Let us endeavor to open your eyes wider to appreciate even more some of the special sights you'll see at Angkor Wat.
The Hindu Deities
The Khmers install Hindu deities in their temples to be worshiped there and carve their legends on bas-relief illustrations with exquisite skill. Bas-reliefs are sculptures in which the figures project slightly from the background. Knowing the deities provides you with interesting and deep insights into the temples that tourists don't normally have.
Vishnu
Vishnu is the protector. He preserves universal order and restores the cosmic balance between good and evil. When the world is threatened by destructive forces, he takes on an earthly form to intervene. Angkor Wat is dedicated to him.
Rama
Rama is the 7th incarnation of Vishnu, the preserver who descends to Earth to abolish Ravana's tyrannical rule. He defeats the forces of evil and rescues his wife Sita in the Battle of Lanka. This scene is the climax of the epic Ramayana and is carved on the northern section of the west gallery.
Hanuman
Hanuman is a devotee of Rama and participates in the battle of Lanka against the demon Ravana. He is easy to identify as a monkey.
Ravana
Ravana is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic Ramayana. He is described as having ten heads and as being a maestro of the veena (a plucked stringed instrument). He kidnaps Sita, Rama's wife, which incurs the vengeance of Rama.
Krishna
Krishna is the 8th incarnation of Vishnu. He spends his childhood disguised as a cowherd, to avoid discovery by Kamsa, a demon; so he is often portrayed as a young boy playing a flute in relaxed pose.
Another common portrayal of Krishna is as a charioteer on the Kurukshetra battlefield of the epic Mahabharata, when he helped the Pandavas defeat the Kauravas. A scene depicting the battle is carved on the southern section of the west gallery.
Another scene on the eastern section of the north gallery shows Krishna riding the bird Garuda, and defeating the asura Bana.
Asuras
Asuras are a type of supernatural being. They are often malevolent and compete against the benevolent gods.
Apsaras
In Hindu mythology, apsaras are female spirits of the clouds and waters; celestial maidens. They appear in great numbers on the bas-relief of Churning of the Sea of Milk.
The detailed carvings of nearly 2,000 sensual apsaras, lining the walls in alluring poses, are highlights at Angkor Wat. Each is unique, wearing ornate jewelry and different headgear.




98.8% positive customer reviews among 10,000+
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Trip-of-a-lifetime
In addition, I want to specifically mention the guides provided in certain locations. Rum, in Siem Reap, made the most memorable experience possible. His positivity was contagious - even when it felt like 1000 degrees and we were tired. He brought it all to life, and created a couple days of Ankor Wat, etc. that we will never forget! He heard my daughter's request for specific Cambodian food, and changed our itinerary to go to a village and eat at a locally known shop. He brought the dessert she asked about to us in the car! Overall, he and his driver "Lucky" were a reason to go to Siem Reap. In addition, the other guides (minus one which was switched out immediately) were stupendous. Mon in Bangkok was friendly and provided a great day there; Eak in Chiang Mai gave us a world-class food-tour and day touring the city and its surrounding temples with lots of laughs; Tommy in Hanoi kept us from getting killed in the traffic and gave a stupendous food and architecture/history tour - so very friendly and funny; the fishing village tour in Hoi An, as well as the side-car tour in Saigon, were both unforgettable! Thank you Sharon, and Asia Highlights. Would definitely use again for future trips! More
Teri Simpson,
Apr 2023
|
Cambodia and Vietnam adventure!
