Angkor Wat (Tomb Raider Temples)

Asia » Cambodia » North » Angkor
May 8th 2010

Published: May 27th 2010

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Photo 11

Angkor Wat and the surrounding ancient city ruins were built from 800-1300 years ago and today are a source of insight into Asia’s past. It is also the largest religious structure in the world. And in case you still don’t know what they are, they are featured in the first Tomb Raider movie. When it was first ‘rediscovered’ in the 1980s, the temples had been swallowed by the jungle with many massive trees growing straight out of the walls. Today much of the temples have been restored, although they left some of the trees in place and you can see how the roots are both crushing and yet supporting the crumbling walls.

Dana and I took 3 days to explore all the complexes enclosed in the 50km square area. We hired a Cambodian former monk to drive us to the different sites. They were mostly Buddhist temples and some are still in use with the monks in their brilliant orange robes wandering the premises. Some of the temples had large elephant sculptures while others had giant faces looking out at you from every direction. Most of the structures were huge and grand, but some of the smaller ones had very

Sunrise at Angkor

intricate carvings.

We got up early to watch the sun rise and stayed until the sun set. Our days were very long and the temperature was an unbearable 40C. There was no escape from the sun, even with my umbrella and fan.

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