Angkor WOW!
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
30
79
Trip End
Ongoing
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Angkor Wat as i knew it before is actually one of many many temples in the Angkor area. Angkor Wat itself is the most famous because it is the single largest religious structure on Earth. Angkor Wat is a HUGE structure. it is surrounded by a moat/lake and huge walls. once you get through the walls, its still another 1/3 mile or even 1/2 mile to get to the temple itself. but there is more to Angkor than just the main temple. Stretching over some 400 sq. km, including forested area, the whole of Angkor contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century CE. These include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom. These two are probably considered the "main" attractions. but again, there is SO MUCH MORE.
Eunice and i spend two full days wandering through both the temple area and the countryside looking at the remains of the ancient empire. what was cool was that it was only discovered maybe just over 100 years ago and rediscovered again about another 30 years ago (thanks to the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia was closed off for a while). when traveling in europe, you get "church'd out".. meaning you see so many churches. in SE asia you often get "temple'd out" because of the combination of long days, hot/humid weather and just the amount of temples you end up seeing... but not at Angkor! each and every ruin was amazing... jaw droppingly amazing... the pics just don't do it justice.
anyways, we spent the first day on a tuk tuk going ruin to ruin... we saw pretty much everything... i'm including pics, but not of everything.... too many to post.. but just some of the highlights... Angkor Wat, terrace of the elephants, terrace of the leper king, Bayon, Baphoun, etc..
the second day, we went by tuk tuk to a place about 30miles way... 30 miles by tuk tuk, by the way, is not the most pleasant of things... anyways, we hiked into the jungle for about a mile and ended up at a small river and waterfall... the ancient empire had carved into the riverbed, symbols and signs in honor of their dieties. beautiful... we spend the better part of two hours there just enjoying the cooler weather, hiking up and down the riverside and taking way too many pics... but it was gorgeous to take in what they had done. Kbal Spean. the next thing we saw was what many of the experts consider to be the best structural carvings on an Angkor temple... it was eunice's favorite. Banteay Srei.
the rest of the day was seeing more temples, eating more and just relaxing in Siem Reap...
Siem Reap itself is just s dinky little town erected for the tourists... they have a "pub street" with a row of bars and restaurants... we opted for street food as we normally do...
anyways, tis it for now... i'll let the pics do the talking for Angkor.
Comments
that's a cow?
poor poor cow! and do they still eat those skinny cows?
Amazing pictures!
Great pictures Byoung! Miss you guys!
Nice! Nice!
You guys did some awesome stuff! Take us with you next time. Eunice, we got your message but couldn't really understand it :)