For any visitor to Siem Reap, watching the sun rise at Angkor Wat is a must. That was what we intended to do. Wake up by five in the morning and rush out to Angkor Wat and watch the sun rise before your very eyes. This was not to be. By the time we got up, it was already almost six in the morning and the sun had already rose. Too late for the sunrise.
Well, we still have a couple of days to try catch the sunrise so we proceeded to start our exploration of the temples. We started with the sprawling ancient city of Angkor Thom. We took our tuk-tuk to the archeological park entrance and paid our fees and even had our mug shots. It turns out to be very handy souvenir.
The sun hasn’t fully risen yet so it was still a little dark. The road we took was well paved and the the air was quite crisp. It seems that Siem Reap is a little elevated which will explain the cool air. There were hardly any tourists on the road right now, probably because everyone else is at Angkor Wat watching the sun rise.
We got to the South Gate of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was established by Jayavarman VII and was the last capital of the Khmer Empire. It is huge with a territory spanning several square kilometers. Very impressive considering that this was built several centuries ago.
The South Gate in front of us is the main entry point into Angkor Thom. There are four gates bordering Angkor Thom. However, the South Gate is the most well preserved with the others fallen into disrepair. The gate itself is quite imposing. With a huge face carved on it. There are debates as to how the face actually is. The bridge crossing the moat has impressive statues called asuras guarding both sides of the bridge. Some of the statues have unfortunately been decapitated by treasure hunters or maybe even locals seeking to earn a quick buck.
The moat itself is not really full of water all around, presumably because it wasn’t the rainy season. I could just imagine how much better it will look like with the moat full of water. It was interesting to see how the ancient Khmers made use of water in their engineering work. It provides an insight into the level of knowlege they have already aquired.
Upon passing through the South Gate is was only a small distance more into Angkor Thom and all the temple complexes it holds. However, our stomachs were already growling from not having breakfast. Fortunately, there is a small market with an eating place and we grabbed ourselves a simple breakfast of pork and rice while we soak in the views of the surrounding temples.
I’m not a big fan of history but seeing this really impresses me. I could not fathom how centuries ago without the help of modern technology, people have been able to build marvels like these. I think I’m going to enjoy this trip.
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