More temples, but totally different

Friday, March 06, 2015
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Set off this morning for a tuk tuk ride to Angkor Thom. That's the old city that used to dominate the region, built around the 11th century by the king whose name I can neither spell, pronounce nor remember, so we'll call him Q7 as most people do. That's to distinguish him from his ancestors and children. It was a huge city, with over 1 million inhabitants. Obviously a sophisticated people, as the architecture and decorations are impressive. It appears that they used no mortar in the buildings, but the spaces between the stones is nil. And the carvings after it was built are amazing. We spent the whole day travelling from one part to another, even in the upper 30s. Drank a load of water. The pictures really don't do it justice. The gold that coated the statues was of course stolen by Thailand raiders and after 1000 years there is a lot of damage, including from trees which grew in the buildings. We saw the tree which features in Tomb raider, it's called the Lara Croft Tree.
After a swim we went to dinner and a show of Cambodia dancing .
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Comments

Stanley
2015-03-08

Call that Tuk Tuk?Must be the limo version. All looks a bit awe-inspiring and industrious.

2025-02-11

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