Exploring Angkor Wat In Cambodia – The World’s Biggest Religious Site
Situated just seven kilometers north of CME is Angkor Wat the largest religious monument in the world it’s one of the Seven Wonders of the World and today I’m going to take a bicycle cycle up there and take a look all right that’s the first part of the journey down there I’m
Now at the ticket office which is absolutely miles away from the actual temples itself who knows why the ticket office is so far away but I found it okay but then took about 10 minutes trying to find out how to actually get in the place I basically just won the day ticket
Which is 37 dollars well that’s a three days three days seven dollars this is the one day well that was easy enough straight in and straight out got straight to the counter got my ticket and yeah got a map I think I’m about halfway there from where I set off
But it’s all pretty flat so it’s an easy cycle that’s a good sign well I guess that means that I haven’t got far to go now I do remember this road from last time it’s just a big long road that leads from CM reap right to the heart of anchor one
I’ve just had to go through a ticket control where they basically weighed me in and they had to punch my ticket it’s a bit odd because all these cars are flying past and none of them had to do that so I don’t know what that was all about but anyway yeah hopefully
Shouldn’t be too long and here we are then at the entrance to Anchor what this is the first temple on the tour we’re going to be seeing quite a few today Between the 8th and 15th century anchor was the capital of the Khmer Empire in the early part of the 12th century anchor wat was built at the behest of King sui Yemen it was originally a Hindu temple but by the end of the century you know transformed into a Buddhist temple
It’s the largest religious site in the world and this what we’re looking at now it’s actually just the entrance this is the Western gate the whole complex is surrounded by this huge malt actually just the Western gate you can see all around there’s another one up there we have these Butters
If you look at the walls carefully got the carvings this goes on all the way around even here a lot of work went into building this so we’re just coming out of the west gate now and this is our first sight of anchor Wat over there just before we reach anchor itself
We have these two buildings identical on either side I’m not exactly sure what they are but they are open we can go and have a look there’s no information about these just to sign outside but that’s just about the restoration of the entire site well the actual Temple not only is it
Surrounded by the molt but runs for five kilometers around the perimeter but then you have the um the outer Gates we’ve just come through the western side and then you have more gates surrounding the perimeter so this is the inner gate and the temple is in the center
Unusually for a Hindu temple it actually faces the west and historians are not exactly sure why it literally just come out from the main entrance here we can see the main road that I’ve just walked up straight through the main entrance and as soon as
You come in you turn over to your left and your right and you have this straight away wow not sure whether these would be filled with water everywhere you look you know tucked away in the corner I just spot some stairs over here no one seems to be in this one for some reason I guess it’s because the last one you come to before you come and start climbing the stairs up to the main Temple is this I think this is just another staircase just an alternative I don’t
Think it takes you anywhere different Ly ancient scripts on the wall when you think a building of this size all the carvings apparently it took 28 years to build right we’re in the main Courtyard now when I was reading the guides I bought various blogs online it says to wear sensible Footwear you can see why these bloody stairs
I’m not sure if that class is a sensible Footwear right these look a little bit easier than the other ones I’ve already really high up I’ve just had to climb those really steep steps to get up here and then when you get to the top and you get this I’m not sure whether you can actually climb up there there’s just appear to be someone over there but I’m not sure if
He looks like he works so you know let’s take a walk around and have a look so this is the central tower in the uncle Temple and originally when it was a Hindu temple this would have housed a statue of Vishnu and when it became what is Temple the
Four entrances on either side of the square in the middle was filled in with sandstone and each one what’s that home to a Buddha so there’s a Buddha in each one of the four entrances this is the Southwest Tower and they’ve just started conservation because as you can see all this is
What’s Falling Away the tower is in such bad condition all this has kind of collapsed away but they are trying to conserve it now but you can only prolong well actually exists they come out with it and restore the damage that already exists so this is this is here forever now
This might be the best view from this side actually and to what’s been in the news recently because in England some fellow has just passed away and they’ve found loads and loads of stolen artifacts command artifacts that it’s believed I’ve been stolen from here stuffed in suitcases four suitcases gold
And ornamental objects that have been confirmed to have originated from Angkor Wat because archaeologists can see where they would have been some Block in England with four suitcases full of come here artifacts from anchor what I wonder if he knew how much he was sitting on saw the Buddhas in various States of
Disrepair Well just look at this this base relief which goes on right to the end it’s a concluding episode of the Mahabharata a renowned Indian epic Tale to see the battles this is really well preserved here it gives you information 45 48.5 meters long so I just come to the side of Angkor Wat
