Angkor Wat - the "Holy City" of Cambodia

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Angkor Wat, the "Holy City" near Siem Reap, the capital city of the Khmer Empire in the 9th-12th century, an awe inspiring place of ancient temples, ruins, remnants of old cities and a reminder of a glorious and prosporous time in Cambodia! It was so worth it to make this little "side trip" from Thailand to Cambodia!
I arrived on the 14th in the afternoon and checked into the lovely Two Dragons Guesthouse, whose owner Gordon also is the author of the website for those interested in potential traveling to Asia!
So anyhow, i used the afternoon to explore Siem Reap, the Old Market, a mix of souvenir stalls, vegetable, fruit and food vendors of all sorts, and just soaked up the atmosphere in this old French Colonial Town, that reminded me a bit of a mix of New Orleans and Key West.
The next day, i was joined by two fellow travellers from CA, Caitlyn and Nico to explore the ancient ruins with our guide Khem! Khem has a degree in archeology, speaks great english, and was very enthusiastic about the history of his country! I learned more about Bas Reliefs then i ever wanted to know, and becuase i don't want to bore you with the details, i am going to let the pictures speak for themselves! The first trip was the 12th century Buddhist Temple Ta Prohm, also called the "Tombraider" Temple, since it is was the movie set for Angelina Jolies movie!! 😊 . What a great site and what a way to start, after Ta Prohm, we headed to the main attraction of the area: Angkor Wat. Ankgor Wat is a Hindu temple from the 12th century, and simply all around impressive. After checking out every corner of Angkor Wat, we stopped for lunch- Fish Amok- a local dish that is served in a coconut and resembles the Thai Curry. Strengthened and rehydrated, we got back in our tuk-tuks and went to explore and climb up the amazing Bayons inside Angkor Thom (12th century royal city) after the Bayons we walked around the ancient city, along the wall of the Elephant terrace, checking out the Lepra King and then with a bit of brain overload 😊 went back to our guesthouse for a shower to get rid of the sweat and dust of the day and a much deserved cold beer!
The next morning, my tuk tuk driver Mr Han and i went out to the further away temples or the Grnad Tour circuit, which led me to the much more quite temples of Bantey Srey, Pre Rup Bantey Samre, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Khan! A wonderful day where i was able to get away from the masses of tour buses and really enjoy the quite peacefulness of these ancient marvels!
Day three in Siem Reap was my "see the real Cambodia day!" There are onlyso many temples one can see in a few days, and i wanted to make sure that i see a bit of how the peole live in this beautiful country with such a terrible history! Mr Han was once again a great tuk tuk driver/guide, and we first went by road for about an hour (35 min. tar road, 15 min dirt road) and then by long boat to the "floating" village of Kampong Phluk. About 200 families live on these stilted houses, built on the floodplains of the Tonle Sap Lake. Flooded mangrove forests surround the village, and provide great fishing opportunities for the people who live here. The main source of income is the fishing and a bit of the tourism in the last few years of those curious ones like me who are eager to see more than "just" the temples when one travels this far.
There is so much more to explain, tell and show, but the internet place is about to close, so better publish this blog now! So let me close with: I had a wonderful time on my short sidetrek to Cambodia! It was so worth it! And a reason to come back!
ch

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Photos

Devata
female standing deity

Kampong Phluk
houses on stilts

local villagers
on the way home from the market