Day 3: Angkor Wat Sunrise

Temple Ticket Booth at 5:00am

The day started at 5am, but the morning at Angkor Wat was amazing... 

The Race to Sunrise: The picture is blurry, but we were at the ticket counter with a few hundred people at 5:10am. From there we joined the tuk-tuk race to Angkor Wat. It felt a little like the Cambodian version of Black Friday with everyone racing to get a good spot with a decent view of the majestic sunrise.

Angkor Wat: Pitch black we were thankful Travis bought a cheap flashlight and brought it this morning as we trounced through the temple ot position ourselves for sunrise. 



Angkor Wat at Sunrise



 Already 3 rows deep, we found a spot where Travis could see over the crowd and Nicole could reach her camera high enough to see over the crowd. The crowd was not without drama as people tried to push their way to the front for a good shot. A few verbal sparrings took place around us, including one with a French man that Travis and an Aussie felt compelled to deny entry. The chinese pushed their way through, the French tried to make up stories to get their way through, and the British politely asked if they could crounch in the mud in front...meanwhile the Aussie man had a nice way of telling people off since he'd been there since 4am. The sun finally came up and we migrated through the temple in Tracole style, while the rest of crowd snapped a million more photos. One cool site was the thousands of pink flowers on lily pads in the lake in front of the temple.

Angkor Thom: Told it would take an average of 2 hours to tour wonders and relics of this area, it was a bit anticlimatic, but still pretty cool. This temple had less restoration and so we trekked through fallen columns to find the entrance. We were greeted with incense, a thread bracelet and few words for good luck. Around Angkor Thom, there are still several places of worship. We were most interested in see the "elephant temple" which turned out to be something of a gazebo with trunk shaped objects shooting out of the roof and a statue of worship below. Enough templing, time to head back and explore the town on foot.

Exploring the Market: We haggled at the local market and found Travis some t-shirts. We looked at some picturesque paintings and passed an usual amount of gem stone shops. After we exhausted all the market had to offer, we found a cool spot on the corner called the Red Lion, where we grabbed a bite to eat for lunch while street performers stopped in front of our table to throw knives and play with fire.

Another Massage: Of course, the day would not be complete in Cambodia without another massage, so we headed back to Lemongrass Spa for round 2 of massages. After all, it is vacation. :)

Poolside Drinks: Thorougly relaxed when we returned to our hotel, we took a short siesta and then made our way up to the pool for some afternoon cocktails. The pool was filled with hotel patrons, and Travis spent hours trying to surmise their home country based on the language they were speaking. It was then we decided that life doesn't get much better than listening to music, sitting by a rooftop pool, having a couple drinks. Even as the sun went down, it stayed warm enough to continue to enjoy the awesome setting.

Travis Enjoying the Soup

Cambodian BBQ

Cambodian BBQ: We had been talking about this for days, and finally we made our way to Cambodian BBQ. Your order family style with a choice of 7 varieties of meat or 15 varieties of meat. While kangaroo and snake seemed interesting, we opted for the limited selection which included ostrich and allegator. After a bit of time, the waitress brought out a ferociously hot stone to heat up the grill above. There is a chunk of pork fat sitting atop the grill and a moat of broth that they add noodles and fresh veggies to make a soup. The assorted meats come in a divided platter with picture labels on toothpicks to identify the meats for grilling. From there it becomes a DIY meal. We were surprised that even usually gamey food like allegator were pretty delicious cooked this way. This was our favorite meal of the trip so far.

The Temple Club: We decided to check out Pub Street...we were drawn to the music playing from the Temple Club so we went in and grabbed a drink. They have this great happy hour special on cocktails that is 2 for 1 but it is only from open to close. We paid a slight premium for name brand alcohol and filtered ice, but we felt it was worth it to save ourselves from gnarly hangovers and giardia.There was  fun energy here with a pool table and dancing - and some combining both.