Angkor Wat

We booked a photography tour of Angkor Wat with Angkor Photography who boasts of professional photographers who take you to the best spots to get great pictures without crowds of other tourists and charged a pretty penny for it. It was $79 per person and $4 for tripod rental. It doesn't sound like much for a full day photography guided tour but considering the average monthly income in Cambodia is $66, it's a lot for this market. However, I have to say it was worth every penny, possibly more.

Our hotel was nice enough to pack us breakfast since we were being picked up at 4:45 for our tour. When we arrived at Angkor Wat, or guide took us away from the crowds to the right of the main viewing area and set up my tripod for me. He helped me with my camera settings and taught me a bunch. The pictures were fantastic. He was worried about how nice the sunrise would be since it's less pretty during the dry season so I used my superpower to wish for a beautiful sunrise.

The photography website warned that their guides are mainly photographers and wouldn't know the history or cultural story to tell us. However, we had the best guide possible. Ota was a photo journalist in Europe and then came to Cambodia to photograph archeologists so he was an expert on photography and history/culture. He was fantastic and taught me all about the Khmer kings, their religion and believes. It was really all I could have wanted. He also taught be a lot about photography and how to use my camera as well as show me how to take better pictures. He knew all the secret spots and definitely helped us avoid the crowds.

It was a great day. We visited Angkor Wat, Thon Phenom (of tomb raider fame), Baton, and several smaller temples. The day was perfect except when I lost my cell phone on a particularly bumpy portion of our tuktuk travels. I tried to look for it but the sides of the road was coated in dirt and leaves and luck was not on my side.

After returning from the tour, I had a lovely foot massage and then dinner at the hotel. Oh, for lunch I had Khmer amok with fish which was like a mild green curry though it was actually a yellow curry, very tasty. I also tried iced Khmer coffee which was like a coffee milkshake.
All in all, a great day despite the loss of my phone (Samsung I miss you)/