Siem Reap Archives ~ Mutual Horizons

September 8 2017

The lost temples of Angkor Wat

Tobias Stricker Local Guide Angkor Wat, Cambodia, Damdek, Siem Reap, Temples

Exploring the temple complex of Angkor Wat – Travel log no. 92

In the morning I left Bangkok to drive to Cambodia. On the bus I met two other Germans. Tim and Sven are also from Kiel really close to my home town. Together we planned on discovering the temple complex in Siem Reap the next day. Crossing the borders from Thailand to the Kingdom of Cambodia was real chaos. Not only the driving direction changed. Cars were replaced with people carrying there gods on carts. The Cambodian borders seemed to be more dirtier and dustier. Young kids were begging on the streets for food.

Finally we made it to Sieam Reap. After checking into our hostels we found a Tuk Tuk driver who agreed with us to drive us around the whole day. We planned to meet up at 4:30 am to watch the sunrise. Of course I didn’t wake up on time. I just didn’t hear the alarm. Much likely because I was still deaf from my diving. Luckily my friends kicked me out of bed still in time so that I didn’t miss out on this beautiful spectacle.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia — The sun slowly rises behind the main temple – Angkor Wat.

Siem RIep, Cambodia — After passing by the River and the outer gates we got our first site of the temple.

Angkor Wat, Kingdom of Cambodia — In addition a view from one of the inside lakes.

Cambodia — Of course something had to go wrong. Sven disappeared right in the beginning after he didn’t get in because of in-proper dressing. Luckily we found him later on inside the temple.

Art, Angkor Wat — The main temple is in the best condition. Thus the wall paintings and art are in great shape. Here you can see 4 dancing women.

Group, Angkor Wat — Finally a group picture in front of Angkor Wat. Tim, Sven, Mr Bond (Our Breakfast Chef) and I

After exploring the main temple we checked out the rest. Unfortunately there are just so many temples that it is impossible to see them all. Here are some of my favorites:

Bridge, Angkor Wat — On the way to Bayon the next bigger temple we had to pass this guarded bridge.

Bayon, Cambodia — Bayon temple is consisting out of many faces.

Gate, Bayon — Furthermore these gates in form of a human are pretty common around Bayon.

Temple, Angkor Wat — Thirdly a temple with a long walk.

View, Angkor Wat — Also with a beautiful view.

Mother nature, Angkor Wat — Slowly mother nature is taking back the place.

Tree, Angkor Wat — Another example of this. Trees are growing tall already in most of the hallways.

Bond, Angkor Wat — Mr Bond, our Tuk-Tuk Driver recovering in his hammock from the early morning shift.

Tree Temple, Angkor Wat — Well, if you already feel tired after seeing so many temple you can imagine how we felt around 4 pm.

At 4 pm we actually had to break up the expedition. We didn’t even see half of all the temples but we were just too tired after exploring for 12 hours.

My second day I spend on renting a scooter to explore a forgotten temple two hours away from Siem Reap. Driving the motorbike in Cambodia was probably one of the craziest things I have done. Never the less I still enjoyed it and I got to see the local civilization.

The leftovers of Prasat Beng Mealea the snake Temple in jungle.

Art, Cambodia — Some stone art next to the temple site.

Driving home through the rice fields and small villages was just amazing. I stoped by a small village called Damdek for dinner.

Damdek, Cambodia — Main street of Damdek, the kids are coming back from school. People here are nice but a little bit shy.

Market, Damdek — Finally the local market in Damdek. Here I had what I identified as a chicken heart and liver ginger curry below a tent.

In the end I left Cambodia again traveling back to Bangkok and from there to Hanoi in Vietnam. I cannot wait to share my adventures from this beautiful and communistic country.