Because I spotted this uh Temple and there’s a few food places and souvenir shops just down there and of course as soon as you walk down the woman’s coming out with the menu you know trying to get you in her little restaurant trying to get you to buy drinks
Maybe she’s called store number two and I’m walking this way and then yeah the woman’s trying to get me to go to the toilet I don’t know if you have to pay I don’t know if that’s her business or what because she’s like how are you looking
To the toilet come to the toilet let’s come up again well we’ve got mermaid number two we’ve got Jack Sparrow number three Lady Gaga and Harry Potter number four white girl number five and honey number seven ladybird no Rumble Nelly rapper how the hell was I want me well that’s anchor Watson
And now my next one is a temple called Numb by King which is about a 10 minute cycle ride up this road straight all the way so now we’re at the numb backing Temple and the guy who checked my ticket but that most people come here for sunset
You have to climb to the top so it offers good views apparently I don’t know how much is still up there I don’t remember doing this last time I think I must have cycled past it I don’t remember doing any climbing I don’t even know if I’m going the right
Way well it’s there I’m above it so how do I get to it 10th Century this so This is actually older than angkorbot and it’s the only pyramid Temple from that area that survived I’ve just had a look on Google Maps at the reviews and literally every
Single of you said it’s the perfect place for sunset now obviously it’s like half past 12 or something maybe this is a bit of a wasted journey I don’t know the actual Temple I was coming to see is down here but this part’s taking me up to the top so who knows
I’ve just asked a couple of people who are on their way back down if there was actually anything up there or was it just a Viewpoint and they said there is a temple up there but um he said the view is better than the temple and this one down here I need to
Take a separate path so let’s go up anyway well I’m not exactly sure what to do here there’s a sign saying do not climb how’s that working man are there some more States is that like the exit there’s literally no one up here so I don’t think it’s going to matter too much
When you think that when work began on anchor walk this had already been here for 200 years and there’s no one here at all incredible well this really is ruins this began Life as a Hindi example can’t see any traces of any conversion to Buddhism it’s nice views we’ve got a better view
Of the reservoir now you can see why this is the place to come to watch the sunset well managed to get to the actual Temple which I came here to see look at the webs look at that little Loop there in the webs this is the Tony on gate this is going
To lead us to the Bion Temple here we are then at the Bion Temple 12th or 13th century this one this was built as a buddy’s Temple and this one is famous for all its uh face carvings which you’ll not be able to see yet but hopefully we’ll be able
To get a closer look again you can see every single pillar has these carvings it’s just incredible the amount of work that must have gone in it’s a building nothing look at this huge base relief Is it basically for battery life it’s incredible see the faces on top they’ve all got them and some of them are more worn than others this one it’s a little bit lower down like they’ve all got these faces carved in Buddha images this is the Khmer Army on the March riding elephants
Carrying Spears it just goes on and on I thought it was just at one side to put it just continues surrounding the whole place it’s just amazing the whole perimeter is surrounded by these depictions of battles and everyday life during the Khmer Empire period there are actually three routes
On the map when you come in various lengths and the longest one is one hour 55 minutes to walk around this Temple it’s crazy I’ve just jumped right in the middle now this one to me is more impressive than Angkor Wat wasn’t expecting to go up some stairs
He used to be able to go up there of course since 2020 so the last time I was here I would have gone up there okay this Temple is just crazy there’s just so much going on okay so it probably down there it’s just like a mess
And you spend all your time walking around and looking and then you just look up and you just got all of this it’s incredible There’s no real Direction really you just have to get in and just wander around I seem to be going the opposite way of all the arrows sort of way of visiting but you can’t follow them I mean you just miss everything it’s like you’re walking around and then
You come to what you think’s are done it’s like your two levels up I can’t remember climbing up any stairs especially this is the base of one of the towers with the carved faces and so we’re right up to it but it’s just that everything is so like crunched together
It’s barely any space to walk and it’s just rooms and corridors everywhere everything has all these carvings look at this all right the next one is the Terrace of elephants 12th century this one well these aren’t elephants ah here we go here we are elephant there elephant there
You can see the elephants the trunk with even a lot of tusks on this one on these two side here you’ve got more elephants so these Terrace of elephants served as a viewing platform for the king the anchor King jayavaraman the seventh the palace used to be here but that’s
Pretty much long gone there’s not much of that remains and the king would use the platform to view his returning Victorious Army public ceremonies would take place in this area let’s go up and have a look I reckon that this is All That Remains of the palace
I’ve just had a look on Google and it just said that very little of the palace remains so I’m guessing that’s all this is this entire area would have belonged to the king this would be where the king’s Palace is and I’ve just looked at a map and apparently
