In the mere heart of cambodian jungle lies s a treasure beyond any traveller's imagination.
The ruins of a grand civilization founded in early XIXth century were forsaken for hundred of years until a French explorer accidentally stumbled upon them on an excursion of an utterly different purpose. I can only imagine his shock. What he found were the remains of Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat.
Angkor Thom was a city, the last capital of The Khmer Empire and Angkor Wat was it's most sacred temple. Angkor Thom in its golden age was the biggest and most advanced city in the world - occupying over 200 hectares with 1 milion inhabitants. It was fortified and sheltered residences of priests, monarchies, officials of the palace and military. Most structures were wooden so they decayed with time, nevertheless its stone walls, temples and monuments survied until this day and look more impressive than pyramids or mastabas. A royal palace within the city was home of Khmer Kings for centuries.
The empire was prosperous, so what happened?
It was abandoned in the beginning of XVIth century and the Khmer Empire perished, probably due to Ayutthayan invasions which were reported to devastate Angkor. The Empire was forgotten and Angkor decayed slowly for 200 years, untouched by humans. Today Angkor Wat is an undeniable symbol of Cambodia and definitely its most frequently visited site. It was what drove us to Cambodia as well.
There's a custom that one should see sunrise over Angkor Wat. I wasn't very fond of that at first but I am genuinely glad that my friends pushed the idea of getting up at 4 am and cycling to the temples to arrive at site just before sunrise.
The sight was breathtaking. The massive temple of Angkor Wat towering over its surrounding in subtle morning mist. It was just a silhouette on the sky that was changing its colours rapidly as a preludium to the rising sun.
Well, there was a massive downside to all this magic. Cambodian people tried to make it as pompous as possible and make the most profit as possible, you could feel a commercial vibe here and there that was contradicting with the natural serenity of the ruins. I can't really blame them, they are clearly doing their best to get out of poverty and to prosper.
But you know what was the worst? Crowds, crowds, crowds...
It's honestly hard to enjoy this nearly spiritual experience when you are cramped with three hundred other tourists. As a short person I looked at the temple mostly through the screens of smartphones that people put up to take pictures. I did take a few shots myself, but when I saw that there were three hundred people taking the exact same shot at the same time the uniqueness of the moment had vanished immediately.
I do not try to deny the magnificence of Angkor Wat at dawn. This is totally worth seeing despite the crowds and I can't imagine skipping this point of the trip.
The complex is huge, so to move between temples we drove by rented bikes. It was tiring but we were completely independent from any tuk-tuk drivers or anyone else.
First proper temple we came across was Banteay Kdei. It was one of the few temples that are available for sightseeing in exactly the same form as they were discovered in XVIIIth century. No major restorations.
Next was one of my favourites - Ta Phrom Temple. It had enormous trees growing over the ruins merging into organic patterns, it made me feel like a character from an adventure film. Actually, Tomb Rider featuring Angelina Jolie was shot in this temple.
Ta Keo Temple was the one that followed.
It was just amazing, I can't even tell the names of most temples which we passed because there were just so many of them.
Then we moved on to Angkor Thom, the fortified city I described earlier. With a carved stone gate the complex contained Phimeankas, The Elephant Terrace, The Terrace of the Leeper King and more.
Bayon Temple is one of the most stunning, it's massive with many towers.
Last but not least - Angkor Wat. We decided to sightsee this temple in the end in order to avoid the crowds. Well, we didn't avoid the crowds really and I was dead tired after rushing through the previous ones, so maybe this wasn't so smart after all. Angkor still amazed me with how big, tall and complex it was. The highest pinnacle reaches over 200 meters, can you imagine?
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