Day 15 Monday 6th April Angkor Wat and other Temples

We had a fabulous day which started very early. A 5 am pickup had been organised by our guide as we were going to visit the temple of Angkor Wat to see dawn and then the sun rise. We were driven to the temple and then had a 15-minute walk in the dark, to the area near the temple where we would observe both dawn and then the sun rising over the temple. It was quite beautiful, the colours, reflections etc. We returned to our hotel for breakfast before once again returning to the Angkor Wat temple.  Our guide had an incredible knowledge of the history of both the temples and the history of Cambodia itself. There are many temples located around the area, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was hard to keep up with all the information, but I will try to summarize my understandings. The temples were built from about the 10th century to the 13th century, by various kings to worship and leave offerings for the gods. It seems that over the years, the religions changed, merged, split and so depending on which religion was represented by the king, the temple being built would reflect that religion. The temples were left to be reclaimed by the jungle after a few hundred years, when people moved further south. The biggest, Angkor Wat is classed as a Buddhist temple but was once a Hindu Temple. We enjoyed our walk around this temple although the weather was not kind to us. It was 38 ° and very high humidity. We were all soaked through by the time we had climbed to the highest point we could in Angkor Wat and were looking forward to lunch in a nearby, air-conditioned restaurant. Following lunch, we visited another magnificent temple, Ta Prohm. This temple had a rather interesting appearance with large trees and jungle roots intertwined with the ruins. Some of the temples are being restored but this is a huge job. The heat continued and even our guide said this was a very hot day for this time of the year. We visited, two more temples Angkor Thom and Bayon Temple and stopped for photos but didn’t go walking around. We thoroughly enjoyed this day and once we had returned, spent the afternoon relaxing in the pool.




















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