped everyone purchase their tickets. Since we had another full-day tour the next day, we purchased the 3-day ticket for 62 USD. They take your picture at the ticket office which is printed on your ticket to ensure you don’t sell the ticket to someone else. Also, this is the only place you can buy tickets for Angkor, so be wary of your hotel or any tour agency offering to sell Angkor tickets. Once everyone bought their tickets, we headed to Angkor Wat which was about 5 minutes away. We arrived at the car park at around 5.20 AM. By now there was daylight but the sun was yet to come up above the temple. From the car park, you cross over a floating bridge and then walk about 5 minutes towards the temple.
We arrive at 2 ponds and everyone is gathered around the pond on the right side. This is because the sunlight first hits the pond on the right side. We went to the pond on the left first to take some pictures and then joined everyone at the pond on the right side. The sunrise was finished at around 6.20 AM and we re-grouped with the guide to head up to the temple. We start by walking the perimeter where there are many carved murals. The guide explains the murals and gives a history of who built the temple as well as its purpose. When we get to the back of the temple, we walk inside into the main square. From here, we get a great view of the temple, perfect for pictures. At around 7.45 AM, the guide says we can walk into the main temple and tells us to be back down at the main square by 8.15 AM. Inside the temple, you may come across some monks who look after the temple. As the complex is a sacred site, appropriate clothing should be worn. Since the weather is so hot and humid, the site officials are fine with shorts and t-shirts as long as knees and shoulders aren’t visible. The views from the top of the temple are incredible and the detail in the stonework is amazing. After walking around and taking pictures, we re-grouped with the guide.
At this point, we asked him if that was the end of the tour and he said yes and that they were going to stop somewhere for breakfast. We wanted more time at the site so we stayed and went our separate way. We later found out that the guide meant it was the end of the tour of Angkor Wat only. After breakfast, the tour was going to take us to Angkor Thom and then Ta Phrom. After we split from the group, we made our way to Angkor Thom. We exited through the car park where there are some street vendors. It was getting very hot so we bought some water there. We then walked north along the main road for 15 minutes and stopped at the temple of Phnom Bakheng. It was currently being restored but still open to visitors and it was a 10-minute walk uphill. Once at the temple, there are some great views and we found out that it’s a popular spot to catch the sunset. We then continued north on the main road and reached the South Gate. Next to this gate, you can find a smaller temple called Baksei Chamkrong. It was a quick stop here for pictures before we crossed the bridge decorated with carved stones that goes to the South Gate.
It was then another 15-minute walk to reach Angkor Thom. On the way, there were many monkeys and we crossed paths with 2 elephants. Once at Angkor Thom, we found some shade at the temple of Bayon and rested for about 30 minutes before exploring the temple ruins. This temple had many more towers than Angkor Wat although they were much smaller. What was interesting about this temple is that the many towers were shaped like the Buddha’s face. After about 10 minutes of roaming around, we headed to Baphuon. This temple has a long pathway leading up to it and several high steps to get to the top. You get some great views of the surroundings from the top. We rested here for about 15 minutes before heading to the exit which goes around the back of the temple. At the back, there is the face of a sideways Buddha on the temple walls. There are some information panels here explaining the difficulties of restoring this part of the temple.
The trail curves around the back and takes you to Phimeanakas. This temple has a pyramid-like shape with several animal figures decorating its edges. There is also a rectangular pond next to the temple. From here, we planned to start heading west towards Ta Phrom. However, someone who we thought was a park official said there was another temple a little further north. We decided to check it out and the person followed us giving us information on things we came across. We found this quite bizarre and realized he was trying to impose himself as our guide. We told him we didn’t want a guide and he wanted us to pay him for what he showed us which was practically nothing so we refused. It was a very uncomfortable experience but he left us alone. We continued west rather than going to the temple the person mentioned which was quite a big detour. After about 10 minutes walking west, we came across the Terrace of the Elephants. We walked around here for a bit and then continued to North Khleang.
We went through the ruins at North Khleang and then found the main road which goes to Victory Gate. After about 10 minutes down this road, we saw a sign for East Top Temple. It was a 5-minutes off the main road and not worth the detour since it’s quite small and mostly in ruins. Once we got back to the main road, it was a 5-minute walk to Victory Gate. This gate is shaped like the Buddha’s head and you can climb up the side to get some pictures. We took a 15-minute break here before crossing the bridge. At the other end of the bridge, there were 2 more temples. Thommanon to the north side of the bridge and Chau Say Tevoda on the south side. We took some quick pictures and then continued on the main road to Ta Keo.
This was a large temple with high walls and very steep steps. We took some rest here and after about 15-minutes, I saw grey clouds coming in. I quickly went around the temple to take pictures, and after about 10 minutes, it started to pour down. The amount of rain was incredible, and the ditch around the perimeter of the temple quickly filled up with water. It didn’t look like the rain was going to go away any time soon so we crossed over to the main road to see if there were any tuk-tuks. We waited for about 10 minutes and didn’t see any tuk-tuks pass by and since we had raincoats and a waterproof backpack, we decided to walk over to Ta Phrom which is a bigger temple.
It took about 15 minutes to walk there and we took refuge under the arc by the entrance since there were still no tuk-tuks. At this point, we were about to walk back to the main entrance and went to check the parking lot for tuk-tuks once more. There were only tour buses here but luckily a tuk-tuk came by and offered to take us back downtown for 5 USD. We agreed and it took about 35 minutes to reach Pub Street. We went to grab some food in the area before heading back to the hotel to get some rest.
