Siem Reap, Cambodia
We really enjoyed Siem Reap and were impressed by all of the ruins we saw. We arranged our tours with Kea Lang, who was recommended by Felice Fleisher. He was great, picking us up each day at the hotel, taking us around to the sites and explaining the significance of what we were seeing. There were so many temples that we quickly lost track of where we were.
Angkor Wat - This first set of pictures is of Angkor Wat. According to Wikipedia, Angkor Wat is one of the largest religious monuments in the world, on a site measuring 162.6 hectares. Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. You could easily spend hours here just to see the various buildings and temples, but we had other places to see.
These gold temples were on the path into Angkor Wat.
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AngKor Thom - was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII and it covers an area of 9 sq km, within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. Although it is much smaller than Angkor Wat, we found it more interesting, with less people to trip over.
This is the first temple we saw and you can get a sense for how many tourists were all around the place. Fortunately I was able to avoid them in the remaining shots.
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Bayon - At the heart of Angkor Thom is the 12th-century Bayon, the mesmerising, if slightly mind-bending, state temple of Jayavarman VII. It epitomises the creative genius and inflated ego of Cambodia's most celebrated king. Its 54 Gothic towers are decorated with 216 gargantuan smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara, and it is adorned with 1.2km of extraordinary bas-reliefs incorporating more than 11,000 figures.
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Around Siem Reap - This is a collection of shots from the Siem Reap area.
We stayed in the Angkor Paradise Hotel in Siem Reap and it was a decent property. This is a shot out of our window across the pool.
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Banteay Samré - Our second day began with a tour of Banteay Samré. It is a temple built during the reign of Suryavarman II and Yasovarman II in the early 12th century.
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Banteay Srei - Banteay Srei or Banteay Srey is a 10th-century Cambodian temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Located in the area of Angkor, it lies near the hill of Phnom Dei, 25 km north-east of the main group of temples that once belonged to the medieval capitals of Yasodharapura and Angkor Thom.
This woman was right outside the entrance where she could sell her wares to the arriving tourists.
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Preah Khan - Preah Khan was built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII to honour his father. It is located northeast of Angkor Thom and just west of the Jayatataka baray, with which it was associated. It was the centre of a substantial organization, with almost 100,000 officials and servants. It was the last stop on our tour of Siem Reap so the pictures were pretty sparse!
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