Angkor Wat

Siem Reap is a small city of 120,000 people spread along the main road NH6 and the river. It is easy to navigate once you have your feet under you and I would advise taking a guide for the longer treks into the temples but it is easy enough to find your own way around the small circuit and this can be completed on bicycle :)
The Angkor Wat ticket costs $20/$40/$60 depending on whether you want 1/3/7 days. In order to make the most of the sites, which are huge I would suggest the 3 day package.

As I entered Angkor Wat I felt a little like ‘Indiana Jones’ with my chino style trousers and hat ;) It was 5.30am and we had arrived at the southern entry point to the Angkor Wat. A short walk took us to the lilley pond to the south west of the temple and allowed for stunning views of the temple as the sun rose behind it and the camera flashes started to pop from the hundreds of tourists lining the pond (one Japanese tourist had even brought along a tripod and bladder camera!!). We all stood and watched for more than an hour as the sun rose and then descended on the food stalls for a breakfast of thick chocolate pancakes and condensed milk coffee :)
Walking around Angkor Wat you gain a real sense of what it must have been like for any visitor coming to see the temple after its construction - the lake surrounding the temple is wide then there is a great archway before you enter the temple itself with its wonderful dry stone architecture. Every tower has a beam of light penetrating it from the gap in the ceiling while the smell of incense fills the air from offerings to Buddhist images. It was on opportunity to pay my respects and for the second time on my journey I was granted a Buddhist blessing and wrist tie.
Reluctantly Angkor Wat was left behind in order to see the other temples on the small circuit - next stop was ‘Bayon’ a wonderful structure with huge towers depicting faces on all four sides. Amazing. Once again visitors were able to walk all over the monument! Then other highlights included the lengthy murals of ‘The terrace of elephants’ and ‘The terrace of the leper king’. Each of the carvings were intricate and the workmanship was wonderful considering it was completed over 1000 years ago (However, restoration has led to many ‘new’ pieces being added to restore the monuments to their former glory…but I am not sure how I as a visitor feel about this as the newer rock carvings are a different shade)
Our final stop and most impressive in my mind was the ‘Ta Prohm’ temple - it was magical with the walls of the temples held in the grasp of the forest itself as the trees grew within the temple grounds. The intertwined roots and rocks were just as I had imagined (Except for the hundreds of tourists!!) but I felt privileged to be able to walk among these ancient wonders. Also famous for their part in the Tomb Raider film, as expressed by one of the guides to a group of Japanese tourists…
All in all one of the wonders of the world, which will live long in the imagination of any visitor :) Highly recommended.