Here at Siem Reap for a week, hotel with pool and air con (although it stopped working last night), here to visit Angkor Wat and other temple ruins from 11th-15th century.

Meeting Patrick at the hotel, we chatted as travellers do for a couple if hours, and he advised me not to go straight to Angkor next day, but visit smaller temples first as he’d felt little impact from them after the main one first. It made sense as though it felt I’d waited so long to see it already – years, as dreams do take! But I considered it and in the end did that, visiting Ta Phrom and a couple of others on the same site first day. Very impressive in themselves, it was certainly an impact!! This too I learned was the location for a Tomb Raider movie as well as Raiders movie!! Added bonus with the famous trees for photographic backgrounds!! We had to do the pose as other tourists did, just because we could! 😄

An enjoyable day, doing the temple trip by tuk tuk with a friend, Rebecca, I met in Don Det who was also here! She had done Angkor but not well so not done too much.

We visited Angkor for the famous sunrise over this 7 wonders of the world temple – starting out at 5am!! Although I whinged, it was worth the early rise to see it come up, slowly unfolding its spectacular facade minute by minute with the lighting changes! From pitch black at 5am to full sunrise over the tempe spires at 6.30 am I was mesmerised by the changing silhouette at first, then more architectural structures developing to my left showing columns, a reddening sky which tinged the flimsy cloud cover also doubly impressive with the fantastically clear reflection in the lake in front that many of the hundreds stood by, it was beautiful.

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As the colours changed, the sky lightened now more rapidly, details came out – the length, the columned walk, the three towers and decoration.

This sunrise was perfect, unlike an earlier and later cloudy early mornings either side of our day! We photographed the big yellow balloon that, tethered to the ground, rises for 15 minutes to show the whole scope of Angkor Wat for what would be spectacular views and photos. We tried on day three but it wasn’t flying for weather conditions. Ah well. We managed until 11 ambut then I had to sleep with my early start, and restless night sorting air con temperatures etc.

On day three, we managed another half day visit to Preah Khan and Ta Som, and another one, tried the ballon, then back to the pool for a dip and chat with other residents. Its pointless to do too much, pushing yourself too hard or the enjoyment is taken out of sight seeing, and the heat takes it out of you too, so we tok it easy.

Sharing experiences, finding tips and hearing of others views is all part of the sights and experiences of sightseeing and travelling.