After an exhausting first day in Angkor Wat, mostly from the oppressive humidity, we had a 4 am wake-up call on day two so that we could watch the sun rise. Of course, I prefer sunsets to sunrises and found myself feeling ill all day long, just like I did after our sunrise viewing at Mount Nemrut in Turkey.
We were among the first to arrive and were sitting just by the reflecting pool for the optimum photo-op of the temple and rising sun. Jon was getting restless and cranky over the early wakeup, and the feeling of being herded with hundreds of other tourists, so, on my suggestion, he borrowed a flashlight and set off on his own Indiana Jones-like adventure inside the mostly-deserted temple. As I watched the sky gradually lighten (sunrise always seems to take much longer than it should), taking a new picture every minute or so, he came back and guided me through the deserted halls. We got back in time to see the sun break over the towers and then met up with the rest of our group again.
We were pleasantly surprised that most of the crowds didn't make their way into the temple when they were finished watching the sunrise. It was probably the extended bathroom break we took just afterwards that helped us out. So we found ourselves mostly alone in the cavernous halls with our wonderful Intrepid group and guides. Again, an amazing Indiana Jones-esque experience of intricate wall friezes, vaulted archways, big holes that were once swimming pools and some unbelievably steep steps that I never would have climbed without the fear of getting left behind the group and therefore, lost forever in Cambodia.
The early wakeup also had the added benefit of slightly cooler temperatures. The humidity wasn't too bad yet and the temps were probably just in the 80s. It was so nice to walk around this amazing place without the discomfort and stickiness of sweating profusely.
After the leisurely tour around the main temple, we headed to a restaurant with one of the best locations on the planet, just across the causeway and with a magnificent view. We had another delicious Cambodian breakfast - fresh fruit, banana pancakes and some coffee.
We had just one more temple after seeing the main one. This one was called "The Ladies Temple" and was about a 40 minute drive away. If I wasn't in full temple-hopping gear, I might have gone back to the hotel. The 4 am wakeup and possibly some undercooked kangaroo (or crocodile, or maybe ostrich) meat from the night before left me feeling woozy, and now that midday was approaching, the 95 degree temperatures with 100% humidity had returned (and it still boggled my mind that we were visiting in WINTER).
The temple was worth the trip. My camera also decided to die at this point (so the pictures you see here were taken by Lynda and Jon, some of our wonderful Intrepid tour mates, were nice enough to share their pictures with me.) The temple was again just a bit different from the others. The carvings were so intricate and the color of all the buildings was a rusty reddish color.
We made it back to the hotel after the long schlep here and were finally able to enjoy some quality time in the pool. We ordered our meal to the poolside, slept and swam. It was great to have some time to actually relax, something that got just a bit pushed aside on our 10 day sprint through three Southeast Asian countries.
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