After a retiring early the previous evening, we were up and ready to go for our 5am tuk tuk pickup by Pi. Breakfast didn't open until 6am so we just loaded up our water bottles and settled in for the predawn ride to Angkor. Our tickets were punched for our second day at the entrance gate and on we went. Even before sunrise there was still a lot of hub bub happening in the parking area. Some people chose to view the sunrise from the out banks of the moat. We crossed the pontoon bridge and headed for the inner courtyard. Many people had already taken up position in front of the two ponds that flanked the central walkway to the main Temple.

Unfortunately, today wasn't going to be a "golden hour" kind of day. It was overcast and a little misty on the drive in. We wouldn't be getting the money shot. We did our best, though:


Predawn


Dawning


Central Courtyard


Reflection


More Wildlife

Making Our Exit

We made our exit back over the moat and were on our way to the next Temple by 7am. This turned out to be a great move as there was already a large crowd at Angkor Wat and we'd have little competition viewing some of the lesser known Temples.

As the other Temples didn't open until 7:30am, we had some time to kill. We chilled for 20 minutes on a landing overlooking the massive Srah Srang. Apparently this is a reservoir that contains water during the rainy season. Our trip coincided with the tail end of the dry season so we saw a massive field with cows grazing and a fisherman in the very center net fishing in the small pool of water that remained.


Srah Srang

We next headed to a series of Temples that were both unique and awe-inspiring in their own individual ways. It became a bit of a blur keeping which Temple was which so I'll leave the photos uncaptioned. We visited Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Ta Nei, and Ta Keo.





































After a few hours on the move, we were both a little wiped and I needed to get my wife off her feet due to her injury. We requested to head back into town and stopped at Starbucks on the way in for the obligatory Cafe Americano.



Starbucks

Then, it was back to the hotel for the tail end of breakfast service. While the portions were small, remember that we were able to load up on the buffet in addition to what was available on the menu.



Her Crepe


My Waffle

After breakfast it was time for a nap. Yes, we're old. Yes, we like naps. We woke up in the early afternoon and took advantage of the free massages offered by the hotel's spa. I, for some reason, chose the non-oil massage. This entailed me changing into a set of pajamas and I received my rub down fully dressed, wrist to ankles covered.

After getting ourselves together, my wife went off in a tuk tuk to take a local yoga class. She has done this in many places throughout the world (Iceland, China, Greece, Tremblant, Italy, etc) and insists the language barrier is never an issue. I commend her for that as I can't even watch a movie with subtitles. I roamed around the Night Market that surrounded our hotel looking for (barely) legal football kits for my beloved Manchester City. I struck out but was amazed at the optimism displayed by some of the merchants in thinking I could, at 6'3/200lbs, fit into an adult small. Bless their hearts, as they say down south.

After meeting back up with my wife, we sat down for some dinner at the hotel restaurant. This was followed by a local music/singing/dancing show. The cast was wonderful and it was a great ending to our trip to Cambodia to be able to witness such an authentic cultural performance.





With that, we turned in in order to back and get ourselves ready for our 6am hotel departure the following morning.

Siem Reap is a very interesting place. It's economy is obviously driven by the visitors to the Temples. It seems to be a place caught between being a village and being a city. I say this with very positive intentions. It still feels "local" and "authentic". While some of the big commercial entities are visible (hello Starbucks!), it still has a real world, organic vibe. The fact that there WASN'T a Hilton there for me to stay in made me happy. The people in the town were absolutely amazing. And not in the way that they know they need you to buy that counterfeit tee shirt from them. It was just the way they were. Tuk tuk drivers, restaurant workers, our hotel staff, all great interactions. I hope to visit Siem Reap again in the near future and without, possibly, even hitting the Temples. Nothing but positive thoughts about this gritty, vibrant village/town/city.

Next up: The Journey To Bali, Indonesia