Angkor

The Temples of Angkor really are remarkable. I'm not sure that there are enough superlatives to describe this place, needless to say if you haven't been I strongly recommend it. The Khmer people are rightly very proud of their heritage - the temples cover a vast area, the workmanship on many of the temples is really exquisite and the state of preservation is quite incredible given that some are over a thousand years old. We took three days to look around which depending on your interests will either be about right, or nowhere near long enough. We cycled on day one which was hot work but fun, and caught a tuk-tuk for the remaining days to allow us to see some of the outlying temples.

The highlight for Em was the beautiful Bas-reliefs at the Bayon and Angkor Wat, the carvings are stunning and very detailed and tell stories of land & sea battles, gods and daily life. Surprisingly, the highlight for me was actually not a temple at all. On our last day we decided to walk around Angkor Wat just before sunset (on the narrow strip of land between the outer wall, and the moat). It's 5.5km around and we didn't see a soul other than a few locals picking lotus flowers in the moat using inner tubes to paddle themselves around (the same ones they sell to posh hotels to leave on your pillow), some monkeys and some fat cows (by Cambodian standards) enjoying the lush grass. The walk is thoroughly recommended if you find yourself at Angkor and want a break from the Temples.

Without further ado, here is a small selection of our photographs from the trip, and a link at the end to the rest of the shots if you want to share our 'temple fatigue'.



1. North side of the Phimeanakas ("Aerial Palace").
2. Crooked window in one of the twelve Prasat Suor Prat ("Towers of the Cord Dancers")
3. View of the North-East corner of the Bayon.
4. Bas-relief detail from the East Gallery of the Bayon.
5. Carving detail from the South-East corner pavilion of the Bayon.
6. Carving detail from the Entry Tower at Angkor Wat.
7. Em & Pete selfie at Angkor Wat.
8. Walking around the moat at Angkor Wat.
9. Carving detail from fallen pillar on the walk around the moat at Angkor Wat.
10. Angkor Wat at sunset.
11. Looking up inside the Central Sanctuary of East Mebon.
12. Buddha inside the Central Sanctuary of East Mebon.


The rest of our photo's are published here : http://gallery.me.com/pete.andrews#100054