Day 45 - Sunrise at Angkor Wat!

Catching the sunrise over the famous temple of Angkor Wat meant getting picked up at 4.45am. These back-to-back early starts are killing us! This is supposed to be a vacation, right?

However, we didn't want to miss the sunrise at Angkor Wat so we dragged ourselves out of bed and off we went, in the pitch dark. It was slightly surreal going past a very commercial looking ticket and tour sales office and then walking for a few hundred yards towards the temple complex. Our guide directed us and found us a good spot to await first light. As you can see, the sunrise coming up over the iconic silhouette was a special moment and made up for the 4am wakeup call!

Our guide, Santhou, informed us that Angkor Wat is a Hindu - Buddhist temple (switching back and forth between cultures across the ages). It was built around 1150AD and covers over 400 acres. The city of Angkor was an ancient Khmer capital under the king, Suryavarman II, so hence the name Angkor Wat (temple). After falling into some disuse, (due to massive population reduction following various wars) the temple has been under restoration for many years and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. It pulls in more that 2.5 million tourists a year (several of whom I removed with my handy dandy clean up tool in the photos above)

Below are some shots of the inside of Angkor Wat. You can get an idea of the demise of the temple and weathering of the limestone over the years:

Santhou gave us a lot of history into the temple and its religious significance. We learned a lot about Hinduism in particular and about the various gods (Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Parvati, Surya are the five main gods). One particularly fascinating element were Santhou's descriptions of the stories told by many of the wall carvings that depict battles of long ago and forces of good and evil. Lots of monkey vs devil imagery, kings riding on elephants and boat battles (with crocodiles gobbling up those who were unfortunate to fall in).

During one of the major battles between Hindus and Buddhists, the Hindus removed or destroyed all of the Buddha statues. That is why you see so many with the heads removed.

On our way to the next temples that are part of the Angkor Thom complex Lauren said "Hey there's a monkey", first one we've seen here in Asia! There were in fact, quite a few all over the complex. And they're Macaques to be precise.

And who doesn't love a tree full of monkeys! Certainly not us!

The first Temple we visited in Angkor Thom was the Bayon Temple. This one was not as well-preserved as Angkor Wat having been abandoned for many years across its history and showing the effects of time. However, it still made for stunning scenery, and certainly different than Angkor Wat.

And our final temple for the day, (thank God because it was blisteringly hot), was the Ta Prohm Temple (dating back to the 12th century) was also showing its age with several enormous trees growing right through the temple buildings. In pop culture this site was used for one the Angelia Jolie "Tomb Raider" movies.

Two of the photos below demonstrate the refurbished ceiling. The ceiling blocks looked very haphazardly put together and we were keeping our fingers crossed that none of the stones fell down!

Then it was time to head back to beautiful Jaya House to enjoy the afternoon at the pool. Yay! In the evening, we had a delicious dinner in Siem Reap.

Cambodia Fun Facts:

• The government provides free education and healthcare

• Cambodia celebrates the New Year based on the lunar calendar. Guess when that is? Right now!