The Royal Palace it was like way over there so I can see the walls the walls that go around so this is a huge site and there is actually something here in the middle that has actually survived I’m not sure why the palace is no longer here yourself
Oh Google Maps is so bloody clever because on the description for uh this place it describes it as an ancient Hindu pyramid Temple dating to the 10th Century with sculptures and then now close to staircase I think the next one is going to be my last one tap prom
Now fans of Tomb Raider will recognize this one because this is where the film Tomb Raider was shot I think this is going to be the best one to be honest for my memories of last time I was here this is uh yeah the most impressive so I
Think it’s a few kilometers away it’s a nice straight road with a slight uh descends so it’s easy to to cycle so we’ve come to the Eastern Gate now this is gonna take us out of this area that we’ve just been exploring for the past hour or so
And uh yeah it’s a prom is somewhere over there when we entered this area through the southern gate all of the statues on either side of the roads that lead up to the gate were all something tight but here yeah what a difference I wonder why that is there’s just the
Odd one that still has a head not quite outcome here on the way down I’ve just come across this one so I thought I’d step inside and take a look nice bit of handiwork there just on the other side of the lodge from that Temple I just stopped it’s off that
There’s this one this one looks pretty cool actually the guy over here he sells like um uh scratchings rubbings and then when you put the print on the walls and and then kind of use chalk and stuff like that or like Wax crayons to get like a rubbing of the
Um of the carvings and it looked really nice and it comes in a little like kind of basket uh case and I’ve got no room for it and I’m not going to be carrying it around anywhere but like I said now I’m okay I’m okay it’s one dollar one bloody dollar
You can feel it feel it I know but the thing is my friend I’m traveling May travel a long time long time so yeah I got at the moment two years so you can bend that you can fold it yeah yeah one month two months still traveling one
Year you see it still is fine that’s wise people I know but I can’t it’s absolutely amazing man and for one one dollar it’s absolutely one dollar you said yeah one dollar that’s that’s crazy that’s crazy yeah yeah this is the monkey’s King this from ankle web Temple
You’ve Been ankle yeah yeah yeah yeah the monkey’s King had a man so they had chap kill the demons okay ten face and twenty arm you’re riding on the Chariot on a monster if I was on holiday I would buy one yeah travel I can’t you know
It’s like this I’ve got this clothes and stuff like that good luck my friend it’s amazing one dollar is an absolute bargain here we go then at the final Temple tap prom this is the one made famous by the film Tomb Raider I think I’ve come in the East entrance
No I haven’t I’ve come in the west entrance so let’s have a look then I wondered where the lovely music was coming from Doc’s chilling out Okay so Victims of uh mines there was a couple of people on one of the temples earlier that was saying please buy our CD they’re victims of landmines but they weren’t playing anything I don’t know what it sounded like that sounds really nice oh we have these wire visit signs again
Let’s see if these actually help this time or whether they just disappear on the corner foreign and this is what it’s famous for all the trees that have overgrown the old rings I’ll see uh quite a bit of that as we walk around look at that no hole in that burger back I like how they have a sign saying be careful because of this tree that’s just kind of going across the path and then you get here where is it Okay so I think this is the number one place where people come and have photos might be still a little while to be honest
This is just amazing let’s see this And this is the view from the other side bloody sun’s not open so there let’s get out of there see this huge loot through the tree check this one out That’s crazy why is this one coming from what the hell let’s see if we can get a view of it over here screw your wall there’s nothing like spreading out is there get this right down here it keeps on going and this one which comes along the top of this wall
And then bursts through and comes out on the other side and that’s it for my exploration of Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples it’s been a good bit it’s been a tiring day I’ve done a lot of kilometers on the bike and I’ve still got a lot to go
Because I’ve got to cycle back to Siem Reap which I think it’s about 10 kilometers where I’m actually further away now than I was to get here because yeah the first stop was anchor wall and this is further away so it’s about 10 kilometers break so um
If you come to see me then you you’re obviously going to come here it’s very expensive but you know it’s one of the wonders of the world and it’s definitely worth checking out at least once well the cycle back was 14 kilometers am I glad to be back on My Feet Again
Very long siphoned we do the whole thing and then your longest cycle ride is the very last one now I’ve only had the dragon fruit smoothie all day so before I go home and shower and get ready to come out again for the night I need some food
And how the hell do you get a bloody Blue Hawaii soda around here what have you got from there let me see
My final destination in the country of Cambodia was it’s most famous site. Angkor Wat is the world’s biggest religious site and a must-visit when in the country.
I decided to cycle to the site and explore by bike. A whopping 40 km round trip!
I also explored Bayon with its smiling stone faces and Ta Prohm, made famous by the Tomb Raider movie. There were many other temples in between. I explored much of the vast site and got it all done in one day.
It’s not cheap to visit the temples but it is something you can’t really miss when in Cambodia.
Join me as I visit the world’s biggest religious site.
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