The Explores Club takes on Angkor Wat

Our good friend Mark, from the states, recently came to visit and joined us along with another friend Cameron, who is currently traveling around the world, on our adventure to Cambodia. The journey to Ankgor Wat from Bangkok began Sunday afternoon on a bus with a very broken A/C for 5 hours to the border town Aranya Prathet.

After walking across the border into Poipet, Cambodia we grabbed a taxi to Siem Reap.

The taxi ride was 3 hours and only cost 48 USD (so cheap considering the distance and time). Once we finally arrived in Siem Reap we grabbed some food, found a place to stay, and secured a tuk tuk to take us around Angkor Wat the next day. We some how managed to find the guy with the most pimped out tuk tuk. Our driver, Mr. Batman, had completely decked out his tuk tuk, rims included, batman style and called it the Batmobile.

At 9 am sharp Mr. Batman arrived with his batmobile ready to show us the temples of Angkor. We started on the East side at the temple Banteay Kdei a Buddhist temple that was constructed in late 12th and early 13th century.

The second stop of the day was Ta Prohm. This temple was originally constructed as a Buddhist monastery in the mid 12th - early 13th century. Today the temple has only been partially restored from the jungle overgrowth making it a very picturesque place with huge fig and silk cotton trees growing on it. This temple is one of the more famous ones thanks to Lara Croft and the Tomb Raiders movie.

The third stop of the day was Angkor Thom, which is a 3 km2 walled and moated royal city. It was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire, and was constructed in the late 12th - early 13th century. Inside this ancient city is Bayon a spectacular Buddhist temple with 37 towers. Most of the towers have 4 huge faces carved in them, but whom the faces represent seems to still be somewhat of a mystery.

Eastern entrance to Angkor Thom

Bayon

Face on the towers of Bayon

The fourth stop of the day was the long awaited Angkor Wat. It was built in the early - mid 12th century for the Hindu God, Vishnu. It is absolutely enormous measuring 1 km square, and was one of the most breathtaking sites of the day.

In front of Angkor Wat

Inside of Angkor Wat

Inside Angkor Wat

Leaving Angkor Wat

The fifth and final stop of the day was at Phnom Bakheng, the first major temple to be constructed in the area during the late 9th - early 10th century. It was the perfect spot to enjoy beers during the sunset with views of Angkor Wat in the distance.

Angkor beers at the temples of Angkor

Sunset at Phnom Bakheng

Angkor Wat in the distance

Xoxo,

The Explores Club