Many of us do not know Angkor Wat, the world’s largest temple, located near the gateway city of Siem Reap, is just one of 72 landmark sites scattered across Cambodia’s 154-square-mile Angkor Archeological Park. Our local guide will provide you with in-depth insights into all Angkor Wat has to offer.
To get a better understanding, we took a close look at some of the highlights featured in this temple and which way to Angkor Wat from Vietnam. Let's get stated!😎😎😎
Which way to Angkor Wat from Vietnam
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(which way to angkor wat-source from @beautifulcambodia)[/caption]
Flights from Vietnam to Cambodia
Vietnam to Cambodia flights can be cheap. You can fly from most major cities in Vietnam to either Phnom Penh or Siem Reap.
However, flying is not the best way to travel from Vietnam to Cambodia. If you fly, you skip over all the fun parts of the journey — so we recommend going from Vietnam to Cambodia by bus or boat!!
Bus Vietnam to Cambodia
There are three routes that are most popular with tourists:
Route 1: Ho Chi Minh to Cambodia by bus
Depart for Ho Chi Minh City, the best route to Cambodia takes you to Phnom Penh. You can take a direct bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, which takes about 6.5 hours.
(👉👉👉Don’t miss top highlights in our best Cambodia tourshere)💞💞💞
Route 2: Vietnam to Cambodia by bus and boat
For a more scenic alternative to the bus-only route, take a bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Chau Doc or My Tho and then board a speedboat (the next morning) to Phnom Penh. Alternatively, you can arrange a boat tour from Saigon to Phnom Penh.
⛵️⛵️⛵️Read more: Small Group Tour - Angkor Temple - Wonder of The World
Route 3: Ho Chi Minh City to Kampot by bus and moto-taxi
- Get a bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Chau Doc. Because of the bus timings, you’ll probably need to stay there overnight.
- In the morning, get a minibus from Chau Doc to Ha Tien.
- From Ha Tien bus station, get a xe om (motorcycle taxi) to Oasis Bar in Ha Tien.
- The friendly owner at Oasis will arrange a motorcycle to drive you across the border to Kep or Kampot.
Note: In case you do not mind a long bus ride, you can get a bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Tien.
5 reasons you should travel Angkor Wat
1. Angkor’s Claim to Fame
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(angkor wat-source from @gs.travel)[/caption]
There is no doubt that the world has fallen in love with Angkor Wat: a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the largest religious monument in the world and you will be back to it’s founding in the 9th century.
2. Angkor and the Khmer Empire
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(Angkor Wat-source from @moinaroundtheworld)[/caption]
Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire, an enormous Hindu-Buddhist empire that extended from the coast of Vietnam to Bagan, Myanmar and included much of Thailand. By the 12th century, about a million people lived in Angkor, making it the world’s largest pre-industrial city.
The city had a hospital and a university of medicine (medicinal plants are still grown in Angkor). There were opulent shrines, terraces, towers, miles of decorated walls, and about a thousand temples. Crucial to the city’s survival was the intricate and unique hydraulic irrigation system that brought water to the people, their farmland and rice fields.
Although the jungle has intruded upon many of the landmarks, Angkor was never a truly “lost city.” In the 1500’s Portuguese and Spanish occupied it, adding some decorations of their own, and at least one Cambodian ruler attempted to restore Angkor Wat, rebuilding parts of it.
However, as trade with China and other countries became more important, capital cities of agrarian communities like Angkor gave way to newer commercial settlements on the coast. Eventually the city and its rice fields were slowly abandoned and nearly swallowed up by the jungle. Some historians also believe that invading Thai armies sacked Angkor.
In the 1860’s, when what is now Cambodia became a French colonial territory, Westerners “rediscovered” Angkor, and the exploration and restoration effort began.
3. Tonle Sap Lake
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(Tonlesap lake-source from @prerna_batra)[/caption]
Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It is , a tributary of the Mekong River, floods the Tonle Sap Lake in summer making it as much as five times larger than usual.
The Khmer people, utilizing engineering genius and ingenuity, created a complex and unique hydraulic system of reservoirs, water wheels and canals to make use of the dramatic ebb and flow of water with the seasons. The Khmer’s water management skills brought great wealth to the people, especially the royal families of the god-kings.
4. The best of the best
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(source from @jobaau)[/caption]
How long you stay in Siem Reap depends on your interests. Scholars stay there for months studying the lovely carved apsaras, or nymphs, that appear to be dancing along the ancient stonewalls of Angkor Wat and translating the reliefs depicting Hindu mythology and Buddhist texts.
