The Temples of Angkor

:: Angkor Wat ::

The temple ruins of Angkor represent the remnants of the millennium-old Angkorian-era capitals of the ancient Khmer Empire. The Khmer people were and are the dominant ethnic group in Cambodia. The name ‘Angkor’ refers to the Angkorian-era Khmer Empire that stretched across much of mainland Southeast Asia between the 9th and 15th centuries A.D., and also refers to the capital city of the Empire that was centered north of Siem Reap Cambodia. Most of these temples were constructed between the 9th and 12th century A.D. and represent the pinnacle of ancient Khmer architecture, art and civilization.

:: Bayon ::

At its height, the Age of Angkor was a time of wealth and power for the Khmer Empire. The capital city at Angkor was populated by more than a million people, Khmer kings constructed vast waterworks and grand temples and the Empire's military, economic and cultural dominance held sway over the area of modern Cambodia, as well as much of Thailand, southern Vietnam and Laos.

Nowadays The temples of Angkor take their place amongst the seven modern marvels of the world. There are dozens of temple ruins in the Angkor Archaeological Park spread across more than 400 square km. all in different states of ruin and displaying a range of artistic and architectural styles.

We tackled the parks highlight temples in one very hot ,very tiring day. Most tourists take on a few temples a day, avoiding the scorching midday heat, visiting the park over a few days, but not us :-). 10 hours of climbing , scrambling, walking and drinking (6+litres of water) later......we had enjoyed a spectacular architectural feast all around us, in this truly awe inspiring place.

:: Serious Steps ::

We started our day with the centrepiece of the complex - Angkor Wat. This vast moat encircled temple will take the breath away from any first time visitor. Its scale, height and detail is amazing. One thing I was'nt prepared for was the steps. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods....and boy were they steep.

:: Ta Keo ::

From Angkor Wat we headed on to Bayon , Angkor Thom, Preah Khan, Ta Keo, Ta Prohm and finished the day watching the darkness take over Angkor Wat from the top of Phnom Bakheng.

:: Ta Prohm ::

We really enjoyed all of the temples we saw. They were hugely different, from the clean unfinished lines of Ta Keo to Ta Prohm and its struggle to avoid being swallowed by jungle.

The temples are quite spaced out from each other, we needed to hire a motorcycle with a little 2 seat trailor to drag us in between them and back to Siem Reap town. Siem Reap itself is not the worst place to hang out for a few days. It sees the majority of tourists heading into Cambodia so has developed a good range of dining and shopping to satisfy all.

From here we head towards Bangkok, via the dreaded bus journey to Thailand...more of that in our next post.