Visiting Ta Prohm & Angkor Thom, Cambodia.

As well as Angkor Wat, there is also the famous Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones temple to visit in Siem Reap. Clare and I decided to visit this one first, and then save Angkor Wat for our final day. I’m actually really glad we did this, as we found Ta Prohm to be a lot busier and more stressful than Angkor Wat. Despite the hectic feeling at Ta Prohm, it’s still well worth visiting, and it’s honestly mind-blowing to think it was built nearly a thousand years ago.

 

Even being British and being used to the common occurrence of seeing buildings that are hundreds of years old in our day-to-day lives, nothing can really prepare you for walking around the temples at Angkor. I think it’s the knowledge that they were once lost, buried in the jungle. You walk around and feel as though you’re in the middle of a movie set.

Buying your pass for Angkor

We found our lovely Tuk Tuk driver the previous evening when we’d had a disastrous adventure on Pub Street (don’t go there, it’s touristy crap). He took us back to our hotel for just 3USD, and we liked him so much with his cheeky grin that we used him for our two day trips to Angkor! He picked us up bright and early in the morning around 9am, and we headed over to the ticket booth to buy our pass for the next two days. We got the three day one for $62 (I think!), and then he drove us to Ta Prohm.

 

Our Tuk Tuk driver warned us about the Korean and mainland Chinese tourist groups, and told us how they come in huge groups and are causing all sorts of issues for the Cambodian tourism industry. Apparently they come in such large groups that the tour leaders can’t control them easily, so a lot of rubbish is left behind and they push and shove the other tourists around. We laughed him off and I thought how rude it was to generalize people like that!
But then we saw it first hand; and when I was shoved hard into the side of a wall by one lady in one of the big groups, and then when a man slammed into my camera and didn’t even apologise, and then when everyone was politely queuing for a photo with the famous Tomb Raider tree, and when it was our turn a woman just ran up and wouldn’t let me have a photo as she thought she deserved to skip the queue and have hers first, well…I now see what our Tuk Tuk driver was talking about. It was just such rude behaviour. It just made the experience so much more stressful when you’re constantly being barged into and pushed around.

The most incredible experience at Ta Prohm

Anyway, rude people with no manners aside, we had a wonderful time despite being pushed and shoved around in the 37 degree C heat! We absolutely loved wandering through the temple, finding little rooms with old carvings, rounding a corner and finding yet another crooked tree coming out of a building…ahh, it was just magical. I also had my photo taken with far too many doorways!

The time of day that we went (around 10-11am) was probably the worst time of day for photos as the sun was so high and bright it meant the sky kept blowing out. I’d recommend going first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon/evening to get the best light and less crowds!

 

Visiting Angkor Thom

After Ta Prohm we wandered back to our Tuk Tuk driver and he then drove us to Angkor Thom. The drive between the two was absolutely beautiful, we drove over an ancient bridge, saw monkeys on the side of the road, and when we finally arrived at Angkor Thom.

 

We began at the Terrace of the Elephants, and walked along to Phimeanakas.

 

On our way from Phimeanakas to Bayon, we stumbled across Baphuon. Again, it was like something out of a movie; an endless stone walkway high off the ground leading you to the temple.

 

By the time we arrived at Bayon after exploring all of the temples along the way, we were exhausted. It was 37 Degrees Celsius and the humidity was unbearable. The sweat was literally dripping off me, and I had makeup marks on my dress from where I’d tried to blot my forehead out of sheer desperation to get the damp feeling off my skin. We took one look at how huge Bayon was, and decided we’d been beaten, we just couldn’t face it.

 

We were a little disappointed as it looks so incredible, but we’d run out of water, and desperately needed aircon and some lunch. We took a snap, found our Tuk Tuk driver, and made our way back to the hotel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing by the pool at our hotel with our books, sipping on freshly made juices and diving in whenever we needed to cool down. It was bliss and the perfect way to recover from such a busy morning!

 

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Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

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7 Comments

  1. MummyTravels
    May 19, 2017 / 2:14 pm

    This looks so amazing – we are going this summer and I can't wait. It'll be rainy season so I'm hoping the temples will be a bit quieter and not quite 37C. Can't stand rudeness though, glad it didn't ruin your visit.

  2. Anna Parker
    May 20, 2017 / 1:49 am

    Stunning places, we had the same issue in India with Chinese groups and one of our guys nailed the telling off of them, we just sniggered, but someone needed to teach some manners!

  3. linee
    May 20, 2017 / 6:48 am

    Love this post! And sorry about the pushy tourists … I live in Seoul and believe me: Taking the subway during rushhour is nooooo fun. I often feel like a ping pong ball being pushed around -.-
    But however, I'm glad you got to enjoy your time there! And your photos really make me want to go too now! 🙂
    xo Laura

    http://www.theseoulitelife.com

  4. Threebrits
    May 20, 2017 / 6:50 am

    Visited here at Christmas and loved all the temples. The faces temple was my favourite so it's a shame you didn't properly visit
    However completely agree with the large groups of Japanese and Chinese tourists, they are just SO rude it started to really wind me up how little respect they had
    Sounds like you had an amazing day!

  5. Angie SilverSpoon
    May 26, 2017 / 9:25 am

    Despite pushy tourists you got some great pictures. I always find it hard to get pics without hordes of people in them.

  6. Catherine Lux
    July 6, 2017 / 10:47 am

    Thanks Angie! It really is difficult 🙁 x

  7. Catherine Lux
    July 6, 2017 / 10:48 am

    Oww, I'm still really sad we didn't get to see it properly – next time 🙂 x

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