Now, it is about 5:30am and today is gonna be a special day in my life
because this is a special place to see the sunrise.
Good morning from Angkor Wat and this morning we woke up very early at 5AM in the morning.
It is recommended to get up early, so we can be here to witness the sunrise.
There are many people already.
We're now on the first layer of Angkor Wat. It's huge.
We can see stone carving around the temple.
This is one example of them showing the belief of ancient people about heaven, earth, and hell.
So, I think Hinduism or Buddhism, they both have a similar belief about life after death.
So, now we've climbed up to the second layer or second floor of Angkor Wat.
And, we are going to climb up to the top which is the third floor.
But nowadays, there's only one entrance, one stairs, so we have to queue up.
Previously, before October 2007, there were more than one entrance.
But now, they would like to limit the number of tourists.
Not far from Angkor Wat, just about 3 kilometers, we have arrived here at Angkor Thom.
You see, the entrance has very beautiful and stunning architecture.
You may be familiar with these faces because they appear in some movies.
Here I am at BAYON. This is a main attraction here at Angkor Thom.
And my friend told me that for one stone shape (tower) here, they have 4 faces.
And they have 52 pieces of stones.
So, there are more than 200 faces over here.
I'm now at one of the most beautiful cultural places here in Southeast Asia.
Here is BANTEAY SREI. The name literally means 'The City of Women',
but some local people believe that the name is derived from the word 'BANTEAY SRI'
which means 'The Auspicious City'.
This place was founded by two Brahmas who were brothers, back in the late 10th century,
but not until 1914 that it was discovered.
And, the official restoration began in the 1930s.
It was paused for a while during 1970s to 1990s.
Now, it is in a good care of APSARA National Authority.
There are 4 places in Cambodia, told by my friends, that are most beautiful.
The first one, of course, is Angkor Wat.
You can see the grandeur of the place.
And, BAYON, where you can see faces of Buddha.
And third is BANTEAY SREI. It is pink-color sandstone.
And here, where I am right now, is TA PROHM.
This is a temple built in the 12th century.
When I came in, it is so stunning.
Especially I see a lot of tree roots all over, covering many buildings in the temples.
This place is a location for the movie 'Tomb Raider', if you remember.
Alright. So, we are now exploring inside Angkor Thom.
This place is special. It's a big terrace. What do you call it?
Elephant Terrace.
Elephant Terrace? So, it is something about elephants?
People are mistaken by the name, but it is not something related to elephants.
It is where the king expected his army parade.
Yes.
And it was also a court for use among the citizens.
And just opposite is a big field.
A big field. Royal field.
And at the end of this walkway, there's a big torch.
Yeah, it's a torch for sports events.
And, we just walked pass by another building which is connected to this terrace.
It's called PRASAT BAPHUON.
Very beautiful. Very long bridge to the entrance.
It is also important because it is even older than Angkor Wat, but not many people know about it.
Yeah. Yeah.
In Siem Reap, you can hardly find sculptures of Garuda,
but here at PREAH KHAN, you can find this huge Garuda sculpture standing over Naga
because people believe that, at that time, Garuda is a symbol that represents the unity between Buddhism and Hinduism.
Here at PREAH KHAN, it is located very near Angkor Thom.
The name literally means 'Royal Sword',
It was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII in an honor of his father and for the victory over invading Chams.
This place is quite flat. It's quite different from other places.
You don't have to climb up anywhere. It's easy to walk.
A lot of gates to explore, in 4 directions - East, West, South, and North.
And here, this building, local people believe that the sword in the story was put over here.
And at that time, there were more than 100,000 people working in here,
including officials, servants, and dancers.
NEAK PEAN, which means 'Intwined Serpents', is an artificial island
with a Buddhist temple in Jayatataka Baray, which was associated with PREAH KHAN.
Some people believe it represents a mythical lake in the Himalayas whose waters are thought to cure all illnesses.
Around the temple, there are 4 connected small pools which symbolize Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire.
Fly to SIEM REAP with Bangkok Airways, Asia's Boutique Airline.
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