Don’t oversleep.
Set your alarm, and double check it. Or else you will wind up arriving at the temples in the stifling mid-morning heat and run out of steam very quickly.
Bring twice as much water as you think you need.
A hat/umbrella wouldn’t go astray, either, and make sure your knees and shoulders are covered. Unlike Thai temples, there aren’t scarves and coats provided for the improperly dressed.
Do not engage with any locals hanging out within the temples.
There will be children trying to sell you postcards and paintings, adults trying to give you a ‘blessing’ (for a fee of course), and who knows what else – one guy offered to take a photo of T and I together, then tried to usher us into a dark corner of Ta Phrom with him. I have no idea what he was up to, but I have no doubt it was scammy.
Be prepared for anything.
Of all the things I was expecting today, having a monkey latch onto my leg was not one of them. If you have any spare snacks, you could try feeding ‘em, though apparently they’re picky.
It starts to get interesting at about 1:20 (closeup) and 2:40 (where one takes it upon himself to latch onto my leg)
I have no words to describe the temples themselves. Awe-inspiring is probably as good as it gets.
They seem to lend themselves better to black and white shots.
That said, a couple of splashes of color were just begging to be captured.
Finally, here’s a wee 360-degree shot from inside one of the temples (Bayon?); I was quite taken with the sheer amount of rubble in this courtyard.
