There are places that have the power to give unique moments, which will always be recorded in your memory. The Angkor temples They are one of these. In it the union of devotion, faith, art and creativity is perfect. Today we are going to tell you how to visit Angkor in backpacking plan: yes ... get ready to pedal!
The history of Angkor is the history of the Khmer empire that dominated in much of Southeast Asia between the seventh and fifteenth centuries. Over these years, hundreds of temples that have been recognized today as the 8th wonder of the world and that in 1992 were declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
We start our day with the odious sound of the alarm clock at 4.30am followed by the pedaling during the 7km that divided us from our destination. This time it wasn't like in Bagan, we weren't the only early risers ... flocks of Chinese, Japanese, Americans, Europeans, Australians were going to admire the sunrise in Angkor Wat, yes ... all in tuk tuk, cars, buses and vans.
The early bird reward has been unparalleled, we were already possessors of the memory of one of the most magical sunrises in the world! We put the batteries because the day is going to be very long and we begin to explore the first temple: the great Angkor Wat.
After two hours we ride our faithful bikes and start the circuit that will take us to visit about 10 temples, although without a doubt the two that most impress are the Prohm and the Bayon. The first is a really peculiar temple: it is the only one that decided to leave as well as the French explorers who "discovered" the city of Angkor found it. In it to the majesty of art, the immortal force of nature is added: secular and giant roots clothe the temples and it is difficult not to feel inside a movie!
The bayon temple It is perhaps the most emblematic of all since in it you can observe and feel observed by 200 faces, each one directed to one of the 4 cardinal points, and each one different from the other, although with a common denominator: a placid and calm smile .
Angkor was the largest pre-industrial settlement: 500,000 people lived here. This is believed to be thanks to its incredible and advanced water pipeline system, which paradoxically seems to have also been the cause of its decline: when it began to fail people began to leave and this together with the numerous wars caused the city to be completely abandoned. Although it was never a ghost town: Angkor Wat continued alive thanks to some monks who settled in it.
Another curiosity is the coexistence of Buddhist and Hindu templesThere are even some whose construction began with a Buddhist king and ended with a Hindu king or vice versa. It has been an intense day, in total we traveled something like 30km but go the best physical exercise of our lives! Angkor is undoubtedly one of the places in the world that we should all visit, at least once in a lifetime.
We leave Siem Reap and his beautiful Angkor but we are not sad and you know why?… WE GO TO THE BEACH OH OH OOOOOH OH!
USEFUL INFOTO VISIT ANGKOR WAT
Transport. How to get to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh?
We arrived at Siam Reap from Phnon Penh with the Pnhom Penh Sorya bus company, the ticket purchased directly at the station cost us less than $ 5.
Accommodation. Where to sleep in Siem Reap?
We stayed at the Cambodia Backpackers Hotel: It has free pick up from the station, it cost us 8 dollars with bathroom and wifi. Good location next to the central market bridge. Next door there is a shop that rents a bike, we took two from 3pm to 8pm the next day and paid a total of 2 dollars (with free water).
Visit to the temples of Angkor
We opted to visit the temples in ONE day, the entrance costs $ 20 and allows you to enter the enclosure from 16.45 to see the sunset and is valid for the entire next day. 3-day tickets cost $ 40 and one-week tickets $ 60.
To the north of Bayon there is an area with restaurants: you can haggle the food, which is very expensive, we paid half of what I put on the menu.
Renting a tuk tuk for the whole day costs around $ 12. Here we leave you the map of our tour.
