The Temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom, Episode I

I'm not sure I've got the ability to describe the magnificence of Angkor Wat. The entire park is enormous; the sheer amount of space covered by these amazing Khmer temples is staggering. Look it up on the Google Earth. Even more amazing is the fact that these temples were built in the 12th century. We spent the better part of 10 hours in the park, and I don't think we covered even half of the area. We did a small circuit and took in as much as we could but I could have easily handled a few days more if given the chance. (Note: That's Kristi in the pink DANGER MINE FIELD tshirt and Fiona in the cowboy hat.)


Each temple we visited was more spectacular than the one we had just come from. A large number of the temples have been cleared of the jungle that had covered them for hundreds of years; one of the temples has been left as it was found to underscore the fact that mother nature always wins.




You can't tell from these pictures, but all of the walls and columns featured engravings depicting Buddhist (and some Hindu) deities and figures. Like this:


And these hand carved stone statues of Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva, and Lord Brahma:

This is the temple that Mother Nature took over:



Uhhh...the formatting of blogger.com leaves a bit to be desired. Sorry for the wide open spaces.



Interesting fact that may interest only me: this temple is where portions of the timeless masterpiece Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, was filmed.


I hope you guys are loving these old rocks as much as I did! There's plenty more pictures to come. Tune in tomorrow for Episode II.