Angkor temples at sunset

[juliet]

Got to Siam Reap this afternoon, & after some kerfuffle with hotel rooms have fetched up with an enormous room in a place at the end of a impressively potholed dirt road. I discovered that you can get your ticket for the temples the evening before (thus avoiding the queues the next morning around sunrise), so hired a bike and pottered up off the road.

Accidentally got into a small race with four of the local youth also on bikes, which was entertaining (well: they overtook me one by one, and then were just in front of me and grinning at me in a cheerful fashion, and what was I supposed to do? I was actually surprised by how categorically I dropped them; obviously I'm not quite as unfit as I thought I was getting).

After some debate bought the 3-day ticket (I can only stay for 2 days, but it's 2 x the 1-day price), which it transpired also meant that you get an hour that evening for free. So I headed up to Angkor Wat for an hour around sunset. It really is fantastic, incredibly impressive; I'm really looking forward to going back tomorrow. (This does mean I'll only get half a day in Bangkok, but never mind.)

(There is a chap at the computer next to me who is saying, oh, $40, I don't think I'll bother. Crazy. Mind you, he seems to be in a bad mood generally.)

Coming back along the impressively potholed road on the bike in the dark was exciting, in a slightly splashy way. It's definitely the rainy season here, although I've managed so far not to get caught in it.

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Hopefully my letter will have got to Bangkok by now!

[orwhoeveriam.livejournal.com]

Did you know that 50% of foreign tourists in Cambodia visit Siam Reap?
...Wikipedia and I get along altogether too well.

[juliet]

TBH I'm surprised it's not higher - it's certainly got the reputation as The Place To Go in the country. (Not unjustified, either.)

[htfb.livejournal.com]

An important hint is to find the times of day when the guide-books tell you that the particular temples are at their best, and avoid them carefully. For example, Phnom Bakheng is best at sunset---and if you are there at any other time you can have it more or less to yourself.

Banteay Srei is worth going to, though we took a tuk-tuk; it was quite a lot further than our bikes would have been fun for.

[juliet]

Yeah, I'd like to see Banteay Srei, but had concluded after today that cycling wouldn't be fun. I'll see how the time goes tomorrow.

I was at Phnom Bakheng around 8.30 this morning and it was deserted. And gorgeous. Mind you, Angkor Wat at sunrise was middling busy but not horrendously so; I guess there's a limited number of people prepared to get up before 5am however pretty they're told the view is!

Came home before sunset today (knackered!); not sure where I'll go tomorrow evening. Any suggestions?

[wezpez.livejournal.com]

I've sent you a letter in Bangkok too! Looks like a trip to the Post Office will definitely be in order next week.

[juliet]

Just hoping that they've *gotten* there - stuff missing at both Hanoi & Phnom Penh, sadly :-(