In the early morning I left Siem Reap with Swan the motorcycle driver that I had arranged to hire the previous day. He had assured me that: I could take as long as I wanted to view the temples, and we would cover as much ground as possible. I really did not know how spectacular that this particular day would be.
Angkor used to be the capital of Cambodia until 1432 when it was abandoned, Phnom Penh then became the capital of this Asian country of almost 16 million (2015). Our first stop on the motorcycle was Angkor Thom, which was a walled city that used to serve as the capital for the Khmer Empire; I had to say that this site was incredible.
There were so many amazing colossus to be viewed here, the temple (which was constructed in the 12th century) was very large and it had an appearance that could leave one gazing for hours. I felt most fortunate to walk around taking photo's; climbing the stairs and taking it all in. This was truly a place that I could have stayed for the day; just staring at the carved faces and glancing over the vastness of this ancient structure. Many: ruins, sections of the temple or temple walls are strewn around the area just outside the main temples.
Swan and I then proceeded to the Bayon Temple which sits in the middle of Angkor Thom, most of the existing towers have the faces carved in the rock.
There was a lot of speed walking on my part as I tried to look in every nook and cranny, just amazing to see this in person. We then traveled about 1 km east to Ta Prohm Temple which had some magnificent trees shrouded over it, one can see by the pictures that it was an amazing site.
Banteay Kdei was the next spot to see, although it had the same Bayon structural design it was tremendous to view. These temple sites are enormous so walking quickly give me ample opportunity to see a good percentage of the attraction. I felt a bit bad for the older tourists who could not climb the extremely steep stairs to the tops of these temples to get the benefit of viewing the complex in it's entirety. There were children walking around selling trinkets to tourists; one girl about 8 was selling bracelets. This girl said "sir, sir, you buy", I told her I had bought one from someone else and she scolded me "why didn't you buy from me?" !!
There are thousands of photo's to be taken at these temples, there always seems to be a unique vantage point for the photographer. I think that one week would be needed to take in the temples that cover more than 50 kms in all directions around the old capital of Angkor.
Sras Srang is where we went next, this is a reservoir that dates back to the 10th century. Several statues line the shore, two lions guard the top of a staircase used by swimmers, the view is quit scenic.
The most famous temple site in Cambodia is Angkor Wat, which is the largest religious monument in the world. This temple is so important for remembering the past (Khmer Empire), and the present (tourism), the temple is depicted on the Cambodian flag. A couple of million tourists per year come to this Unesco site so it is an integral part of the local economy. This temple is surrounded by a moat and although many tourists visit here you would not experience a crowd since it is so enormous.
This is the entrance; very hard to tell how large the structure is by looking from the other side of the moat.
The outer wall is 3.6 kms in length. The complete wall is intact, this is one view
The temple's
View of front gate from the steps
Common art throughout the temples are these women figures carved from the rock
Pictures cannot do justice to the sites that are around Angkor. Whether a person is a history buff, an avid photographer, or a tourist that wants to experience one of the wonders of the world; Cambodia is the place where she/he can get her/his fill of memories. I feel so lucky to have went the 650 kms from the Laos boarder to one of the most popular tourist sites on the planet. I would highly recommend experiencing these temples; give yourself at least 5 days using Siem Reap as a base. AWESOME !!
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