Our guide in Cambodia, Meas Darapolaith (Pol), was absolutely amazing. He was knowledgeable, friendly and so helpful. His English was excellent and he shared important insights about history and the magnificent sites we visited. We highly recommend him! More
Jennifer Roth Krieger,
Apr 2023
|
My daughter and I wanted to discover SE…
My daughter and I wanted to discover SE Asia. Being the first in that region, we wanted to use a tour service company. We ended up using Asia Highlights. From the beginning we were impressed with their services. We left home with of mind because all the pre-travel arrangements were taking care and communicate to us efficiently. All our questions were answered promptly. Once in the countries, we were welcome by our excellent tour guides. Everything was taking care for us. We did not have one issue. They selected the right tours guides for us, they were highly knowledgeable and so much attentive to our needs. We had Dhat in Vietnam and Borin in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I highly recommend Asia Highlights. I came back home so much rested, and with plenty of wonderful pictures and memories. I will definitely use Asia Highlights again for my next trip to Asia. More
Isabelle Dessaux,
Apr 2023
|
Fabulous tour and guide in Cambodia
We have been touring Cambodia, guided by Borin ( and driver 007) for the last 2 days. What a fabulous experience! Borin has been a wonderful guide, the best so far in Southeast Asia, explaining the history and culture of Cambodia through his tours of the temples in and around Angkor, as well as the Landmine museum. He has answered all our questions, made sure we were comfortable, and that we have had great food. 007 made sure we always had enough water and cool towels for our face/neck.We highly recommend Borin as a tour guide for Cambodia!! More
Monica,
Mar 2023
|
Best Travel Service for Asia Travel
Alisa Liu was in charge of making the arrangements and she helped us from the start to make all of the arrangements and also helped us when we had questions and requested some adjustments. Her service is of the highest professional level. We are 100% confident that our trip will be perfect. We’re also 100% confident that, if anything comes up during our trip, that Alisa will be there to guide us through and take care of us. We won’t even consider using another agency for travel around Asia and we would like to have Alisa work for us again. More
Leo Pospichal,
Mar 2023
|
Tour of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand
The tour guides and drivers were another high point. All were very good, friendly, knowledgeable and spoke English well. There were two that I want to call out for their excellence. Chan Sovannarith in Siem Reap was our guide in Cambodia. He really made the experience special. His knowledge, willingness to answer all my questions, helpfulness and general attitude made him fun to be around. In order to praise the second exceptional guide I have to explain about an unfortunate occurrence that I had. I'm normally a very active senior, but after leaving Cambodia for Laos I was suddenly struck by the most intense back pain I've ever experienced, couldn't even roll over in bed (turned out to be sciatica). The guide, Mr. Sonophet, really went the extra mile. He went with my traveling companion and bought a back brace and medications for me. When that didn't help much he took me to a clinic where I was seen by a doctor, given a shot and pain meds. He hand-made a walking stick for me that I'm still using! He made it possible for me to somewhat participate in the activities, i.e. a bed on the boat down the river. When it was time to move on to Bangkok he got me a wheelchair at the airport. I can't thank him enough for these kindnesses! This problem lasted for the remainder of the trip, through Bangkok and Phuket and these guides were also very helpful getting wheelchairs, etc. It was a terrible disappointment to have this wonderful trip disrupted, but it would have been SO much worse without the great help that I received from the guides and my poor travel companion! More
Deb M,
Mar 2023
|
In good hands with Sam
Sam Ol took very good care of us - lots of information, listened to and answered all our questions, was passionate about the places we visited and about his people and country. He was kind, had a great sense of humor, and made sure we felt safe and comfortable at all times. He helped us to fall in love with Cambodia in 3 short days. More
Carol Jones,
Feb 2023
|
Best tour guide in Cambodia
When we first arrived at the airport in Siem Riep it was so nice to be greeted by Mr Sam Ol. We instantly fell at home when we saw his friendly smile. We were impressed by his great English and knowledge of the temples. On the tour to the temples Sam took care of us every step of the way. He took awesome pictures of us. It felt like we were on a tour given by our brother who is also a professional photographer. Also, we appreciate his humor as well as the fact he had an answer for every question we had. I give Sam 5 stars, best tour guide ever :) More
Len S,
Feb 2023
|
Mr. Sam
Mr. Sam our guide in Cambodia, he and the driver out standing service they went above and beyond touring, my wife so amazed beautiful country, we're planning back here near the futures. Thank Mr. Sam,We'll feedback the whole trip next week when we be home in US More
Pho Lover,
Feb 2023
|
Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand
