From the hotel in the morning, get yourself a remork. Let’s go to the
ticket booth even before they open the counter. Purchase a US$20-pax
pass & straight away go to the nearest check-point & there go
using a 1-day pass on the free day towards Angkor Wat complex.
Stop to snap few pictures at the entrance and rush into Angkor Wat
Complex for almost the whole morning to move from place to place to read
all the Khmer heritages.
Phnom Bakheng is the only temple built on top of a hill which can be
accessed by two ways, one way is by foot and another is by taking an
elephant ride up the slopes. The climb to the temple is reasonably
difficult, but not impossible. There are many other places, but people
still come here in throngs. This place is famous for sunset as everyday
hundreds of tourists flock to enjoy the sunset, offering a view of the
Tonle Sap Lake and a distant Angkor Wat, you can spot Angkor Wat from
afar. Always overcrowded at sunset.
Be there early, and you might get a place where you can actually see
the sun setting over Tonle Sap lake. Be there late, and you’ll only see
the backs of thousands of people. Sunset on Phnom Bakheng is not really
recommendable if you’re looking for a romantic thing to do with your
girlfriend, but if you want to take some interesting photos, this is the
place to be. First, you can watch and document people’s strange
attempts to climb up the steep stairs of the temple. Second, you can
watch the crowd go crazy when the sun approaches the surface of Tonle
Sap lake, illuminating it magically with its intensive orange light.
They will even start applauding! Third, and this is the no-nonsense
thing about sunset on Phnom Bakheng, you can take photos in the best
light conditions when everybody else is hectically descending down the
hill and the temple empties in some minutes.
Once you get to the top, you face a new challenge: getting a place to
sit and wait for the fabled sunset! and get your sunset shot. Well, a
lot of local and foreign tourists ! smiling, laughing, chatting,
enjoying new life on the top of Phnom Bakheng !
At 6pm, there are 1000 people, at 6.05pm, there are 500 people and at
6.15pm it’s just you and some others. Phnom Bakheng closes at 6.30pm,
you’d better pack up quickly and hurry downhill, to 1) not get trampled
by the crowd, and 2) still have some daylight left, so you can see where
you set foot.
