Angkor Wat 🗿🏰

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen-

Welcome back💪🏽

Last night we finally set off - to the highlight of Cambodia mentioned by EVERYONE -

Angkor Wat.

The largest temple complex in Cambodia and probably the most famous in the world.

Actually, Angkor Wat is just one of many temples here.

We bought a combination ticket for all the temples in this massive area. We had time for that yesterday evening from 5:00 PM and the whole day today. Many people come here and need 5 full days to see all the temples included in the ticket. Some are 1 km apart, some are 40 km apart. Just to give you an idea of the size 🤔

The temples are no longer really recognizable as temples, but rather as ruins. Some have been restored a bit so that they can be entered.

Most of them (except for the Bayon Temple) used to be Hindu. Afterwards, they became Buddhist (why- we don't know).

You can recognize Hindu temples by the figures on the wall decorations - often with multiple arms or multiple people - in Buddhism, of course, it's the Buddha (there are 4 different ones).

We had our own tuk-tuk driver yesterday evening and today.

We left on Saturday at 4:30 PM and went to Phnom Bakheng - a temple ruin on a hill. We were there for the sunset 🌅 - one of the few temples that stay open until 7 PM for this reason.

Since this was the first temple ruin, we were completely surprised and overwhelmed of course.

1. how did they bring the stones up there

And 2. who came up with this idea? 🤦🏽‍♀️😂

See for yourself.

This morning, we left for Angkor Wat at 5 AM. As I said before, it is the largest temple complex that opens at 5 AM to see the sunrise 🌄. Oh my god - there were so many people and they were all staring at the horizon. While everyone was still standing around foolishly, waiting for the sun, we just went in directly (when we had a little daylight).

And thank god - we did everything right.

We were alone for a good 30 minutes with maybe 50 other people. And we could see the sunrise from inside.

What a huge temple, absolutely awesome.

When we show you pictures, most of you will probably have that "aaaah, that's it" effect 🤙🏽😂 the three "towers" are very well known.

Afterwards, we had a quick breakfast (it was already 8 AM) and, while the huge crowds of visitors arrived, we strolled out of the grounds💪🏽💪🏽

We then took a tuk-tuk to the Bayon Temple (part of the Angkor Thom complex).

Here's another one, as all the towers have "faces". It's also an incredible complex.

Afterwards, we visited Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdel.

After that, it was 11:30 AM, 6.5 hours and 16 km later.

And we were tired and didn't feel like doing more. Our driver found that extremely funny and only said that some people need from 5 AM to 5 PM for this tour. And for five days in a row 🤦🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️

Lucky us, he could drop us off at the hotel and make money for the rest of the day 😋😂 (You're welcome).

Vuthea is 28 years old, married, has a 2-year-old daughter, and works from 6 AM to 11 PM (sometimes even earlier, like with us). And that's 365 days a year 😕😕 They really have a tough life here and yet they're still so joyful and maaaad friendly. We're not sure if he even sees his daughter.. maybe an hour in the morning?

Then we went to the city for a quick meal and coffee and then back to the hotel. Relaxing and sleeping.

At 7 PM, we went back to the city for dinner (food rules our day) and now back to the hotel 🤙🏽😂

What a day - and those who go to Cambodia - this is the must-do program 💪🏽

By the way, the temple on the Cambodian flag 🇰🇭 is Angkor Wat 😋

Tomorrow - Poolday and in the evening we're going to a circus with acrobats 👌🏽

The last day 😎 chilling - before heading to Singapore 🇸🇬 🚀🏙