Erin the Travel Girl: Siem Reap and Angkor

We just returned back to Malaysia a few days ago, after a short pleasant stay in Cambodia. We flew into Siem Reap, Cambodia and spent all of our 5 days there. The city of Siem Reap is gateway to Angkor World Heritage Site. A renowned location full of ancient temples built in the 8th to 12th centuries. Somehow most of the temples remain intact to this day, making it an amazing experience to visit them. On our second day in Siem Reap we visited some of the temples.

The first temple we visited was Bayon, the one shown above. Bayon was built under the rule of Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century. The temple of Bayon has 54 towers, with 4 faces on each side, covering the temple with 216 massive faces. Those huge faces are what makes Bayon famous and unique.

The next temple we visited was called Phimeanakas. Phimeanakas was built during Jayavarman V's time of rule. It was constructed in the late 10th to early 11th century. Phimeanakas is the tallest scalable temple in the Angkor Thom area.

We payed our final temple visit of the day to Ta Prohm. The mid 12th to early 13th century was when Ta Prohm was built. It was built in the regime of Jayavarman VII. Ta Prohm is my favourite temple in Angkor. Although it is not nearly the biggest, nor most spectacular temple it has a lot of character. Over the years nature has taken over Ta Prohm, sprawling massive tree routes through the temple. They have chosen to leave part of the temple unrestored, so it is still in the same condition they found it in...covered in trees with some boulders piled on the ground. It has a really jungle like atmosphere and in where its not restored its rather quiet and peaceful.

A couple days later we ventured out to Angkor again in our tuk-tuk. Tuk-tuk's are my favourite way of travel. They are a motorbike pulling a covered cart, with two bench seats facing each other inside. Unlike a taxi, you can feel what is around you. You can feel the breeze. You can smell the good and bad aromas. And you can see and hear the life of the locals.

At 5:00am we were out the door, anticipating the Angkor Wat sunrise. We arrived at Angkor Wat just in time for a magnificent sunrise. Hues of pink and purple flooded the sky as eager onlookers flashed their cameras-capturing a moment that connects now with centuries ago. I watched attentively as the sunrise made its way across the sky. The Angkor Wat sunrise in a moment in time that I have captured and will never let go. When the sunrise was finished we went inside Angkor Wat and explored. It was about 6:00am by that time so it was still relatively cool and not busy. Angkor Wat was built under rule of Suryavarman II in the early to late 12th century. Angkor Wat is the biggest and most famous of all the temples of Angkor. It's exterior architecture is absolutely stunning and much of the inside is coated in bas-reliefs. A bas-relief is literally a story carved into a wall. It is composed of pictures, some showing stories of daily life and others of battles and other important events.

We drove in the tuk-tuk for about an hour before reaching our next stop, Banteay Srei. Banteay Srei was built under Rajendravarman's rule in the late 10th century. It is a rather small and flat temple but its extremely intricate carvings make up for it. It is amazing how beautiful the carvings are, I would never have thought they were carved so long ago.

Our final stop in Angkor was at Banteay Samre. Banteay Samre was constructed in the mid mid 12th century under the rule of Suryavarman II. It has a very similar style to Angkor Wat, except its a lot smaller. Outside of this temple there were tons of little girls trying to sell us scarves and ornaments. "Only one dollar, only one dollar!" Was just about all I could hear.

Our time at Angkor was great and I'm glad we chose to go. Our next stop will be Kuala Lumpur and then we will go to either Singapore or the Perhentian Islands.

Here are some more photos of Angkor Wat and Siem Reap: