Angkor Wat

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We spent two days looking at the temples of Angkor. We hired a tuk tuk driver for the two days and left it to him to decide which temples to take us to. There are so many temples spread out over a 40km square area some people spend up to 5 days exploring them. But two 6 hours trips were enough for us, I remember once in Sri Lanka getting temple fatigue from looking at too many temples in one day. Its too much information all in one go. If in the hot sun you look at too many temples in one day in the end you often can't even remember what you've been looking at.

Some of the things you see at Angkor put Angkor easily on a level with what I've seen of ancient Rome and Egypt. There's so much that's impressive, monumental temples, intricate and artistic stonework that still looks perfect over a 1000 years since it was first completed. In Europe we built moats around our castles to deter invaders but at the main temple of Angkor Wat they built one with a breadth of 170 metres, its like a small sea surrounding the temple.
Like in ancient Rome and Egypt the building materials for Angkor weren't quarried on site. They came from a quarry 60kms away and were hauled onto rafts using elephants and floated up to modern day Siem Reap, then hauled to the sites at Ankgor.
It makes me think the same thoughts I had when looking at the Pantheon and the Coliseum in Rome and the massive granite columns of the temples of Luxor in Egypt. Which is.......how come with all of the technology and power of the modern world they couldn't get the millennium dome finished in time for the millennium? And how come the new Wembley stadium took over four years longer than it should have to build meaning England had to play their home games in Wales until it was finished?
When in the Ancient world they could shift millions of tonnes of stone using man and animal power and then build some of the most monumental and mathematically perfect buildings ever built that still stand today.

Khmers see Angkor as a massive source of pride. They learn in school that at its height the Khmer empire covered Loas and some of Thailand and Vietnam as well as modern day Cambodia. The iconic image of the three towers of the main temple of Angkor Wat are everywhere, on the back of cigarette packets, beer bottles and flags etc. I can see from conversations I've had with Khmers that they feel a sense of embarrassment over what happened here under the Khmer Rouge, and they look to Angkor as the example of the best of Khmer culture that after a dark period in their history they use to inspire themselves forward today.

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Photos

monks having a sly cigarette
I hope Buddha is not watching

one of the 216 faces carved into the Bayon
They're all the same based on the face on the then king, you can't move without his enigmatic smile following you.

the monkey gods go to war
its probably best to stand back

the monkey gods kicking off
this carving scares me

me and Lynn
outside the temple everyone remembers from the film tombraider

Khmer dance
There are halls dedicated to dance at Angkor, 1000's of women dancing like this at the same time must have been something to see.

they're not just holes in the wall
They were filled with rubies and diamonds, at night lit by torch fire light you can only imagine what it must of looked like.

weird
Carving of what looks like a dinosaur, did they know of dinosaurs 1000 years ago?

the women's temple
Its got to be some of the best preserved intricate stonework in the world

Comments

[Veren]

Hi Guys These pics are amazing!!! We miss you Veren

[sherlin]

angkor wat temple
The civilization and manners when visiting Hindu temples have a long record and are packed with representation, solemn respect and worship of Brahma's creation. it is uncommon to come crossways an very old temple that has not been reconstructed .For more information visit our site http://www.travelasia360.net