Most Interesting Sight


Angkor - Siem Reap, Cambodia






What most people mistakenly call Angkor Wat is actually a collection of more than two hundred temples simply referred to as Angkor.  Angkor Wat itself (above photo) is the most prominent of all the temples; and the one depicted on the Cambodian flag.  Angkor was amazing in many ways - first, by its sheer size.  In two and a half days, we saw seventeen of the more important and impressive temples - one of which was twenty-five kilometers away from Angkor Wat.
Many of the temples had long walkways leading to them.  The entrances were usually through elaborate gates - with high walls enclosing large areas of wooded land.

And several, as shown here at Angkor Thom, had huge moats stretching for several kilometers around them.

But, in spite of its grand scale, Angkor is a place to be seen in detail.  At every turn, there were intricately carved walls depicting important events in the lives of these mysterious people.

In many cases, they told stories of
battles with giant, mythical serpents;
or showed long processions
of armies, with the king riding triumphantly on a huge elephant.

These carvings went on for many kilometers.  And, no, that's not a
type-o - I mean kilometers.  This
photo shows one-eighth (half of one side) of the detailed carvings of only
one temple - and remember, there
are more than 200 temples.

And even when there weren't
specific stories to be told, they
still decorated almost every square
inch of wall space with intricate designs.

At Mebon temple,
 there were near-life-sized
elephants at each corner.

But things were not always done on such a large scale.  This photo shows me squeezing through one of the thirty-six doors leading to the center of Prah Khan.  The outer doors were large enough to pass through without crouching, but each successive door got smaller and smaller so that, by the time you reached the center, you would have assumed a pious, bowing posture. 
One of the most mysterious temples,
Ta Prohm, was quite intriguing.
It has been on the losing end of
a battle with the jungle for many
centuries and is in an advanced
state of ruin.  Here, as was the
case throughout our visit to Angkor,
we simply sat for long periods to
enjoy the serenity of our surroundings
and to try to visualize what it
must have been like so long ago.


Siem Reap is the only town near Angkor and seems to exist only so visitors to the site will have places to stay and eat.  The sad part of it is that all the money from admissions to Angkor, which is a considerable sum considering that we paid $40(US) each for three day passes, goes to Vietnam - except for a token amount of one million (US) per year, which goes to the Cambodian government.

Consequently, what tourists see when they are not visiting the temples is a town badly in need of funds to improve its basic infrastructure.  For example, the photo above shows the main street of Siem Reap; which is unpaved and was turned into a mud pit by rains the night before.  The only roadwork - or restoration of the temples, for that matter - is accomplished through donations and volunteers from other countries - most notably Germany and Japan.