Yesterday I was up for an entire 24 hours.

The alarms went off at 4:30am, which is a SICK time to wake up (the bad kind of sick). We went to the lobby where we were meeting up with our group, and waited around for our tuktuk. The front desk had arranged one for us the night before.

After 10 minutes we finally asked the receptionist when the tuktuk was coming and he shrugged and said “tuktuk not coming. Driver came but left when I tell him you want to go from sunrise to sunset.”

We looked at him incredulously: “What do you mean he’s not coming!? We’ve got to be there in 20 minutes or we’ll miss sunrise!!” (and I did NOT wake up at 4:30am to MISS sunrise!!).

So we run out and luckily find a tuktuk driver willing to take us right then and there. We cram five of us into the carriage (uncomfortable to say the least), and then his tuktuk proceeds to go about 20km an hour to the temples.

You know the most beautiful part of sunrise – where the dusk turns to vibrant pinks, reds and oranges that spread across the sky (for those of you like me who rarely see sunrise, it’s like sunset in reverse) – that’s the part that happened while we were still on the tuktuk.

We arrived at Angkor Wat just in time to catch the tail end of sunrise, which was beautiful enough, for sure, but we’d have quite liked to have gotten there 10 minutes earlier.

From there, we proceeded to spend the whole day scurrying from temple to temple, climbing about the ruins, and taking silly photos.

Sunset was nearly as spectacular as sunrise, with the sun becoming a huge red ball that sank into the distance in a perfect circle, untouched by a single cloud.

In the evening, we decided to go out and celebrate our very cultural day (and the fact that we can now tick Angkor Wat off the life’s to-do list). We went out for a lovely meal, and then proceeded to drink gin and tonics – something that is ALWAYS followed by copious amounts of dancing.

In fact, I danced so much, that I reached down and felt my dress, only to realize it was completely soaked with sweat. But it was amazing.

After that, Amy and I went to get some food at a street side stand, and were accosted by three beautiful children begging us for money. I bought them a tub of formula, which is what they chose from the store.

We later learned that they always get naïve falang to buy them formula, which they can then resell on the street for cash. I felt so stupid when I learned this, but at least now I know.

Amy and I finally called it a night as my alarm went off at 4:35am – the alarm I had set the day before to wake us up for Angkor Wat. It was a full 24 hours, and it was a wicked day.

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