Index
Day 1: Flying
Day 2: Arrival
Day 3: Angkor Wat/Ta Prohm
Day 4: Preah Khan/Preah Palilay
Day 5: Return
Cambodia
4:40am pickup by Thierry from Angkor Travel Photography meant a boxed breakfast from the hotel for the short ride to Angkor Wat. Thierry proved an excellent guide, avoiding the worst of the crowds at the right-hand pond once inside, in favor of the left-hand pond and its views. We also got a bit distracted as the Angkor Wat staff had bacon cooking at their canteen nearby-- but alas, no bacon was offered.
The sunrise itself was not the most spectacular, but with rain finally returning to the region, the partially cloudy sky and the occasional puddle made for some interesting photo opportunities absent during more dry times. Being there before sunrise also meant being there ahead of most of the crowds, although you can clearly see the horde approaching not long after sunrise before crossing from the western gate into the main courtyard. With Angkor Wat long being fully cleared of vegetation, the focus is on the art and architecture, with the remains of elaborate wall carvings and statues everywhere you looked, including the impressively steep steps to the upper levels.
Describing such a large and important temple as Angkor Wat in any detail is impossible so I won't even try, but suffice it to say that for photography, Thierry and his colleagues are excellent guides. If you want a historic or cultural tour, they can do the job as well, but you may want to go with a guide who is more specialized in that area. The time was well-spent, and walking out the eastern gate was no less impressive than the morning, at least in terms of architectural beauty.
We drove through the Victory Gate at Angkor Thom-- absolutely worth the quick stop-- and had a quick breakfast outside of Ta Prohm before continuing. Unlike Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm is still quite overgrown and not fully reconstructed, lending it an entirely different sort of appeal. You can see how it inspires many adventure movies and continues to do so, and while some friends say they liked other temples much more than Angkor Wat. There is just enough debris laying around to compliment all the evidence that nature has tried aggressively to reclaim Ta Prohm in the recent past, and it leaves with more than one dramatic memory of a tree literally growing out of the top of a building.
Half-day tours of Angkor Wat are more like full days (nearly 8 hours) in terms of time; you leave so early you're back by lunch. Went to Sayam Seafood across the street from the hotel for a decidedly so-so lunch of fish skin soup, at least the green beans and fried pork were better than the soup.