Sorry, this post has taken too long. I had been really busy and had not had time to sort out the photos. But later late than never!
Sunrise @ Angkor Wat
We wanted to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat as we have seen beautiful sunrise photos of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our guide, Lim, suggested leaving our hotel at 4.30am and arriving at Angkor Wat just before it opens at 5am.
We were already waiting at the entrance of Angkor Wat just before it opens. Lim knew exactly where to stand and we were the first through the gate. When everyone was heading to the bridge over the moat, Lim brought us to the right just across the pond in front of Angkor Wat. We were the first at the spot and DH was able to set up his tripod at the best spot. Sunrise was not until just after 6am so we had a good one hour to wait. DH took his time to adjust his equipment. Soon more people stared gathering around us. At the time we went, this was a better spot to take photos compared to the bridge which is recommended by guidebooks and TripAdvisor because there was some restoration works being done at Angkor Wat and you see that clearly form the bridge. Over here, the scaffolds are blocked by the trees.
Alan, the pro photographer who will be accompanying us for 2 days arrive around 5.45am. He guided DH on how to set his camera and the various techniques and how to frame his photos.
Then the moment when we were all waiting for – Sunrise! By now there was a whole crowd gathered beside and behind us. People have moved from the bridge to our position as well. All waiting to catch the beautiful sunrise at Angkor Wat. But this was what we got….
Yes, the sun was shy and hid behind the clouds I simply have no luck with sunrise. It was the same at Borobudur. Oh well, at least we tried.
But these are the photos which I took with my Point-and-Shoot Sony RX100, not DH’s sophisticated Nikon. He captured some better shots.
Then we moved off and Alan started showing DH how to capture some arty shots. We explored the corridors and while Alan coaching DH on his photography, Lim was telling me the stories of the carvings along the corridors.
If you wish to get blessings from the monk, it is available in the temple. We also witnessed an initiation ceremony of some sort of a little boy.
To go up the tower of Angkor Wat, one needs to climb up a fight of very steep stairs. Also visitors need to be properly attired with pants or skirts length go below the knee and no exposed shoulders. This is simple respect for a place of worship as well as the monks who are still going about the temple doing their rituals. The queue to go up to the tower is very long by the time we got there around 8.30am. Lim estimated that it will take at least an hour wait in the queue. So we decided not to go up but to explore the courtyard below. The plan was to come back on another day around lunch time when most of the visitors would have left.
We left Angkor Wat close to 9am and got back to our hotel for a late breakfast.
Only DH went back to Angkor Wat on our fourth day in Siem Reap as I was just too lazy. By then, I had enough temples to last me for a long time. They went back around 12 noon and there was no queue to go up to the top of the tower. The mid day sun was blazing hot and most tour groups had gone off for their lunch. DH managed to capture some photos without the crowd which was great!
Next up : Exploring Angkor Thom – Bayon & Ta Prohm