Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey takes me from Siem Reap at night arriving outside of Angkor Wat before first light. There we watch the mysterious sunrise before entering and exploring the temple. We head out from the temple to rise above the ancient city in a fixed balloon. From there we head across to Angkor Thom where we explore over the middle of the day. In the afternoon we go to the overgrown temple of Ta Prohm before going to an older more obscure ruin for the sunset.
Today's Journey
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From Siem Reap, we head north in the small hours of the morning for this spectacular sunrise over Angkor Wat. |
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Exploring the temple of Angkor Wat, each of the towers representing one of the mountains of the heavenly Mount Meru in the Hindu tradition. |
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View from the far end of Angkor Wat. |
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We head nearby to a balloon where we rise into the sky to view several ancient temples of the great city of Angkor, believed to be the first city to have more than 1 million people. Only the stone temples remain in the encroaching tropical jungle. |
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Exploring the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom to the north of Angkor Wat. Its many faces watch from their rustic stone towers. |
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Rubble from another part of Angkor Thom laid out ready for archaeologists to work out and assemble the three dimensional jigsaw puzzle of the building it once formed. |
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Heading across Angkor City, we reach the entrance to the Ta Prohm temple. |
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Heading further into Ta Prohm where trees grow out of the ruins and the walls are covered with red and green fungi growing here in the 500 years since it was abandoned. |
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Tree growing over one of the temple buildings, holding it together. |
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We leave Ta Prohm in the late afternoon and climb the old temple of East Baray to view the magnificent sunset. |
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