Angkors Away!

From the minute I booked my plane ticket to Bangkok, extending my Africa travels to SE Asia, I began looking forward to exploring the temple ruins of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The first Tomb Raider movie was shot there, and I remember being fascinated back then when I read that the ruins featured in the movie are a real place, not the creation of a Hollywood set designer. I was fascinated by the old, grey stones with intricate carvings being swallowed in places by huge trees, their roots wrapping around the columns and doorways with strangling spirals. And then, last year, my friends Rich & Eveline visited the ruins on they honeymoon trip through Asia, and their photos were even more captivating than my memories from the movie. So it was this magnificent destination that I focused on when it was time to tear myself away from the majestic beaches of Ko Tao.

Angkor Wat is the name of a huge area of ruins in central Cambodia that were once the religious, political and social center of the mighty Khmer Empire which ruled much of the SE Asian peninsula from 802 until the Thais conquered in 1432. Each of the Devarajas (god-kings) who ruled Angkor over these many centuries tried to top his predecessors with additions to the buildings in the area, and the result is the world's largest religious building, Angkor Wat. It's surrounded by a huge moat and its skeleton is still in very good shape. Then, the larger Angkor area holds hundreds of other, smaller, but no less stunning & impressive temple and palace ruins. The carving detail is exquisite, and the ruins definitely do not disappoint.

All the thousands and thousands of fellow tourists did disappoint, however, and quite severely. There were so many huge Chinese tour groups at Angkor on the days I visited, I wonder if there are any people in China right now! It was a challenge to take photos that don't feature hundreds of other people -- even on my second day when I paid my motorbike driver to pick me up at 5am thinking I could beat some of the tourists (and the sweltering heat!). No such luck. This is a busy time of year, and the ruins are a popular draw, so while I didn't have many quiet or peaceful moments, I still got to take in these ancient wonders and marvel at the creativity and devotion that went into their creation all those centuries ago.

By the way, this is a photo of me with my motorcycle guide who took me all around Siem Reap & Angkor Wat. Some concerns -- 1. On our first outing, he hit a tourist on a bicycle and sent the poor guy flying into a tuk-tuk. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. 2. After the "Bicycle Incident" he started wearing a helmet, but had none for me, and told me he was only wearing it because he lost his sunglasses and needed to keep the wind out of his eyes...right.... 3. On day 2, I think he started to misinterpret my grabbing onto his back/shoulders as flirting, when it was actually motivated by a desire to preserve my life. Needless to say, I didn't accept his dinner invitation.

xoxo,
Mere