Angkor Wat and surroundings
Saturday, April 18th, 2009I believe a visit to Angkor Wat is the #1 thing to do in South East Asia. Being the 8th Wonder of the World (so I guess that would make the Plain of Jars the 5th) it is kind of hard to take a pass on. I am pretty temple, church, synagogue, etc. out so I probably wasn’t the most thrilled tourist ever to visit the place. The town of Siem Reap is the main lodging area with the Temple complex less than 20kms away. As this is the epitome of tourist sites in SE Asia and Cambodias shining star, it is heavily tourist based. The cost for the site also reflects that with a one day pass $20, three day $40, and one week $60. I opted for the one day. After so many ancient structures, and the pre-warning by everybody that the worst mistake you can make would be to try and see too much, the one day was fine. A very nice thing that they did do is allow you to purchase the ticket the evening before and allow you to enter for the sunset. Using that option I got the ticket and bee lined it to the sunset hotspot with a thousand other people. Not such a great idea and a pretty lackluster spot. The next day I followed a one day itinerary and visited a few places in the morning and then a few more in the evening. It was more than enough for me and made the day not so bad.
Here’s a few of the better shots.
The sunset spot. Peaceful huh.
You can see Angkor Wat from here although the sunset is the opposite direction. I didn’t quite understand that.
Proof I went and didn’t just download photos off the net and pocket the $20Us (although I thought about it).
Found this guy at the napping field.
Something to do with that Laura Croft movie. I haven’t seen the movie so not sure. This is a temple where the jungle has started taking over. Pretty neat structures with these root systems enveloping them.
I think it looks more like Pirates of the Caribbean Octopus head guy.
$20. There better be dancing girls.
Sasha standing in for Angelina Jolie in another movie shot location at the East Enterance.