Angkor Wat, once the center of the Khmer Kingdom, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a big deal. This means it is one of the most amazing archaeological wonders of the world. So, it’s no wonder this place is a bucket list destination!
Wendy and I fell in love with the symbolism of Angkor Wat—it is supposedly a miniature replica of the universe. An earthly, stone model of the cosmic world. The central tower rises from the center of the monument symbolizing the mythical mountain, Meru, situated at the center of the universe. Its five towers speak to the peaks of Meru. The outer wall mirrors the mountains at the edge of the world, and the surrounding moat to the oceans beyond.
Get Up and Go!
During our planning stage, hopping over from Bangkok/Thailand, to Siem Reap/Cambodia, just to see Angkor Wat, at times seemed a like crazy waste of time and money. But in the end, we knew we were probably not going to be out this way again any time soon, so duh we should go. Besides, both of us have had Angkor Wat on our individual bucket lists for years.
Doing and experiencing the highly-touted Ankor Wat at Sunrise was a no brainer. As photographers, this was an opportunity of epic proportions! Like Taj Mahal epic. So, yeah, of course we were up at the crack dawn, and down in the lobby of our hotel by 4:30am! The lovely people at the front desk greeted us with bows, “Good morning Miss Wendy and Farzana!” And then they handed us two packed breakfast baskets, to enjoy at the sunrise. How can you not have a good morning, with that sort of start to the day?
Hire A Driver
Tin, arrived at exactly 4:45am to take us over to the main event of our trip — Sunrise at Angkor Wat! Rose (our Personal Ambassador of Guest Happiness) had arranged Tin to be our driver for the day based on the good reviews we provided after the Pre Rup tour. He was a very polite young man of about twenty who grew up in the countryside, and moved to Siem Reap about three years ago. He leased his vehicle but hopes to own it outright very soon. Yep, Tin spoke pretty good English! Knew the temples inside out. An excellent Tuk-tuk driver – always safe and steady. We were lucky to have all of this awesome service provided for a mere $20/day.
As we rode in the pitch-dark, we were glad that we had bought our $37 day-pass tickets the night before. There were a couple of check-point stations where we had to show our passes.
Once Tin got as far as he could, he dropped us off and pointed the way that we needed to go. He told us to take our time and enjoy, he would be waiting over there, when we were done. Sweet.
Getting Situated
We walked over to the place where everyone was waiting behind a cordon, being guarded by some agents. We showed our tickets, as requested, to get into the line. After a bit of a wait we were allowed in. And like a herd with iPhone flashlights, we all made our way towards the viewing spot, guided by a smart and charismatic coffee vendor. “Number 007. License for coffee and hot choco-late! Aaangkor Whaat?! Come see me, ok? 007 – license to Coff-eee!”
Getting a spot right up front and bang center is no problem. So we do. A couple of rocks barricade us from the edge of the lotus moat that divides us from the magnificent temple. It is still pitch-dark, so we can’t really see much of anything. There are a lot of people arriving all around us. All along the left of us, is a wall of vendors selling coffee and all sorts breakfast items. Coffee sounds good, but it’s way too early, and I’m determined to keep our prime spot.
Waiting For The Sun
Waiting for the sunrise is a lot of standing around, for about an hour. It’s kinda like being at a concert. Everyone behind you is excited and trying to edge up closer, to get a better viewing spot of when the sun rises on the stage of Angkor Wat!
The meaning of Angkor Wat in Khmer, is “City of Temples.” As a temple complex, it is the largest religious monument in the world, with the site measuring approximately 402 acres. It was originally constructed as a Hindu temple devoted to Lord Vishnu, designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall, to represent ocean around a mountain. Gradually, toward the end of the 12th century, Angkor Wat was transformed into a Buddhist temple. By the 15th century Phnom Penh had become the capital and Ankor Wat fell into neglect. Today, Angkor Wat is the country’s prime attraction for visitors. As a symbol of Cambodia, the Angkor Wat is featured on the national flag.
Sunrise Slideshow | Swipe & Enjoy
Every Sunrise is Amazing
A lot of people, based on the banter and comments swirling around us, were expecting some epic Instagram-perfect, dramatic, golden ball of a sunrise…. Unfortunately, that never happened. Instead it was soft and subtle purple, pink and yellow cloud show. Sorta un-dramatic and anti-climatic even. However, without all the crazy and perhaps unrealistic expectations… light rising up over the temple and slowly revealing to us the sheer physical beauty, in shape, scale and design, is pretty fantastic! The reflections on the water, opening up. The lotus, slowly coming into color. Heck, just having this experience of awakening to the morning light, at this place in this moment, is surreal!! It’s a dream come true!
Once morning had officially broken, the crowd began to disperse from the lotus moat, and headed towards the main entrance.
Angkor Wat Slideshow | Swipe & Come Along
Monkeying Around
Was it worth it? Absolutely. The privilege to be able to walk through this site, and to be able to actually clamber around, to touch history, the past, is amazing. Regardless of crowds or whatever.
On the way out of the complex, we finally saw some temple monkeys, up close and personal. The Angkor Wat Macaques are super cute and chill, for the most part. People seemed to be offering the monkeys apples. Some of them were hungry and played along and posed for pictures, while others just sat in meditation, or observed the humans.
It was sweltering hot at around 10am, when we met up with Tin. We told him we wanted to go back to the hotel to chill out for a while and then meet up at 1pm to go check out the huge faces of the Bayon Temple.
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