This is the world largest religious monument It has amazing carvings telling stories about the Khmer people and Buddhists stories. It is the proces of getting restored (as is the rest of Angkor). It was scorching hot when we visited but very worthwhile.
when exploring ancient temples in the jungle of Cambodja it is nice to have a air conditioned Lexus standing by with cool water and fresh -ice cold - white towels with a dash of cologne...
Khmer civilization build between 8th and 13th century a vast network of religious sites near what now is Siem Raep.
Angor as the site is now called is huge with dozens of temples both Buddhism and Hindu. King Jayavarman VII had the most ambitious building era: almost all of the temples we saw where due to his reign. The French "found" Angkor back in 1860 and opened it up for the rest of the world to admire. It is now considered one of the seven wonders of the world. The French also started a massive restoration project, which was severely hampered by all the wars in Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge. For example: the French had dismantled several temples to reconstruct them later. They painstakingly noted all the millions of stones in this complex 3D puzzle. This guidebook disappeared with the looting of Phnom Peng in 1975 so now we have to figure it out without a clue... Thanks mr. Pol Pot!
After a very short flight from Bangkok we arrived at Siem Raep (which means: Victory over Thailand(Siam)) airport for our Angkor expedition. After visa formalities (which took less time then we expected) we were picked up by our hotel. The airport is brand new and is an example of a booming Siem Reap due to Angkor. Angkor is the main source of income for Cambodia. The hotel de la paix is an Oasis in a dusty, simple small city. We had a Khmer tasting diner on a swinging table with snake. Tomorrow we will see the first part of Angkor.
The people here are different then thai. They are even smaller and darker. And they are much poorer. Everything is done in US dollars, nobody seems to care about the official currency the Riep. (which is worthless).
Because of Angkor things are a little bit more expensive then what we are used at in Thailand, but it is all still relatively cheap.
We hired a boat to discover the famous Klongs (canals) of Bangkok. It was a peacefully and great experience. We saw giant lizards swimming by, people living in, on, next to the klongs and a lot of beautiful landscape. It will take only a couple of years and some more high rise development before the klongs are a thing of the past. Pity.
The Thai tourist police very friendly shoot a new picture we neeeded for our Cambodian visa.
We visited The great Palace and the Wat Phra Kaeo temple complex. It was scorching hot outside and I was happy to find some shade now and then. Lots of gold, lots of guards (real and statue wise) and lots of tourists...
