Angkor Wat Sunrise Tour
And Whether it's a Good Idea or not.
If you're in Cambodia, you're probably mainly there to see the 7th man made Wonder of the World, Angkor Wat, one of the largest temple complexes in the world. It's something you definitely have to see, whether it's at sunrise or not. It's definitely more worth getting a guided tour through your hotel or hostel, because the Tuk Tuks charge the same amount just for transport there and back. They don't give you an informative tour, plus they don't have aircon.
If you book a tour with your accommodation, you’ll get picked up around 4:15am to make it to Angkor wat for the most beautiful sunrise setting you’ll ever see, but only if you’re lucky enough for a clear day. Sadly we were not. If there’s no sunrise on the day you go, you can always use your day pass to go again for sunset. It’s only about 20 minutes from the city centre.
The bus first stops at the ticket office halfway, where you can buy your 1 day pass for $37 US, a 3 day pass for $62 or a 7 day pass for $72. From there you’ll get dropped off to see the main temple, Angkor Wat, built between the 9th and 12th century. You can walk in and around the 3 stories of the incredible remains of this ancient Buddhist place of education and worship.
Inside Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat was originally dedicated to god Vishnu, a Hindu God. It has since been converted into a Buddhist Temple in the 12th century.
From Angkor Wat we moved on to an area of temples where incredible trees such as the Bayan Tree have grown in and around the remains, as their roots have covered the surfaces and create interesting landscapes. You’ll see many of the tree covered temples as you wonder around, but the most popular ones are the Tomb Raider Tree where the movie was filmed, and Spunt tree, in the picture below.
Spunt Tree
The Hindu king changed this area of temples from Buddhist to Hindu by removing all the Buddhist imagery from the carvings.
Next - Ta Keo Temple, dedicated to the Shiva God - all the temples are dedicated to individual Buddhist or Hindu gods. You can climb up the enormously steep case of ancient stairs to see the view from above. There's also a restaurant across the road where your tour guide will let you stop for lunch, so don't stress too much about packing food.
Final Stop - Bayon Temple
By this time we were absolutely completely buggered due to the lack of sleep and the unbearable heat, we were so thankful to be at our final stop of the magically exhausting day of temple hunting through the 6km radius of Siem Reap's most famous attraction. The Bayon Temple however, is absolutley exquisite. The iconic faces of Buddha carved out of solid sandstone structures make for a memorable walk around the historic remains.
Bayon Temple
The reason I incinuate that the sunrise tour might not be the best idea is purely because of the fact that you aren't always guarunteed an actual sunrise during wet season (between May and October). Waking up at 3:30am and being exhausted for the entire trip might not be worth the chance of seeing no sunrise and then walking around for the next 8 hours in the sweltering heat and having to cover up your shoulders and knees therefor dripping with sweat. You might be better off going in the afternoon and seeing it at sunset instead, where you can have a relaxing sleep in and actually feel refreshed throughout the day. But that was just our opinion!