Sunday 24 July 2016.  Photos and Videos.
Highlights: The Amazing Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm Wat, Bayon Wat

Today was the big day of the G Adventures – National Geographic tour, the chance to visit the famous Angkor Wat and other amazing temples.  Today and tomorrow is all about the temples as this 17 day tour rapidity draws to a close.

We started with the best and most famous temple, Angkor Wat by leaving at our hotel at 4.30 am and purchasing our three day pass.  This allowed us to get to Angkor Wat for the sunrise along with a few hundred other enthusists looking for the perfect spot.  Check out the video here.

The day was full of surprises, lots of water and salt to recover in the humidity, a visit to too other Wats (Temples) and a return to Angkor Wat minus half our tried / unwell group for more in-depth exploring after getting breakfast and a shower.

The highlight for me was exploring Angkor Wat in the morning with Sarah and finding a monk for a special blessing and later in the day climbing to the highest level allowed on level two and taking in the scale of this magnificant temple, built by 500,000 people (half local population at the time) over 37 years.

Angkor Wat abourt 1 hour after sunrise

Sarah receives her special blessing , Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Our second Wat / Temple of the day was Ta Prohm Wat which some people call the Tomb Raider Temple due to it’s use in the movie of the same name.  This temple has hundred year old trees growing out of and though the walls.

Ta Prohm Wat or Tomb Raider Temple

In the afternoon we finished todauy’s templet visits with Bayon Wat which has many hidden faces looking down at you.  Built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon stands at the centre of Angkor Thom.

Bayon Wat

At 2.30 pm we had finished for the day with the magnificent temples and after a later lunch I decided that was the end of today and stayed at the hotel writing postcards and recovering for the trekking around temples during the day.  Others I the group did a ATV ride which looked great.