Temples of Angkor

Now that I am in front of my computer I realise it is extremely difficult to write anything about Angkor. All the words that come to our mind are superlatives, and I am afraid that any post related this place would be an endless praise of Khmer architecture. Hence, for once, I have put more pictures than text - please note I have chosen the pictures 'randomly' (in 2 mn), which should give you an idea on how beautiful that place is...


Yes, we did woke up at 5.30 in the morning to see the sunrise on Angkor Wat - the biggest temple (there are dozens) but not our favourite one. Note that the sunrise is overrated, unless you want to enjoy it with jam-packed buses of Japanese tourists...

In some of the temples, you can expect serious Indiana Jones stuff. A few of them have been deliberately left to mother nature, which provides the whole site with an adventurous dimension. This also means fantastic photo opportunities!

Many temples have very different styles - which is why a minimum of 3 days is necessary to see the whole site (even if like me you're not a fan of temples). All the surroundings of temples (lakes and forests) makes Angkor an amazing site, which fully corresponds t the adventurous cliche that you may have...

So What can we say? Never been to a place which is such splendeur...this was clearly the highlight of our trip(s) so far, and despite tourists, beggers and sellers, going to that place is a unique moment in one's life!

Travellers' advice: 3 days are necessary - use the first two to discover and the third one to visit again some temples you liked. Like for Taj Mahal, prices are outrageous (40$ for 3 days). To visit the temples, we advise to hire a bicycle (1$), which is more rewarding and much cheaper than a motorbike (8-10$) or Tuk tuk (10-16$). The site is vast and is 8 km away from Siam Reap: hence expect to do 25-30km per day. After such effort Siam Reap is a fantastic place to relax, with plenty of bars and guesthouses. Unsurprisingly, yet sadly, you will be harassed during your whole trip, but this is the price to pay to go there!