Day 4 – Cambodia, 4am-8:30am

Having made the executive decision and a group choice of taking the sunrise tour we all woke up at 4am. Dad officially spoiled me rotten by waking me up with coffee. (my internal clock is still all fucked up – I woke up at 3am convinced its 4 and it’s time to get up) no packing or showers (those would be after the tour), just a quick getting ready we met our tuktuk driver at the gate.
It was pitch black, the roads were empty, only a few people riding bicycles. The motorcycle light lit the road with no other lighting coming our way.
A sleepy security guard checked our passed at some entrance to Angkor Wat and we made our way to the temple which stood in total, pitch blackness. It really was surreal – the driver just waved at a dark hole on the side of the road and we went forward with mom and dad welding tout fully prepared flashlights.
We were the first and the only people to enter the temple – dark walls revealed under the lights, no girls posing for photos in the arches, no sound except for some quiet bird squawks, just three of us and two beams of light. It was magic, absolutely unique and unforgettably special.
The entry had a wooden path that goes through three arches/rooms, and then you climb up massive stone steps upwards. All in pitch black. The climb is about 200 meters, with a platform halfway.
The top part has a centrally raised temple, and 4 smaller pillars on the 4 corners. The feeling of being alone, perceiving trees and other statues in the distance and massive stone structures around you, but the sky being full of stars, a glint of a horizontally hung crescent moon…. And then the roosters started to wake up and you could hear them crowing one by one, and all of that is just YOURS. Magic.
Of course eventually others showed up. First a couple (Italy and Norway) who after figuring out with us (using an iPhone, natch, since how else can you tell orientation in a 1000 year old temple?) which way was east (the way we came from which I guess makes sense as most temples face east, the side of birth and beginning, only those places that associate with death face west) left us mostly alone.
We took photos, we meditated in silence, we chatted quietly about how incredible it all is, and by the time sunrise came there were only 10-14 people including us. By 6:30 we came down and asked to go back to “Lara croft” temple (yes I shudder that I’m so damn ignorant) to try and actually enjoy it.
The decision to go back was almost the best one of the day, right after the decision to come for sunrise. We covered all the spots we saw the day before…but again, there were only a few people and because it’s a much bigger territory with many, many tunnels and doors and turns it was just the 3 of us the majority of the time in any given area. To stand in front of THOSE ruins and to be alone… Ah, it is priceless, it is the experience of a lifetime.
We got back with almost enough time for a rushed breakfast, showers, packing and check out – only 10 min late for our 8:30 pick up time.