Alright, time to pick up the story where we last ended. I have taken enough time with writing this post already, and as previously noted, I even managed to travel to Hong Kong before I finished the story about Cambodia. Turns out travelling every weekend can be hectic, which is why I am looking forward to taking this coming weekend off. Anyways, let us begin…

The alarm set off at 3:20, and my usual inability to wake up before the fifth alarm was gone, as I slept in the top bunk and thus had to make some quick athletic exercises in order to stop the alarm from waking up the others in our room who were not going to join us for our trip. I quickly awakened, showered and took some leftover shower gel, brushed my teeth, put on sunscreen, mosquito spray and took a malaria pill. So did the others. At least most of the process. And it took us about half an hour to get ready.

Downstairs, just outside our hostel, our Tuk-Tuk driver Huang awaited us. We quickly jumped in to the Tuk-Tuk and started driving through the night to the ticket office. At the ticket office, we quickly saw the popularity of this tourist attraction, as hundreds of people were queuing for the same purpose - to take a photo of Angkor Wat during sunrise in order to brag to their friends and family about their experience. Oops, I guess I am no different from the herd…

After the ticket office, Huang once again awaited us to take us to Angkor Wat. Once we arrived, there was a big moat (på svenska: vallgrav) surrounding the temple, which could be seen in the far background, behind a building which reminded me of a wall. In order to get accross, we had to cross a bridge made out of plastic boxes floating on the water, which was a very peculiar feeling in the darkness when the expectation was to walk on something rigid and solid; not something bending by your footsteps.

From this point forward, the temple started growing in both size and beauty, as we made our way to the famous spot for photography, as some of you might have noticed by the google photos album. It was an unforgettable morning right then and there at 5 am - especially when it started to dawn upon me how lucky we were to get this opportunity. First of all, it was rain season, which meant no guarantees for the sun to even show up. Secondly, our gang got along extremely well for some reason, with no troubles or quarrels; everybody happy with each other’s company and the journey, and everybody being able to relax and be themselves. Thirdly, how many others get to do exchange studies like these in their mid 20s in the world? Just take a look at the photos below:

These make up about 1/10 of the photos I took, as most of them were selfies or portraits of me and Sara, the son of Kristian, while we were unsuccessfully trying to take the next profile picture, in order to feed off of enemies’, acquaintances’, ‘friends’, family’s envy. Turns out the object of focus too often became the tricycle in front of the temple. I believe the German term I have learnt in class is correct here: NEIN!

Having taken a ton of pictures of the temple, we happily made our way to the next temple, Angkor Thom, with Huang the Tuk-Tuk driver who let us play music. We became the Dunk-Dunk Tuk-Tuk until we stopped nearby the temple to eat breakfast close to a Buddhist sort of Monastery. We saw monkeys strolling around like nothing - they were like deer to these people. All the while waiting for the temple to open. This is also a tip for future travellers: most people will try to go into the Angkor Wat temple after the sunrise, but do this in the afternoon instead, and immediately go to the next temple instead, so you can avoid the crowds.

7:20 was the time we entered Angkor Thom, the temple of stone faces. We were almost alone in the temple in the beginning, and once again took alot of photos of the temple and each other, as you can see in the google photos album.

Exiting the temple, Huang Tuk-Tuk awaited us once again and took us to the next temple. We stopped by a couple of other temples, Chau Say Savoda and Thommanon, which were closer to the nature and had a more calm atmosphere to them. That is until I heard Lukas saying that Pol Pot used many of these temples as execution platforms for his population. Yikes!

Moving on, we had to stop by the toilets really quick, which were really fresh and made it all into a nice break before we entered the Ta Keo temple, a Hindu temple in part dedicated to the Shiva God. Something which could be seen by the holy cow statue in it.

Next up was Ta Prohm, which was one of the nicest temples. It was quite different from the other temples, as we first had to walk on a long path with nice street music played by landmine victims.

