Angkor Wats Up?

Sorry for the delayed blog post, but we've been dealing with some finicky internet the last few days.  Wanted to finish off our tales from Cambodia with a quick recap of Angkor Wat...also affectionately referred to as Angkor What?, Angkor Wats Up? or as the Bud Frogs used to say...Angkor Waaaazzzz Up?

Our driver for the day, picked us up from our hotel Saturday at 7am for a full-day of sightseeing at Angkor Wat and the surrounding area.  Contrary to my expectations, Angkor Wat is only ~20 minutes outside of Siem Reap, an easy drive which allows tourists to shuttle back and forth easily between sunrise (the park opens at 5am) and sunset when you get the best pictures.

Admission was $20 which, while more expensive than any siteseeing we've done on this trip, was well worth the price considering all of the historic sites we saw that day.

Carlyn looking out from the top spire of Angkor Wat

We started the day off with a 2 hour guided tour of the main, Angkor Wat temple.  Our guide, Chaya, has been leading tours for 6 years and, while an "official" tour guide sanctioned by the national parks, definitely did not shy away from giving us his "unbiased" opinion on Cambodia's history of war and corruption.  In brief, Angkor Wat was constructed in the 12th century and is the largest Hindu temple in the world! For periods throughout Cambodia's history, the temple(s) has been converted from Hindu to Buddhist and back again many times over. Sadly, a lot of the statues and relics within the original temple were lost/plundered by invaders of the years.

In front of the main temple at Angkor Wat

We spent the rest of the afternoon touring around 2 other temples within the same region.  The first, known as the "Tomb Raider" temple (since Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider here) was Carlyn's favorite.  This old temple is totally overrun with roots, vines & vegetation. It looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie!

 

Indy!

Our final temple (Bayan Temple) was also built in the 12th century by the Khmer empire. The most notable features are the HUGE stone carved faces of hindu/buddhist gods...there are 54 of them in total (I think).