We headed to the Temples of Angkor at 4.45pm, the day before we planned to go, as we were told that if we purchased our ticket then, we'd get a 'free' sunset inside the complex, as the ticket doesn't begin until the following day. So, we followed the crowds and headed up the very steep climb to the temple of Phnom Bakheng (it was like a cliff face!). At the top, there were hundreds of other tourists, headed to watch the sunset over Angkor Wat and Tonle Sap lake. The view was really good, but it was difficult to soak up the atmosphere with the hoards of other tourists!

The next day we were picked up by our Tuk Tuk driver at 5.15am so we could get to the temples as the sun came up. We decided not to head to the main temple of Angkor Wat, but went further into the forest to the Temple of Bayon, which looks like rubble from afar, but into the stone are carved hundreds of smiling faces - which we thought would look good at sunrise! We arrived, however, to find we we the only people there - which was fantastic! We were so excited, until it came to walking into the ruin; alone, in the pitch black, with animal noises not too far away!! But after our eyes adjusted and the sun slowly crept up, it was amazing; we got to explore the temple without any of the crowds!

Bayon was built by Jayavarman VII and has 54 gothic towers and 216 smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara carved into the stone. The temple stands in the exact centre of the ancient walled city of Angkor Thom.

After we'd taken a gazzilion pictures of Bayon, we then headed 20km further to Banteay Srei (built 967), the smallest site in Angkor and a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva. It has some of the finest stone carving on the planet and it is thought that only this type of intricate work could have been done by a woman; we agree!

Afterwards, we headed back toward the centre of Angkor and to Ta Prohm, the famous temple that features in the Tomb Raider film. The temple has been left as it was found in the 1860's, by French explorers. The jungle has grown in and around the temple (see photos) which camoflages the temple. Luckily, we arrived as a big tour group headed to Siem for lunch, so again we were left to explore the site, with only a handful of people - which is definitely the way to do it!

Finally, we headed to the Mother of all temples, Angkor Wat, for sunset. This is the biggest of the sites and was built as a tomb and temple for Suryavarman II and honours the Hindu God of Vishnu. The temple is set within the walls of Angkor Wat and is situated at the top of a VERY steep set of stairs which we thought we weren't going to be able to get down, after an attack of vertigo; we nearly had to stay there forever! The photo really doesn't show how scary this was, we weren't being dramatic, honest!!

All in all we really enjoyed our day exploring the temples, but we can understand why some people choose the 3 day or week long ticket, as we didn't even see half of the temples and would like to come back to finish them off one day!