Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Cambodia → Angkor Wat

Location: Siem Reap Area, Cambodia

Time Required: 2 hours

Red Tape/Notes: An Angkor Pass is required to visit all sites within the Angkor Archaeological Park. Passes are sold in one-day ($37), three-day ($62) and seven-day ($72) blocks that must be used on consecutive days. Passes may be purchased at the main entrance on the road to Angkor Wat.

What’s Nearby?: Rolous Temple Complex, Angkor Thom, Prasat Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Beng Mealea

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world, and has become a symbol of Cambodia (literally…it’s on their flag). It was built in the early 12th century in the classical style of Khmer architecture as the state temple and eventual mausoleum of King Suryavarman II. Originally constructed as a Hindu Temple, it served in this capacity less than 100 years, and was gradually converted into a Buddhist Temple in the late 12th century. The temple is surrounded by a moat and a main outer wall, and features three rectangular levels, in increasing height, with the third level supporting five towers in its center. The five towers are positioned like the dots on a die if you rolled a five (vocabulary word of the day: this arrangement is called a quincunx). The second and third levels are bounded by covered galleries with columns, and the various levels are connected by stairways. The site has been well preserved, including 1200 meters of highly detailed low-relief sandstone carvings surrounding the first level of the temple.

Expect to visit this site with hundreds (thousands?) of your closest friends. Your best chance for fewer people is probably at the very end of the day. What I definitely wouldn’t recommend is planning to visit the site in the early morning. If you want the iconic photograph of Angkor Wat at sunrise, do it (we did), but prepare for crowds like you’ve never seen. Go in the dark to try and stake out a site…as your eyes adjust and you see around you, you’ll be slightly horrified to realize how many people are already there. Tom very politely lifted me onto his shoulders, which is the only way I was able to eliminate most of the people from my pictures (I included a wider angle shot below for amusement purposes so you can see all the arms and cameras). Anyway…once you’ve got your shots, leave. Go somewhere else. All those people who were out on the lawns taking pictures are now moving en masse into the temple proper. Meanwhile, some of the other sites are likely to be deserted right after sunrise, since everyone in Siem Reap (and seemingly the entire world) is at Angkor Wat, giving you a great chance for some relative privacy at other sites. Come back to Angkor Wat later, after people have cleared out. Coming in the afternoon has its own photographic advantage – the afternoon light makes a clearer, more detailed reflection in the water than what you get at sunrise.

Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Cambodia → Angkor Wat