Can't believe just last week, I was chilling out my couch at home, watching The Ellen show, and now I'm here with my bike at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Oh I love just how spontaneous Life can be! Haha!
It's now 5:00am, the city is still sound asleep, as I quietly pushed my bike out of the hotel, before waking everyone up with some desmo bass the minute I started my bike... hahaha, all ready to head for my dream destination.
The hotel was just 8km away from Angkor Wat, but first, I had to purchase my Angkor Admission Pass at the Ticket Office. They have moved and their most updated location is here.
The distance between the Ticket Office and Angkor Wat is about 7km.
The Ticket Office opens from 4:30AM - 5:00PM.
There are English-speaking staffs ready to assist, so just tell them you want a 1-day pass or 3-day pass. You have to bring your Passport along for identification purpose.
Got my 1-day pass, cost is USD$20, and off I go to the Angkor World Heritage site!
It's now 5:45am and the sun is rising up fast as I hurriedly made my way over to Angkor Wat. Sunrise at Angkor Wat is the most popular timing to be present, as it's breathtaking watching the golden rays light up this amazing heritage site.
After riding for 3,407km passing through 4 different countries, my bike and I have finally officially arrived at the 7th Wonder of The World - Angkor Wat. And I'm just in absolute awe of what was built more than 800 years ago, standing right in front of me now.
It's so peaceful here, looking at Angkor Wat from a distance, with the image of it clearly reflected on the lake surrounding the compound of the temple.
There were other tourists around too, but everyone kept their voices low as we all enjoyed the serenity of this UNESCO site together.
This is the nearest any vehicles could get to Angkor Wat. To go up-close and into the sacred temple would have to be purely on foot. But it was still such a beautiful sight, watching the gentle sun rays slowly light up the whole temple city.
The Angkor Pass allows you to enter most of the different Angkor temples, including Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm. Walking would be too far to get from each temple to another, but there are Tuk Tuk taxis around to help, at a fee.
If you have a bike like me, or a bicycle, you can ride around.
If you have a bike like me, or a bicycle, you can ride around.
Angkor Wat
It is the largest religious monument in the world, measuring 1,626,000metre square, and was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman in the 12th Century.
It's the first temple I'm going to explore on foot.
As Lonely Planet best describes it,
"Angkor Wat is the ultimate expression of Khmer genuis - an awe-inspiring temple that is stunning both its grand scale and its incredible detail"
The logistics that involved such a huge operation in building Angkor Wat was mind blowing. Consuming the labour of thousands, the construction of Cambodia's largest temple involved a whopping 300,000 workers and 6,000 elephants, yet it was still not completed.
Moving into finer details, Angkor Wat is famous for having more than 3,000 apsaras (heavenly nymphs) carefully carved into its walls,
with each one of them having its own unique character and design. Some of them were damaged over the years, but were later restored.
I've been around the world previously when I was a flight attendant with Singapore Airlines, and have visited numerous ancient sites. But I was really struck by the grandeur of Angkor Wat, with such high level of detailed carvings depicting historical events and stories from mythology all around.
Access to the central temple of Angkor Wat involved climbing a dangerously steep flight of stairs up.
Yeah, this high.
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I'd be lying if I said I wasn't panting when I was climbing up that flight of stairs! Not having breakfast didn't help, I had to use all the leg strength I had to make it all the way up.
But it was definitely worth the climb!
Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture, and it has drawn million of visitors since the 1990s when it opened up to Tourism, with 2013 alone clocking more than two million foreign tourists to the site.
And here I am! Gladly adding to that increasing statistics :)
Angkor Thom
After spending about 2.5 hours and taking it all in at Angkor Wat, I moved on towards the next majestic temple site, here at Angkor Thom!
Oh, just in case you're wondering why in my pictures, there are little, or no one around, that's because I always try to wait for everyone to pass by first, or I take my pictures at an angle where there is no one photo-bombing my shot though honestly, it can be quite challenging because there'll always be lotsa tourists at popular sightseeing places..
and even huge elephants too!
Now, Angkor Thom is the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire, established during the late 12th century by king Jayavarman VII and here we are at Bayon, the centre of the city state's temple.
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The carvings on all the walls of Bayon all depict the historical events and everyday life of the Angkorian Khmer which are highly detailed and informative. This state of art and architecture is just simply stunning.
Boy am I happy to be here with my red darling all the from Singapore!
Next up, is Ta Prohm!
Ta Prohm
What differentiates Ta Prohm from the rest of the other Angkor temples is that it's pretty much in its original condition since it was found.
And what clearly distinguishes itself from the rest of the temples is having trees grown out from the temple's ruins, which makes it a truly unique sight to behold.
This is also where the movie Tomb Raider, starring Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, was filmed back in 2001.
Time flies when you're busy exploring ancient history and being amazed one temple after another here at the Angkor Wat Heritage Site!
Before I know it, I've spent about 6 - 7 hours here and you have no idea how scorching it is right now! Haha the sun is really a killer, so unless you need to be more properly geared because you're riding like me here, I'd strongly advise you to pile on lotsa sunblock and wear some really light breathable clothing!
I could totally do a pint of ice cold beer now!
Headed back to Siem Reap to fill my tummy before retiring back to the hotel, took that superb cold shower I badly needed from being out in the sun all day today haha and started packing my things as we'll be heading back to Bangkok, Thailand, tomorrow!
Thank you Cambodia, for preserving all that magnificent beauty not just in Angkor Wat Heritage, but also in your people. I may not have spent a lot of time here, but it has been the quality of each experience that I've been impacted by, and these memories will last me a lifetime.
[BUCKET LIST: RIDING FROM HOME TO ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA : TICKED!!!! YEAHHHH]
[Singapore. Malaysia. Thailand.Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, ANGKOR WAT, Cambodia]
[Mileage Clocked: 3,378KM]
[Weather/Temperature: Scorching Hot/36°C]
[Terrain: Road/Tarmac]
Next stop: Bangkok, Thailand
