Tag Archives: reading

Day 184 – Sunrise and a treat

Having booked a second night in the budget room and one instead of two nights at the fancy place, our plans crumbled slightly. Since we spent a bit of money on the fancy room, we wanted to get some use out of it and enjoy the amenities. Thus, we would go to the temples in the morning, check out at lunch time and then spend the afternoon lounging and relaxing.

Good plan. Until we decided that it would also make sense to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat today instead of tomorrow so that we could sleep in in our fancy room. This meant that the alarm clock went off at 5am. So freaking early. I mean, we don’t sleep in too much but with the sun rising at 6.30am, there is no reason to get up before 7am. Now there was, though.

Just enough light - and no muppet in the way

Just enough light – and no muppet in the way

We rode Rocinante into the temple complex where we joined the long throng of tuk-tuks all moving towards Angkor Wat. It was going to be crowded. All the “perfect” spots by the pond were already taken. They are “perfect” because Angkor Wat is mirrored in the water if it’s a still enough day without too many clouds. We sat down on the grass a bit away from the pond but ended up moving around quite a bit while the sun was rising. It gets light so quickly before you can actually see the sun. We took some very pretty pictures but with the crowd, it didn’t feel like a special sunrise at all.

Underexposure ftw ...

Underexposure ftw …

When the crowds started to disperse, we sat down at the pond, having a quick breakfast of Nutella toasts. Because sunrise and probably also sunset are such a thing, many kids were running around trying to sell you postcards or magnets. They were all incredibly cute but I got upset when tourists asked them for a picture and then paid them a dollar for it. All you accomplish with that behaviour is that these kids will continue to work there instead of going to school. There are actually signs posted at the temples with “Don’t give money or candy to children, it encourages them not to attend school” and some people still do it. /rant

Ta Keo was the next temple on our list. It’s a pyramid with many, very steep steps and it is currently under heavy reconstruction. Still, we saw only a handful of other people there so early in the morning. Very peaceful.

In a way, Ta Prohm is more impressive than the cleared temples. Nature's power over man is awe inspiring.

In a way, Ta Prohm is more impressive than the cleared temples. Nature’s power over man is awe inspiring.

The so-called “Lara Croft” temple Ta Prohm was the next in line. This temple is mostly a ruin as trees have wreaked havoc with the walls and roofs. Being famous for featuring in a Lara Croft movie, it is picturesquely broken to our eyes. There are efforts to reconstruct a couple of areas. Here, we only managed to be half an hour earlier than the tourist buses.

Being really tired and also hungry again already, we decided to visit Sra Srang and then call it a day with the temple visits. Sra Srang is not actually a temple but a huge basin that was built as the royal bathing pond. The stairs with the guarding lions is still standing but access to the pond is off limits except for the fishermen.

Back at the hostel, we were still in time for a late breakfast so our hunger was taken care of. Afterwards, I still got to nap for an hour before we had to pack and check out at noon. Our fancy accommodation turned out to be fancy indeed. Though we had to leave the budget hostel at noon, check in in the new place was at 2pm. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived at 12.20pm. We were seated in the lounge on a couch, had wet towels brought for refreshment as well as a lime drink and banana chips. Good signs, huh?

Flo is sceptic...

Flo is sceptic…

About half an hour later, we were shown to our room which was HUGE and lovely and the staff had scattered flowers on the bed and there were swans made out of the towels and the phrase “Florian Bocher we <3 u” was spelled out on the bed…I LOVED it.

Still being tired but also being hot from the motorcycle ride, we jumped in the pool (extra pool towels ftw) before having a second nap in the plushy, comfy bed. At around 3pm, I dragged Flo along to another “dining for a cause” café, this time specializing in cupcakes while supporting Cambodian women in their vocational training. Check out the Blossom Café if you are in Siem Reap!

Uber-rich chocolate cupcake and lime splash

Uber-rich chocolate cupcake and lime splash

I couldn’t really decide what I wanted because there were so many flavours. In the end, I went with peppermint tea and a chocolate hazelnut cake pop while Flo ordered an uber-rich chocolate cupcake for me. He got a lime splash and a raspberry lemon one to his coffee. Very decadent, I know, but so worth it. 🙂

The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging on the comfortable furniture, reading, browsing the net or watching something. For dinner, we walked to the Peace café, another vegetarian restaurant, but it had moved so we ended up in the vegetarian restaurant across the road before heading “home” to watch a movie on the flat screen tv. It was almost like the shortest holiday in history.