Adventures in Angkor Archaeological Park

It would be impossible to describe every temple we visited in the past 2 days so I'll highlight my favourites.

We began our journey on the short-circuit loop with a 5 am tuk tuk ride to sunrise over Prasat Kravan. Sadly, it was too cloudy to get a good view but we certainly beat the other tourists and the heat. It was a beautiful and peaceful walk through the quiet and the shade. The area around the temples is mainly sand so the park hires people, mainly elderly ladies, to constantly sweep sand and dust off the temple grounds. Otherwise, I suspect that the temples would be in an foot of sand after a month. Unfortunately, this also means there is a constant cloud of dust as you walk up to a temple.


Attempted sunrise



Gate entrance to Prasat Kravan. The face of Vishnu is carved in the stone.





Ta Prohm was memorable for the overgrown jungle taking over the stone walls. Huge trees towered over the stones as roots creeped their way in between crevaces. It is very much like a lost world inside and you can only imagine the state of the temple when the first explorers found it. Althought built in the early 1100s, the stones lie precariously on top of one another today and many are covered in lichen. Ta Prohm was built in honour of Jayavarman VII's mother who was thought to be the incarnation of wisdom. An inscription on the temple recorded 80, 000 people working at the temple either doing maintenance or attending to an official.  
Around 10 am, the tour group started arriving. We could have also hired a personal guide for a day. So far, we've heard English, French, German, and Chinese. Sometimes we sneakily tagged behind a tour for history tidbits but they always went through the temples so quickly that we were often left behind.

Inside Ta Prohm



Towering edifices of Ta Prohm

Columnade inside Ta Prohm

Ta Keo is a little further in and one of the highest temples. It is entirely made of sandstone but the temple was never fully constructed. We came upon this temple around 11 am so the sun was brutal on the climb up. Moreover, the steps are super steep and small so the climb up is purely on tip toe and the climb down is slow and cautious. The walls are not carved but the height of the temple is real marvel.

Ta Keo, 50 metre high and one heck of a climb