Temple Mania
One of the more popular destinations in SE Asia is the temples of Angkor in Siam Reap. From the 9th – 12th centuries, a sizable civilization flourished in Cambodia which at its height, controlled parts of Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. For the past four days, I have been exploring some of the temples in the area. I must say that this place has lived up to its reputation – I have been completely amazed.
Over the course of 4 days, I took around 300 pictures with my digital camera, what follows are some of the better ones. A moto driver told me today that there are 270 temples dating from the Angkor period, I visited around 20 that are in different states of deterioration. Some of the better preserved temples, such as Angkor Wat, are great to see, but some of my favorite temples were the ones that had been consumed by the jungle. For those of you who saw Tomb Raider, portions of the movie were filmed in some of the temples here.
I checked out the temples with an American from Idaho, Darren, who was just as into the temples as I was. We saw some great things, I hope you enjoy the pics.
Bayon Temple
Me at the Bayon
Gate to Angkor Thom
Relaxing in between temple visits
Tree roots
Tree at Ta Prom
Massive tree
Roots emerge from walls
Wall carvings
Another wall carving
Dragon Carving
Incredible tree
Temple guardians
Angkor Wat courtyard
Angkor Wat at sunset from across the moat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat reflection at sunset
Silouette at Angkor Wat
A great sunset to end my visit
I would write more, but the internet cafe is kicking me out. I will try to post tomorrow.
Neil
Tags: Cambodia
Neil
October 14th, 2004 at 4:14 pm
Neil, I see that camera is working out for you 😉 The pictures look fantastic, mate.