Sunrise at Angkor Wat - a meh experience

The previous post in this trip series is here..

The previous night we had crashed early but not before telling our hotel to pack us breakfast (it was included). They know folks go for sunrise and pack you a breakfast! We left the hotel shortly before 4:30 and drove to the temple complex. It was pitch dark in the area. There were still the ticket checkers working diligently with flashlights. The tickets have our photographs in them. We walked to a nice spot where a few hundred others were waiting.

Our driver warned us already that March 21 and Sept 21 are best times for sunrise viewing. In late November the sun goes to the side and is rising from the forest behind the fog. You see the light but not the sun for some time.

I had setup the iphone for a timelapse.. or so I thought. it was between my shoes on the steps.. must have had butterfingers and I turned it on and off right away! Realized it only after the sun came out and there was a photo instead of a timelapse video! It was a big missed opportunity. Next time, going to get a gorilla tripod so this doesn’t repeat. Did get some shots over the one hour we waited there. Once it became light, we took some shots of me doing yoga in front of Angkor Wat.

Our driver said at this point the entire crowd was going to visit the temple. We should go to Bayon temple instead and get great photos where there is no crowd and then come back to this temple. Given this one has shade and Bayon has none, he said that is a better plan.

We trusted Sarak given our entire previous day with him. Off we went..

A very short video reel..

Next time if at all we visit this place, should go in September. It will still be hit or miss because it rains during that time! One has to be lucky to get sunrise at this place.. There is always photoshop…

Watching the sunset atop the Pre Rup temple

The previous post in this series is here..

Our last tourist stop for the evening was the Pre Rup Temple. A magnificent temple built for Shiva worshipped as the god of death. A place where the royals were cremated at the base of the temple. The sunsets facing the temple. There are four shrines on each side with lingas. Our driver had already mentally composed the shot he was going to take with me doing yoga in front of Shiva with the setting sun in the background.. trying to bring all three together needed some angles and calculations in a narrow time window. He already hyped me for the sunset. San kept rolling her eyes as she knew that Saruk was mentioning all my drugs in one sentence.. yoga, sunset, photography, shiva.. she warned me that this had the potential to be a big disappointment..

We were driving fast and Saruk said the only way we make it to the top is if we went through the side entrance. So off we went. There was a person checking our tickets but no crowd. We walked up to the temple and saw each stairs was a foot or more in height and there were more than a 100 steps to climb.. machchu pichchu style.. San rolled her eyes again, but the Wagh Bakri chai was still flowing and with my SLR back on my shoulder, started climbing up the stairs. We made it in time for me to do a timelapse video of the sunset, Saruk to try his yogagraphy (he should have gone wide but got an A+ for effort again) and walk back down right when it was starting to get dark.

A video highlights reel..

Our sightseeing for the day was almost over. We were going to go back towards our hotel but stop in the night market area for us to find food. . .

Neak Poan temple - An ancient hospital

The previous post in this series is here..

After walking through the Ta Som temple, our next stop was a short drive away. The Neak Poan temple.. I remember it being referred to as the Prasad temple! The temple itself is a small shrine on a side hillock. What is spectacular about this is the access to get to the temple across a bridge. The landscape with lotus everywhere is surreal. It was hot and humid and I was told not to stop for photos by my darling wife. Neither one of us had caps and the sun was really beating down on us.

Once we walked past the bridge, we saw what appeared to be a submerged temple. Turns out there are four pools on four sides of the tower and each had different medicines in it that were connected to earth, wind, fire and water and depending on the ailments, folks would have to take a dip in different pool(s). There were some high profile politicians with security forces visiting this temple to light agarbaththis.. so we walked around the pools real fast and got out before any further jam.

Our driver told us that he would wait at the parking lot nearby. When we came out it took us some time to find him. Then we told him that we needed a chai break. There were a few dhaba looking restaurants in the parking lot. So he managed to get hot water in one of those places. We paid them 2 bucks for the hot water and cups and they were happy to watch us make ginger tea and drink. Everyone at the restaurant spoke fluent English! There was a rooster making a racket where we were drinking tea that made this session memorable..

Here is a video highlight reel..

we had no clue that the temple was the four pools when walking through. There were no boards to explain this at the temple or we missed it! Had to come back to the hotel to wiki and understand what it was all about..

The reflections of the towers in the four pools were amazing.. I love reflections. got a lot of nice photos..

After chai we were recharged. So we told Saruk we were ready for the next temple…