We are still in the middle of our trip, but we are just finishing up our time in Cambodia and our guide, Borin, has been AMAZING!!! He has truly made our time here unforgettable and I plan on referring all of my friends and family to come visit this beautiful country! Thank you, Borin, for everything you did to make our trip so fantastic! More
Danielle Blount,
Feb 2023
|
Excellent service and Wonderful Guides
All of our guides have been terrific. Mr. Sam in Siem Reip was especially wonderful. Both he and our driver were polite, safe knowledgable and informative. Sam made our trip memorable and enioyable. We will definitely recommend Sam and Asia Highlights to our friends. More
Kaaren,
Feb 2023
|
Great tour guide Charity at Siem Reap
Our experience in Siem Reap could not have been any better thanks to our outstanding and cheerful guide, Charity. Her very good English speaking made it so easy to learn so much from her. She understood and answers all of our questions.She was relaxed and very knowledgeable. She went out out her way to help us make amazing pano photos of the cotton trees at Siem Reap and on our sunset cruise. She also advised us on Chanrey Tree restaurant—what we found to be the very best vegan restaurant on our first three weeks of our Asia tour. So glad to have vegan meals with very little oil!!! We are not supposed to have oil and is very hard to find vegan with no oil. Went went back the next night. More
Barbara Cornyn,
Jan 2023
|
Best guide and driver in Cambodia
Mr Rum takes his profession very seriously and enriches the visits with his depth of knowledge and his interesting and relevant stories. He is a great story teller. More importantly, he is a nice person who we very much enjoyed getting to know in our short time together. Both he and Thary have winning smiles. They are easy to be around and fun to spend time with. It’s not surprising that Mr Rum has maintained contact and friendships with many previous clients. More
John Mullin,
Jan 2023
|
Charity and Cambodia were amazing!
We had a fantastic time in Siem Reap. Charity was our tour guide and was the best! She brought knowledge and enthusiasm as she took us around. She was friendly, warm and open making our tour and experience in Siem Reap so wonderful. She gave us awesome suggestions for us to do at the end of the day such as go see a dance performance or visit the night market as well as an early morning activities like watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon. It was magical and we are so grateful to Charity for making this such a memorable trip. She also gave us great suggestion for food and went far and beyond to make sure our vegetarian and food requirements were met. Our driver and car was fantastic as well. We had the best time in Cambodia and would love to visit again. We recommend visiting and having Charity as their tour guide to anyone who has the opportunity to come! More
Prema,
Jan 2023
|
Amazing tour of Cambodia with excellent…
Amazing tour of Cambodia with excellent guide Luch.. Luch was very knowledgeable and took an extra mile to explain us the Angkorwat sculptures.. the private car was very comfortable.. well planned .. we loved Cambodia and would definitely recommend my friends.. Asia highlights are the best More
Koustuv Sarkar,
Jan 2023
|
Our rep in Cambodia Chan Sovannarith…
Our rep in Cambodia Chan Sovannarith was very attentive and accommodated my daughter not feeling well by taking us to a chemist to get medication for her. I highly recommend Chan as a rep with Asian highlights he did an excellent job when taking us back to the airport he literally waited to make sure we were all set for our flight to Chang Mai in Thailand. I felt safe knowing he was there incase there were issues. Again, great rep. Thank you!! More
Karen Brooks,
Dec 2022
|
We enjoyed our trip VERY much
We enjoyed our trip very much. Our guide, Mr. Polrith is very knowledgeable and provided insightful information about the history, culture and religions of the country. Temples of Cambodia are amazing. They are more beautiful than you can imagine. Thank you so much Mr.Polrith and see you next time More
Tugba Balc,
Dec 2022
|
A truly magical experience
You measure the quality of a tour company with how they handle the bumps along the way. Encountering unexpected baggage fees from Cambodia Angkor Air in Siem Reap.Albee without hesitation agreed to cover this cost. More
Bob Bosshard,
Mar 2020
|
Great trip with Asia Highlights
We had already booked two trips in China with China Highlights. Both trips were a great experience. So when planning our trip to Cambodia we immediately thought of Asia Highlights because they offer a trip to Vietnam More
Frank & Nadia,
Nov 2019
|
Asia Highlights is perfection
My husband and I just returned from an 8 week trip thoughout China- Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and also Singapore and Phuket. I worked with Ruby of Asia Highlights for months designing my dream independant private trip. More
Barb,
May 2019
|
The Bas-Reliefs
The intricate carving in Khmer art reaches its zenith during the Angkor Wat period. The immense carved area of the temple approaches 600m in length and 2m in height. The images mainly come from the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
If you are a first-time visitor, we recommend you first take in the west gallery and the south gallery. The following are of the highest order.
