Category: Travel

From Thommanon, our guide drove us to Ta Prohm, our final stop in our Angkor Tour. When Aaron heard that it was the featured location of Angelina Jolie’s  2001 film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, he surprisingly got excited. Maybe he was already well rested when he refused to climb the Phimeanakas, and he’s also a great fan of places shown in the popular culture. A walkway to Prasat Ta Prohm When we arrived in Ta Prohm, we noticed that the place is heavily vegetated with huge trees. We entered the compound via the west gopura, a designated gate for tourist entrance. We did ... Read more

After getting dumbfounded in Angkor Wat, we headed to Angkor Thom and explored every temples within the complex. We stumbled in Bayon, ascened to the top of Baphuon, climbed the highest point of Phimeanakas, wondered around the Royal Palace, lingered the stretch of the Elephants Terrace, and roamed in the the channels of Leper King Terrace. It was an awesome temple run in Siem Reap. But hey, we weren’t done yet. Though Aaron already met his limit, we still headed to some amazing temples outside Angkor Thom. We left Angkor Thom through the Victory Gate and stopped in Thommanon. Thommanon was built ... Read more

The Victory gate is one of the two east exits of Angkor Thom – the other one is the East Gate which is just 500 meters south. It is nearly 1.3 kilometers away and is exactly opposite of the Terrace of the Elephants of the Royal Palace. The structure of the gate is similar to that of Bayon temple which is made of faced towers. We exited the gate when we headed to Thommanon and the neighboring Chau Say Tevoda temple. The Victory gate of Angkor Thom

The Phimeanakas (or Prasat Phimean Akas) is a Khmer pyramid-like structure, which name translates to celestial temple. It was built in the later part of 10th century and was situated at the heart of Angkor Thom‘s Royal Palace. The royal palace seats in the north of the Baphuon temple. Since the Royal Palace is pretty close to Baphuon, we visited it next. We followed a trail in a highly vegetated area at the back of Baphuon and entered the south gopura of the palace. We spent some moments reading the information placards of trees we met along the way, which ... Read more

The Elephants Terrace is part of the walled city within Angkor Thom. This 300-meter long terrace serves as the viewing stand for public ceremonies and as base of the king’s grand audience hall. Elephant carvings decorate the southern sections while garuda and lion designs can be found in the central section. The terrace of the elephants

Immediately after exiting Bayon temple, we moved to the Baphuon temple. It is only few hundreds of meters (350+) away from Bayon, including the 150-meter walkway from the main road. The surrounding of the temple is a swamp, which gets deeper on wet season. That was probably why its builders created an elevated pathway. The walkway to Baphuon Temple Pyramid-like Temple Baphuon temple is also located within the Angkor Thom complex like the Bayon. It is a three-tiered pyramidal or mountain-like temple that was built in the mid-11th century. This 150-meter by 100-meter monument has a height of roughly 50 meters, including ... Read more

After witnessing the breathtaking view of Angkor Wat’s sunrise and wondering around its bewildering structure, our guide lead us to Angkor Thom. We entered the Angkor Thom complex via the south gopura (or an arched gate), and what welcomed us were stone figures seemingly pulling a log (a scene in a classical movie wherein the soldiers had to pull the big ropes to lift the bridge that leads to the castle). Sadly, most of these statues had been decapitated. Reasons? – Barang, our guide, did not tell us. Roderick, Aaron, and myself in our hired Tuktuk. Photo is taken at ... Read more

I never thought that I would be crossing out one great entry in my bucket list this year. This 12th-century temple was always a dream and then, just this December, I finally laid a hand to the world’s largest religious- and well-preserved monument – the Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat forms part of Angkor, the seat of the Khmer Empire (9th – 14th century AD) and was built during the reign of King Suryavarman II. We arranged with our tour guide the day before to pick us up in our hotel at 5:00AM for us to witness the sunrise. Due to excitement, ... Read more

It was already late afternoon when we arrived in Siem Reap. We’d been on the road for almost the entire day since we only took a public land transport from Bangkok. After a short rest in Angkor Wonder Hotel, we went out to the entertainment or tourist triangle, an area within Sivatha Road, 2 Thnou Street, and Pokambor Avenue. Here’s a list of some things to do in Siem Reap at night. Taste the Local Delicacies The first thing we had in mind was to eat. We’d been skipping our lunch because of that land trip, thus we really had ... Read more