(Note: The following was written during my trip and edited upon return)
Astonishingly, I managed to get my arse out of bed at 4.30am today. We were supposed to catch the spectacular sunset at Angkor Wat and despite us not sleeping well due to the freezing aircon and extremely thin pieces of cloth masquerading as blanket, we managed to bundle our sorry selves out to meet the driver, Somare, at 5am.
With a hot cup of Vietnamese coffee (given to me by a colleague who returned from Vietnam the day before I trooped off to Siem Reap) in one hand and a somewhat tough-as-nails loaf of cereal bread from Blue Pumpkin in the other, I sat through the bumpy ride without falling asleep. That was one magic of Siem Reap, we are all in bed before midnight everyday and are up by 6am with nary a grumble. Try replicating that in Singapore, we already have problems getting our sleep-infused minds to work at 9am. Okay, that is just me.
As we rounded the now familiar bend to reach Angkor Wat, we were rather surprised to see the moat crossing already full of people. Well, I guess we weren’t really surprised, it was, afterall, a very touristy thing to do, catching the sunrise at Angkor Wat.
The sunrise was, indeed, spectacular. Although Angkor Wat was teeming with tourists, there was, thankfully, enough space for all of us. You could literally see the colours of the sky changing, from dark mysterious blue to a light blue tinged with reds and oranges, to a full-fledged fiery orange one, all with the iconic outline of Angkor Wat blotting out the light. In another way, you could see the sky lightening as the shutter speed of my camera changed from 2 seconds (thank heavens for mega O.I.S!) to 1.6 to 1/4 etc.
The bad thing was, I had spent too much time trying to frame the perfect sunrise photo while outside of the main gates of Angkor Wat that I ended up missing out on the glorious azure of the sky turning into liquid gold. But I did manage to, with the aid of the low contrast, frame some rather nice photos of the silhouette of Angkor Wat against the bright saffron sky, with its reflection shining out of the lotus pad-filled pond in front of the temple.
There was just something very zen about the experience, for a lack of better word. It was really incredible seeing the skies lighten up with something which you had only seen on TV or in books before right in front of you. I felt as if I was witnessing a wonderful act of Mother Nature, and that I should be thankful for it even though it’s a daily occurrence. I think we do take things for granted back home, we just don’t stop and smell the roses enough. Everyday, we get out of bed dreading work, plant our butts on our chairs and not move much for the next nine, or 10 hours, and then drag our weary selves home. Is that what life is about?
One incident, though, marred the entire experience. As Trevor and I were on the steps leading up to the main building of Angkor Wat, taking photographs, I suddenly heard a loud crash behind me. When I turned around, I saw a strapping young Caucasian guy dashing down the steps and as I peered over the precipice, I saw another Caucasian man lying flat on his back, the wind knocked out of him. He looked stunned and could not manage to get up. Thankfully, he had no broken bones, his haversack protecting his spine, and managed to get onto his feet after a while, helped up by his female companion. Trevor later related how he had tried to stop the fall by hanging onto the edge but failed.
Have I ever mentioned how much I adore watching the waxing and waning of the day?
Maybe I am perverse.
(Photos of the trip can be found at my flickr set here)
