You know Angkor Thom, the great city of the Angkor Kings. If you’ve even spent one day visiting the temples, it probably started with a trip to the South Gate and on to Bayon. Two million people each year follow the same route, and you can’t avoid them. Or can you? I know the area well, but I was determined to see some of the lesser known monuments without crowds and see what beauties of nature I could find. I chose to walk between the monuments and made a very nice 10km walk out of it. However, it’s perfect on bicycles or even using a tuk tuk to get from place to place (although that misses out on one of the best bits).
I, like those two million tourists, started at the South Gate. However there, our paths immediately diverged. I climbed up behind the gate on to the top of the great wall. The city itself is enclosed by a wall. In many places up to 10m high and with a total length of 12km, it’s largely intact. I started 
my walk West from the South Gate and was immediately impressed by the solitude and peace of the wall. The path was easy going, and pleasant. The way was shaded by trees and there was an abundance of nature around me. Not just the vegetation, but birds and insects calling in the bushes and a host of butterflies fluttering around me. It was like a private paradise on top of the wall. On my left hand (but never near enough to be scary) was the moat, with an occasional fisherman plying his centuries old skill. On my right was the jungle with the wildlife letting me know it was 
there. Heaven on earth! At the corner, there’s a temple. It’s small, but a notable landmark. Called Prasat Chrung, there are actually 4 – one in each corner built of sandstone and dedicated to Avalokiteshvara. I’ve made a note to visit the other three some time.
OK. After a few pictures back to the wall and now I turned North. One advantage is you can’t possibly get lost! There was one break in the wall. A collapsed section, but mercifully quite short. It’s a vain hope to think at some time they will rebuild it. Then I arrived at the West Gate. 
Each gate is similar. With a 23m high central tower, flanked by elephants and adorned with those enigmatic faces. The gates also have a causeway leading into the city over the moat. Each was originally flanked by gods on the left and demons on the right, pulling on a naga. The reference to the “Churning of the sea of milk” is explained to every tourist at the South Gate. Here, the balustrade was in a poor condition, but you could still see the remains of the figures. 
Oh, and if you’re following the pictures, the carpet of green at the sides of those odd looking walkways were water lilies. The “lush meadow” was actually the surface of the moat water.
From here I struck out East – that’s across the main body of Angkor Thom. The first stop was at West Prasat Top. 
I have to confess to being disappointed with this. The temple was covered in scaffolding and you couldn’t see very much at all. Still, not to worry. On again and towards 
the heart of Angkor. Just before Bayon, I stopped at Preah Sear. This is a collection of old stones with a modern temple built on them. Again, not the sort of thing most people would look at twice! But I did, 
and took the pictures, and was offered the tee shirt. I told the vendor I didn’t want one, and passed on. I refused to look at Bayon, or Baphuon, as they were covered with part of the two million tourists, I also bypassed Phimean Akas, although this didn’t look so bad. My target were the Suor Prat Towers. You know, the things people say were perhaps the towers the acrobats walked between, or maybe they were one for each of the zodiac signs. Well, I went there, and also to South Kleang. Fun, but hot out in the full sunshine. I didn’t stay as long as I perhaps should of. On again. I walked along the 
main road towards the Victory Gate, but detoured again to East Prasat Top. This was more interesting than its partner to the West and worth spending a few minutes. Now a real jungle trek, through the bush to the main West East Road. It didn’t take too long and my Google map showed my progress.
Reaching the road, I headed East to the East Gate. This was in worse condition than the West Gate but it had a group of children picnicking there. They all said hello as I passed outside and took the obligatory picture of the gate. The gate itself is in the poorest condition of any. The balustrade outside is completely missing. Some of the elephants have gone too.
Now back up on to the wall, and I disturbed a lad, trying to give back to nature behind the elephants trunks as I climbed on to the wall. He smiled and laughed and found somewhere else to relieve himself. I’m sure the gods of Angkor were themselves slightly pleased at this.
The wall was glorious again and I finally got to the Victory Gate. This was my 4th of the day and 4 out of 5 can’t be bad. The Victory Gate is in better condition than any except for the South Gate. But it’s original. The Gods and Demons don’t have modern heads on them (most don’t have heads at all) and it looked more authentic for all that.
Now to my final stops. Three small places outside the Victory Gate. The first two were real jewels and made the tour complete for me. Thommanom and Chau Say Thevoda are opposite each other on the road. They are not on the general tourist circuit – and I have no idea why. They should be, but I was glad they were not. The carving is exquisite and the structures are fairly well preserved. I even saw a ceiling in Thommanom, which I’d 
not seen anywhere else before. It completed an impression I’d had of temples. I could have spent a lot longer here. As it was I limited myself to almost an hour.
The final stop, of little architectural interest, was Spean Thma. It’s just a collection of stone piers, but it does butt up against the Siem Reap River. Oh by the way, there is a walkway and jetty from Chau Say to the river as well. There were a lot of children enjoying the river in the heat, but it looked too muddy for me to willingly join them.
I did have a plan to walk back to Siem Reap from here along the river, but alas the banks were too steep and I couldn’t see any possibility of a path. So I called my motorbike and got a lift back instead.
All in all a great day’s walking. And if anyone says you can’t see Angkor Thom without tourists, just put them in touch with me! If you’d like to accompany me on any walk, please just contact me and I’d be more than happy for the companionship. Maybe see you soon …
