Angkor. The thing to do in Cambodia

---

It is very difficult to believe that the same culture that built Angkor also committed the atrocities of the last 30 years. Pol Pot actually used Angkor as a example of what he wanted to acheive!! Crazy idiot.

3 days walking around the temples of Angkor is a magical experience. The obvious high is Angkor Wat at dawn (unfortunately this necessitated a 5am start), but the entire complex is spell binding. These temples were built by a series of kings from about 800AD until about 1200AD. Generally a new king built a new temple and moved his capital there. The temples cover an area of about 50km square, hence 3 days to see them.

Some of the temples have been restored to their original glory, others have been left to demonstrate how the jungle and the temples have interacted over the last 500 years. An example of this is Ta Prohm, where Tomb Raider was filmed a few years ago

The capital was finally moved away from Angkor around 1500AD and the area was left to the jungle, before being "rediscoved" about 150 years ago. The restoration has been going on ever since, however one temple had been
Twisted tree
What happens if you leave the gardendimantled in 1975 when the Khymer Rouge took over and all the notes were destroyed. A team has spent the last 15 years trying to work out how to put together all the blocks that were taken away.

So that's it for Cambodia. We fly to Laos on Sunday because everyone says it's great. Hopefully we will have great time.

---

Photos

Twisted tree
What happens if you leave the garden

At play
Cambodian children frolicking in front of Angkor Wat