Blogs from Angkor, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 9

This is the day I've been looking forward to since after the Tiger Monastary and why we booked this trip so I have a lot to 'ooh and ahh' about. Although we refer to the whole area as Angkor Wat, the entire area is called Angkor and includes many temples and sites in addition to Angkor Wat. It was the capital of the Khmer empire from the 9th - 14th centuries. I was also spurprised that the park is still inhabited with villages that may even date back to the original Angkor period. There is a plant specific to the area that looks like a type of grass but when you touch the leaf, it folds up like a venus fly trap, then reopens. We spent the entire day at the Angkor Archaeological Park seeing the ... read more

As my guide would say, Angkor What! To begin, I want to say that my writing and photography will not do this site justice. It is my pleasure to give a try though. Angkor Wat. The largest religious building in the world, complimented by miles and miles of similarly jaw-dropping structures of Buddhist-Hindu blends of stonework that have survived over 1,000 years of wars, torrential rains and an ever growing jungle forest. My stay in Siem Reap/Angkor was two and a half days. However, the amateur theologian, historian or just hardy traveler could easily spend a week tuk-tuk'ing from one sacred site to the next. It truly is mind boggling how extensive the ruins are here, and I've got to say that it makes a place like Machu Picchu seem sort of small in comparison. Some ... read more

Today we were on our way to the temples by 8.30am. Our driver, Preuk, told us today we would do, 'the Grand Tour', named so because the temples we would see were further away. We saw five temples in total, all were much smaller than Angkor Wat but still varied in size. After viewing a few our driver invited us to see his village, meet his family and cook us lunch!! On the way we passed rice paddies and livestock and it was obvious that this rural route was not visited by tourists. His wife and three young children live at his mother-in-laws house which was a wooden stilt house structure with an outdoor cooking hut. They also had several cows and chickens and grew their own beans and watermelon! We sat down outside and were ... read more

Today our Tuktuk driver picked us up at 8am and took us to the start of the Angkor Temple area. We began by visiting Angkor Wat, the largest and most famous temple. The temple and surrounding scenry was beautiful and we took about 2 hours to walk around it all. The inside of the temple had many passages all with reliefs on the walls depicting different religious stories and legends. There were also many monkeys around the ruins blocking our paths!! At the centre of the temple was a very steep climb up to the central tower which provided stunning views. After meeting back up with our tuktuk driver we went to Angkor Thom, an ancient city housing many more temples. We drove through the south gate which had 54 gods on one side and 54 ... read more

The ancient capital of the great Khmer Empire, Angkor is beyond doubt one of the most magnificent wonders of the world and a site of immense archeological significance. Located in dense jungle on the hot and torpid plains of western Cambodia, its awe-inspiring temples transport me into an enchanting and mysterious world of brooding grandeur and past glory. Since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge in the early 1990s, Angkor has gradually reopened to the world. Miraculously, in a nation so devastated by war, the great temple complexes have survived remarkably unscathed. It is 5:00am and the alarm clock goes off in my hotel room in Saigon. I am up in no time with a big smile on my face. Cambodia and Angkor are the final leg of this fantastic trip and I am very antsy. ... read more