Watching the sunrise over Angkor Wat is a virtual pre-requisite of any visit to Siem Reap and the Angkor temple complex nearby and mine was no different. It was my first full day of exploration on this trip and my guide, Soydy, was waiting for me outside the hotel doors early at 4.30am. Navigating my way around the sleeping front desk clerk and his hammock strung across the stairway, I climbed aboard Soydy's moto and we were off. The streets
were already alive with people despite the early hour and the darkness, although their shapes were a blur and only highlighted by the beam of our motorbike lights. We drove past the recently refurbished Grand d'Angkor hotel and out along the seven kilometre road to the temples. The cool breeze helped to wake me up as we slowed to a halt at the main ticket booth. Soydy had given me my temple pass when he picked me up and by torchlight, my ticket was inspected, stamped and signed. We carried on, speeding past a procession of locals making their way into the temple complex by bicycle.
At the foot of the steps to the broad causeway of Angkor Wat, Soydy bade me farewell as he remained with his moto. I immediately recognised my error in not bringing a torch as I stumbled along the 250 metre long causeway in complete darkness. Not able to see my own feet, my fingers were crossed that I didn't stray too far and fall into 
the moat surrounding the temple. Angkor Wat took nearly thirty years to build in the first half of the twelfth century 
under the kingship of Suryavarman II and is without doubt, an awesome architectural masterpiece and recognized as the largest temple in the world. It covers an area of 500 acres, its moat is 200 metres wide and the perimeter of the enclosure wall surrounding the temple measures a staggering 5.5 kilometres.
Sunrise at Angkor Wat.It wasn't my first visit to Angkor Wat and I had the benefit of recalling the layout in my head, but without the aid of light, I gingerly negotiated the steps to the western entry tower or gopura of the laterite enclosing wall and through the covered gallery. Since leaving Soydy, I had encountered no-one, although I knew from experience that members of the Cambodian army were doubtless resting in their hammocks close by.