The temple itself had been quite swallowed by nature and had trees with massive roots growing out of it, and it provided a nice contrast to the previous more stone focused temples. It is considered the Tomb raider temple of Angkor Wat.

After this, we stopped by Banteay Kdei, a buddhist temple, to eat the rest of the breakfast/lunch we had packed for the trip. It was an impressive temple, of course, but it reminded me alot of Ta Prohm, and I think we had all started to get tired of seeing temples by this point. Before we left for lunch, though, we went across the street to Srah Srang to get a good view of the baray. Something that was extremely hot in the sun, but very worth doing, as the view of such a large body of water felt like a very nice contrast to the general area surrounding it. Anyways, exhausted from the heat and walking, we fled into a restaurant equipped with AC, where we gave Huang a free lunch. It was not that cheap - around 8 USD per person for food and drink - but it was definitely worth it, as it revitalized us for our last temple visit, Angkor Wat.

Entering the temple, it started raining, which was very welcome, as it cooled down the air. Eric the kiwi (who apparently thinks check in luggage is chicken nuggets - at least according to his accent) started telling stories about the things we saw in the temple, and for a minute it felt as though we had gotten ourselves a private tour guide with insider knowledge. We entered the main temple, which had three floors, and quickly made our way to the top floor to get a view of the whole area.

The view was SO cool.

Yes, Sara knows how to caption extraordinary imagery. Almost as much as Lukas knows how to put imagery to great captions. As much as Eric likes to plan for the story to come. An unfolded story for me to tell you. A piece of the past taken from the present with a big smile. I like getting philosophical at times, and it is in moments such as these where you realize that good times are spent through the eyes of a kid.

We went through the side of the temple to exit it. The walls were filled with engravings of war involving men and gods. Having exited, Sara told us how she had been here a few years earlier with a friend and painfully exited the temple on a day with extreme heat. The market nearby became their saviour, as they bought lots of coca cola and water. This time, it was just annoying, as the working people tried hard to sell their stuff to us - just like the 20 other stands we had seen that day had tried to. We ignored these ladies as well, and made our way back to Huang, who took us back to the Hostel. For a whole day’s ride with him, it only cost us 25 USD plus voluntarily given lunch and a tip. We got back to the hostel around 15 if I remember correctly, exhausted. With these words, I will let the Angkor Wat temple be a finished chapter.

The second day did not finish there, however. I had a headache as I had been hit by a sunstroke, and we took a long pause by the pool to regain our energy. We also realized that one of the girls who had slept in our room was very angry with us, as she would only respond hastily and give us angry looks. Naturally, we started to wonder why and later on getting mad for her getting unreasonably angry with us for having maybe woken her up in the morning. The only thing is, I think the leftover shower gel I used in the morning and evening was not actually leftover. Especially since it disappeared when she left. Yup, I think she got mad at us for me having leeched off of her some of here shower gel… Sorry!

But I am not that sorry, because we soon took a Khmer massage for 12 USD at the Lotus Dream spa for me, Sara and Eric. It was a really cheap and enjoyable massage that lasted for an hour, and I felt extremely flexible and calm afterwards.

Lucas joined up with us after we finished, and together we made our way to the Try me! restaurant, which was highly recommended as a great cheap restaurant in Siem Reap. The prices for our dishes were 2.5 USD for the dish and 1.5 USD for a beer, if I remember correctly. I happily ordered a spicy chili dish, whereas Eric tried out the Amok fish today, and the others ate some other random dishes. I was very happy with my choice when I first started eating. That is, until everyone pointed out that I and Eric both were eating Amok fish. Turns out I had told the waiter that I wanted Amok fish. The second day in a row. Out of three. Yup, I had wasted a dinner worth of opportunities to try out new food… I am now known as Amok Fish in our group chat.

The story is not finished here, however. Next up is the last part - the fishing village. And now I am going to sleep. At 3 am. Yup, this post took 4 hours to finish, and I have a feeling there is alot to read and watch through as well. Hope you enjoy the material!