We recommend spending no less than three days of your trip in Siem Reap, home to the hotels, restaurants and park entry. Since various rulers built these structures, each offers a unique insight into the art and architecture of the different Khmer empire eras.
A “Temple Safari” is especially fascinating. You camp near a temple such as Kol Ker and see it at sunrise, before many tourists come, and at sunset when they are gone.
5. Top 6 must-see landmarks in Angkor
1. The Roluos Group (879 CE)
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(Roluos Group-source from @murattegmenphotographer)[/caption]
Hariharilaya, or Roluos, a village not far from Siem Reap, is one of the earliest capitals of the Khmer Empire You can begin touring this group of pre-Angkor temples with a visit to the brick Lolei temple. It was originally set on an island in the center of the Indratataka baray (reservoir), the first man-made lake in Cambodia.
The next stop is Preah Ko (Sacred Bull), named in honor of the god Shiva’s mount, Nandi. Originally coated in stucco and painted, some of the ancient plaster is still visible on the rear towers. End with Prasat Bakong, the first of the temple mountains that would become the architectural signature of Khmer kings. Giant stone elephants guard the lower levels of this enormous pyramid and mark the cardinal points.
2. Banteay Srei (967 CE)
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(Banteay Srei-source from @dumitrip)[/caption]
Banteay Srei is the high point of Angkor art. Instead of military processions, intricately carved Hindu deities and myths, vines and flours, mythical beasts, and scrolls cover every square inch of this rosy-pink sandstone sanctuary.
Although the temple is dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva, you may hear the sanctuary of Banteay Srei referred to as the “Citadel of Women,” because of the voluptuous dancing girls along its walls. (Souvenir copies of these goddesses in all sizes are sold in Siem Reap shops.)
3. Takeo (975 CE)
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(Takeo-source from @bestofcambodia)[/caption]
Many of the enormous blocks of sandstone used to build this three-story temple and its five towers still stand. A thousand years ago, the terraces, stairways, and sanctuaries of this first “temple mountain” marked a new era of Khmer architecture.
4. Angkor Thom (1113 CE)
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(Angkor Thom-source from @pimpatty)[/caption]
This “new” city, built beyond the walls of Angkor Wat, is a fortress. On your first step onto its causeway entrance, the 108 giant, somber statues of mythological figures spark your imagination. It is said that this “rainbow bridge” is meant to link the human world at one end of the causeway to the world of gods within the temple.
The main entry towers or gopura are decorated with enormous enigmatic faces, each one pointed in a cardinal direction. (It’s said that the faces resemble the king who built Angkor Thom.) In the center is the Bayon temple that set in stone the “Bayon style” of architecture.
This complex was built over an older complex, and incorporated some of those earlier temples into its own construction. Some experts believe that that the Elephant Terrace from which the king viewed celebrations was also part of the earlier structure. More deities and divinities than you can count decorate the Royal Terrace. Some say this is the site of the royal crematorium and others say that the crematorium was at the Terrace of the Leper King.
5. Ta Prohm (1186 CE)
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(Ta Prohm-source rom @finduslost)[/caption]
Ta Prohm is a royal city and a religious and commercial center, covering about 150 acres. Nowaday, the many stones of the temple lay about like a baby giant’s scattered toys. The few remaining doorways and ceiling-less rooms appear to be partially consumed by giant roots of silk cotton trees covered with tentacles of strangling fig trees.
Other than careful manicuring from time to time, this is one temple that is not slated for reconstruction. Tourists are fascinated by its mysterious aura and feel as if they are encountering a “lost” city. Few can resist taking a “selfie” in a dark temple doorway being captured by enormous tree roots.
6. Angkor Wat (1113 CE)
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Angkor Wat[/caption]
The square, symmetrical layout of the temple is typical of Khmer architecture. It is so vast that along with the open spaces and covered walkways, there is room for a artificial mountain and a royal palace.
It is designed to mimic the Hindu universe in miniature, including five towers that represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, the home of the gods.
Over two centuries, sculpted wall reliefs became a Khmer specialty, and they are everywhere you turn in Angkor Wat. Like a Khmer version of a graphic novel, a half-mile long wall may depict a scene from a Hindu epic, document a real-life historical procession, and even convey scenes of the Khmer idea of heaven and hell.
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