A few kilometres north of Siem Reap lies Angkor, home to thousands of ancient temples including the largest religious structure in the world, Angkor Wat. The place attracts thousands of visitors every day and is arguably the main reason people visit Siem Reap. So, seeing as we were in the area, we thought we’d check it out.
There are a number of ways you can go around Angkor (Tuk Tuk, tour bus, segway) but we decided to opt for good old fashioned push bikes. So we rented a couple of bikes for $2 per day and set off down the long straight road heading north. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Angkor. We’ve seen a lot of temples on our travels so whilst they’re all amazing and beautiful, I was definitely hoping for something more from Angkor and we weren’t disappointed. It would be closer to describe Angkor as ancient ruins similar to something you’d see watching Indiana Jones. Which was, naturally, filmed on location in Angkor.
First up, the star of the show, Angkor Wat, a huge castle/temple surrounded by a huge moat. Inside is a maze of ancient ruins with ornate carvings.
Carvings…
The temple itself falls into the same category of the Pyramids when you find yourself asking, how on earth did they build all this back in ye olden times before JCB diggers and the like. Anyway, we spent about an hour at Angkor Wat before heading off to visit some of the other temples in the area. We soon realised that bikes were a bad idea! The area is massive and coupled with the blazing Cambodian sun beating down on us we soon agreed that a Tuk Tuk would have been a more suitable option. Never mind. We powered on through and went to 11 temples in total including the setting for the Angelina Jolie Tombraider movie, Ta Prohm…
We took far to many pictures to share on this blog but here are a few of our favourites…
These scary looking dudes marked the entrance to one of the temples…
Where the human sacrifices took place*
Human ready to be sacrificed*
Anyway, it was a very cultural day after which we were suitably knackered and ready for a chilled early night.
Cheers
Jack
*Human sacrifices may or may not have taken place. Evidence seems to suggest the latter as that kind of thing was more acceptable in South America but still, we’re just guessing at the end of the day.
