Our guide & driver met us at the hotel after breakfast for the first day of our 3 day tour of the famous Angkor Wat complex. The temple complex is the largest religious monument in the world. It was originally founded as a Hindu capital for the Khmer Empire, gradually transforming into a Buddhist temple toward the end of the 12th century. The vast complex encompasses more than 400 square kilometres and has over 1,000 temples ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the magnificent Angkor Wat. For several centuries Angkor was the centre of the Khmer Kingdom with impressive monuments, temples, several different ancient urban plans and large water reservoirs for it's 1 million inhabitants. The Khmer dominated the area of modern Cambodia, and much of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.
We start our visit in the city of Angkor Thom, visiting 2 temples: Bayon temple & Ta Prohm
. There are 49 towers in the Bayon temple with 4 huge Buddha smiling faces carved on each one (140 faces in all!). What an introduction to the temples.
Ta Prohm temple is shrouded in dense jungle as fig, banyan and kapok trees spread their gigantic roots over stones, probing walls and terraces apart, as their branches and leaves intertwine to form a roof over the temple. The movie Tomb Raider was filmed here in 2000.
After a stop for lunch in air conditioned local restaurant we headed off for the last temple of the day (the heat is simply unbelievable, it's 46 with the humidity) Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat, the largest monument of the Angkor group and the best preserved, is an architectural masterpiece. Its perfection in composition, balance, proportions, relief's and sculpture make it one of the finest monuments in the world.
Covered galleries with columns define the boundaries of the first and second levels. The third level supports five towers – four in the corners and one in the middle (the most prominent architectural feature of the wat). The overall profile imitates a lotus bud. The ingenious design of the temple hides the fifth tower from view from almost all angles.
Visiting the Angkor Wat complex
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Siem Reap, Cambodia
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Comments

2025-02-11
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mom
2015-06-12
Thanks for getting me back on the techno track!
Wow, what a site! Know what is interesting...that many of the carvings have a similarity to Aztec and Mayan cultures....wonder if there was some connection thousands of years ago. The heat must be so oppressive...what about locals, do they stay indoors during hottest part of day. Have you been to rice fields?
Isn't it amazing how the people created all these monuments throughout the world! Now what do we create..condo buildings? Makes one think!
Xx
Lara
2015-06-13
This is supposed to be the start of the rainy season but it has yet to begin. Heat hasn't abated since April like it usually does. The locals do indeed stop for a mid-day break. They get up at sunrise, break at lunch then resume later in the afternoon.
We have seen lots of rice fields througout all 4 countries (they have 4 annual harvests).
We were thinking the same thing about the similarities to the temples in central america. Unique in some aspects but reminiscent of the Mayans etc.