Angkor Wat sunrise

We knew before arriving in Cambodia that Angkor Wat is a must see, but we didn't realize that it is a popular sunrise location.  Everyone we met said that sunrise is amazing, you must see it at Angkor Wat.  And so we did.

We woke up at 4:15 AM, met Socheat downstairs at 4:30 and were off. The only time you may be cold in Cambodia is riding in a tuk-tuk at 4:30 in the morning.  We arrived at Angkor Wat in complete darkness and realized we should have brought a flashlight. We followed a couple people who were smarter than us in that regard to a little pond in front of Angkor Wat.  Over the hour and a half we stood there before sunrise, the number of people increased from around 10 to over a hundred all standing in the dark awaiting sunrise.

Sunrise was very pretty and had the added benefit of hiding the huge green tarps of construction in the shadow of Angkor Wat.  Before the sun was fully up we went into Angkor Wat and had it mostly to ourselves.  We explored until about 6:30 then Socheat took us to Preah Khan.

Still Angkor Wat

Since it was only 7:15 by the time we reached Preah Khan, we were the only tourists visiting and only one hawker was getting set up for the day.  There is a decent walk from the gates to the main temple through the woods.  It was peaceful and cool and lovely to walk through.  This temple hasn't been as restored as some of the others which was awesome.

A huge spider the size of Andy's hand

We left the second temple around 8:30 to go back to our hostel and have breakfast and a nap. Lunch was at the Singing Tree Cafe which supports local charities in Cambodia (Lonely Planet suggested it).  We wandered through Siem Reap for a bit.  The town is small and all the stores and restaurants are geared towards tourists, so it didn't have a very authentic feel to it.  Headed back to our hostel where we lazied around the hostel until bed time.