Turn Down for Wat?

Last night I booked a tuk-tuk driver for Angkor Wat through my hostel. I paid a bit extra to see it at sunrise which I had been told was an amazing sight. Unfortunately, this meant leaving the hostel at 4:45 AM.

I woke up early this morning and met my tuk-tuk driver outside the hostel. He drove me to the Angkor Wat site and I bought my ticket.

I didn't know they were going to take a photo. Didn't turn out well.

After that, the driver dropped me off at the main site, Angkor Wat. It still was an hour or so till sunrise so I waited around with the thousands of other tourists doing the same. Eventually, the sun came up, I explored for a bit, then hopped back into the tuk-tuk.

The tour I had booked was the "short circuit" and it covered about half a dozen different sites. Some people buy three day passes to explore more but one day was enough for me. The driver would drop me off, I would explore the site, then return to the tuk-tuk and move to the next site. 

Like the Grand Palace in Bangkok, it was a strange contrast between the ancient and the modern. The structures were all amazing but they were crowded with tourists and pushy vendors.  It was still really cool to see but I would have preferred not to be constantly bothered with endless chants of "Hello, sir! Fruit shake? Painting? Guide book?"

A few of the structures I visited were also under renovations. Signs announced what countries (China, India, etc.) were collaborating with Cambodia on the effort.

After a few hours at Angkor Wat, the tuk-tuk returned me to my hostel and I went back to sleep for a while. It's not even noon yet so I don't know what I'll do for the rest of the day. I'll figure something out.

Proof that I didn't just pull all these photos off Google.