We had a very smooth bus ride up to Siem Reap, absolutely no complaints and our hotel was a lovely boutique hotel with fantastic pool. We had come in to the town avoiding the main touristy area and were initially a little disappointed with what we thought Siem Reap had to offer. However on discovering Pub Street and the surrounding roads we were much happier.
Mr Sun was our guide for Angkor Wat, we decided to do the sunrise experience so up we got a 4.30am to be collected at 5am. It’s a lovely time for the alarm to go off and you consider for a few moments if it will really be worth it! We got our breakfast box from the hotel and travelled to the outside of the temple, the largest in the world and waited. It was pitch black for over half an hour as we sat their next to the moat with Mr Sun explaining we needed to be early to get a good view. Mr Sun, by name but not by nature, headed off for breakfast and left us for a while to contemplate had we been scammed by the little bugger!
Mr Sun returned and the shadows of the Angkor Wat came into view. We were so very lucky that the day was so clear, amazing blue skies and breathtaking sunrise over the temple. How glad we were to have sacrificed sleep.
We visited lots of other nearby temples including the one used in the film tomb raider. Many have trees growing well over 200 years old into the ruins. As John Barrowman once said it was “fabulous”
Asia and Australia 2020 