And that’s not ‘awesome’ the way I usually use it, as in ‘this ice cream is awesome’ or ‘I got an awesome parking spot’. It’s more like this:

awe·some /ˈôsəm/
adjective
extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear.

Angkor Wat and the surrounding sites truly deserve this word. Wandering around inside the park, we felt what could only be called awe at the ambition and scale of the architecture on display. We didn’t feel the apprehension and fear so much, unless you count the apprehension at riding our bikes around all the sites we wanted to visit and the fear that developed of dying of thirst while on said bikes. I will probably always argue that bicycles are the best way to see the ruins but it does get really hot out there.

Some quick facts before the pictures. Angkor Wat is actually the name of one single temple in the Angkor Archaeological Park. The Park is around 400 square kilometers (or 77 square miles) and contains within it ruins from 5 centuries of Khmer civilization. It received status as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992 and has been under the protection of the government since 1994. The park and the nearby town of Siem Reap is currently administered by the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA). APSARA is extremely underfunded and poorly managed, making it a miracle that Angkor has stayed in as good condition as it is with about 2 million people visiting it every year. The large majority of the money that the Park brings in goes straight to the black hole of the Cambodian government, with a very small percentage going to upkeep and preservation. Angkor is easily the biggest tourist draw in Cambodia and tourism is one of the biggest sources of GDP for the country, so there are some significant tensions between conservation and exploitation.

77 square miles might not sound like a lot but this place is massive. The main sites that people visit (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and the sites immediately adjacent) are all concentrated near the center. See the map below for an idea of how spread out the park is (from this article).

When you arrive in town, any tuk tuk driver who is lucky enough to snag you at the bus stop (or at the airport) will most certainly try to convince you to hire him for the day to see all of the ruins. This is not a completely crazy idea if you can haggle for a good price. Our tuk tuk guy was disappointed as we were already set on seeing the ruins by bicycle. He was convinced we would change our minds so we took his number and promised we would call him if we decided on hiring a driver. He was one of the more charming tuk tuk drivers we had met on our trip and felt a little bad that we didn’t give him our business. C’est la vie! I’m sure he charmed some other tourists and made his money regardless.

We had three days to explore Angkor. Some say one is enough, some say a week, some say you could spend a lifetime. We had three days and wanted to make the most of them. We rented bikes from a cool old guy and set off. We visited several sites over the three days, including the two main ones: Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Here’s a less comprehensive map to give you an idea of how the place is laid out:

We decided to save Angkor Wat for the last day and to hit up the sites in Angkor Thom first.

The central temple in Angkor Thom is called the Bayon. It is famous for spires with the face of Buddha looking in each of the cardinal directions. The atmosphere is hard to capture in photos since a lot of the experience has to do with walking over and through the actual stones. It feels like a Tomb Raider-themed playground in some ways since you can climb almost anywhere you want. Bad for preservation, good for a feeling of adventure.

After the Bayon, we visited the Bauphon. Where the Bayon is more impressive in terms of complexity, the Bauphon is impressive for its size. A long causeway takes you to the base of the pyramid, giving you a nice long view of it before you arrive. It’s very beautiful with a special treat at the back: a sleeping Buddha 100 feet long painstakingly reassembled by hand.

There’s a smattering of other interesting sites in front of the Bauphon. One is the elephant terrace where the kings would mount and dismount from their pachyderms. The other is the ‘hidden wall’, a densely decorated wall that was covered at some point with another wall.

This is turning into a long post so I’m going to divide it into two. To finish off part 1, here’s a video of us riding our bikes around Angkor Thom, expertly shot with my mobile.