A Beautiful, Sacred Space.
Once the biggest city in the world, Angkor Wat remains the largest religious monument in the world visited by millions of people every year. Angkor Wat, which means Temple City, is the name of the great temple and the whole complex. It is surrounded by a 3 km wall and a 5 km moat.
Wall and Moat surrounding the temple complex
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat – West Entrance
Everyone advised me to visit the main temple early in the morning to avoid the crowds. I arranged to be picked up at 04:30 in the morning to be at the temple early enough to see the sunrise (along with hundreds of other people). Instead of going directly to the West entrance I asked the tuk-tuk driver to drop me on the East side and I walked, in the dark, around the North side of the temple. It was peaceful, beautiful, mysterious and powerful to be alone with this majestic temple. The sky lightened by degrees and I joined the others at the West entrance in time to see the sunrise.
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- Angkor Wat from the North before sunrise
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- Angkor Wat at sunrise
In the outer gallery there are the most beautiful friezes carved in the sandstone walls. They depict battles between the Gods and are intricate in their detail.
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- The battle rages
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- The King and his subjects
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- Mounted warrior
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- The King on an elephant with his army
The temple is vast, it takes hours to see and absorb its magnificence. I do not have the words to describe it so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Seen at Angkor Wat
Ta Prohm
This temple is most famous for the trees that absorbed the temple over the years.
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- Marvellous
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- The ancient trees need support
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- Can you spot the Buddha Face?
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- There it is……..
There are many temples on the site but the three most popular are Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm but my tuk-tuk driver, Mr Phal, took me to see several more that are less popular and but very special.
Ta Keo
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- Ta Keo Temple
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- Stairs – precarious
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- But the view was worth the climb
Ta Nei Temple
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- I loved this temple
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- Unrestored
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- Calm
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- Nature takes over
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- Still beautiful
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- Atmospheric
Boetie, another awesome experience. Thank you for sharing. I love that you did the unconventional thing – being dropped off at the East entrance, and going to the less-visited temples. This is obviously a very special place – your descriptions made me want to jump on the next plane and visit personally.
Yeah gotta get away from the madding crowd. It’s so much more fun. As you see I decided to post this one – I’ll have a special post for the whole Mo vivit I think
So much history!
Thanks again for sharing the pictures of an incredible experience
Hi Tex. As always, the images are wonderful and your travels leave us all in awe. One thing I am concerned about – you are getting very thin! Healthily thin, I hope. I guess the cycling is the cause for that, and the unusual eating? Maureen will have to fatten you up a bit when she sees you later this month… Can’t believe that you only have a couple of months to go. You probably feel as though you have been away for an age. Take care and enjoy! Love, Marilyn and Rob xx
A thin Santa Claus is no good 😉
🙂
Happily, healthily thin. Thanks for caring. Still some to lose that I hope will disappear before Hong Kong ;o)
Thanks so much for sharing these beautiful pictures of Angkor Wat Elred, they truly are stunning and make you feel like you have been there. I am so regretful that I never went to Cambodia & Laos when going across to Vietnam a few years ago……one day! I presume you heading into Vietnam afterwards and I am sure you will enjoy that too. Happy & safe travels
Marietha Grundlingh – South Africa
Thanks Marietha for your support. I highly recommend a visit to Cambodia – lovely country, lovely people. I’m in Vietnam – slowly making my way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. Next post will start the Vietnam section – keep reading ;o)
Really wonderful photographs Elred, so enjoying reading this blog.
one of the most special places i have ever been…the trees at the temples was the reason for me travelling to Cambodia and I was never disappointed. Thanks for keeping us posted on your travels…love reading all about it and seeing the pics. i think you can publish a book when this journey is done xx