Battle of Kurukshetra (West Gallery, Southern Section)
The central epic, Mahabharata, is the account of a war that took place in Kurukshetra between two rival families. The southern section of the west gallery relates a furious battle, in which the Kauravas advancing from the north meet the Pandavas coming from the south.
Two armies march in and the fighting is intense. On the 10th day, Bhishma, the chief commander of the Kurukshetra, lies dying on a pile of arrows, surrounded by grieving troops. The battle ends after 18 days with victory for Pandavas.

Procession of Suryavarman II (South Gallery, Western Section)
In contrast to other bas-reliefs, the western section of the south gallery depicts a grand procession of King Suryavarman II, the builder of Angkor Wat. In the largest image, the king seated on his throne is shaded by 15 parasols and fanned by servants.
Further on, the army marches in single file with commanders riding elephants and officers on horseback. More troops armed with spears are at the head of the procession.

Heaven and Hell (South Gallery, Eastern Section)
This 66m section shows the judgment of souls and their consignment to 37 heavens or 32 hells. The central tier shows souls being judged by the 18-armed Yama, god of the underworld, seated on a buffalo.
After the judgment, good people go directly to heaven carried on thrones or palanquins, to enjoy themselves, while sinners are thrown down into hell, where the tortures are extremely terrible.

Churning of the Sea of Milk (East Gallery, Southern Section)
Turn the corner, and the next 49m section is the great creation myth. In order to obtain the elixir of immortality, 92 gods and 88 asuras are churning up the sea of milk by pulling on the body of a giant serpent.
The four-armed Vishnu directs operations in the middle and his turtle incarnation Kurma supports the rotating mountain below. Many apsaras fly in the sky, while a variety of marine life swims in the sea.

Battle of Lanka (West Gallery, Northern Section)
If you have a little more time, visit the marvelously vital depiction of the epic Ramayana. In the battle of Lanka, Rama stands on the shoulders of Hanuman, and along with his allies including the monkey troops, rescues his wife Sita and defeats the demon Ravana.

Watch Sunrise or Sunset at Angkor Wat
Rise before dawn to see the silhouette of the central sanctuary from the west entrance, reflecting on the ponds; or simply watch the sunset in the evening. Either will surely be a memorable experience.
The most popular spot for watching the sunrise is the west entrance, on either side of the lotus ponds. It can be crowded, but when the show starts the crowds become quiet, captivated by the breath-taking moments. Your guide will arrange early pick-up and breakfast for you, so no need to worry about that.
The sunset is also beautiful. Walk around the west galleries from the causeway at sunset, after the lights come on. Or climb to the summit of Phnom Bakheng to see spectacular panoramic views.
If you like photography, these will be good times for you.
Visit Angkor Wat with Asia Highlights
You might like:
14-Day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Tour
12-Day Cambodia and Vietnam Highlights
You might like to read
Why Travel with Asia Highlights (98.8% positive customer reviews among 10,000+)
- Unique experiences tailored to your interests: Enjoy a premium trip that goes beyond the typical tourist attractions.
- Hassle-free travel and peace of mind: Every aspect of your trip will be carefully planned and organized by your 1:1 travel consultant.
- Experienced and knowledgeable guides: Your guides will be local and love to work for travelers' smiles.
Get Inspired with Our Sample Itineraries
At Asia Highlights, we create your kind of journey — your dates, your destinations, at your pace. You can have any trip tailor made for your travel.