Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Mandy: 9th December

This was one of the main reasons for going to Cambodia and we were not disappointed. Angkor Wat (The main Temple of Angkor) was first a Hindu, later a Buddhist, temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was impressive. This is the main Temple, there were plenty more! Information at the end of this blog.

View from the air to give you an idea of the scale of just the Angkor Wat Temple. (Not our photo!)

The serene faces of the Bayon Temple in the centre of Angkor Thom

Another lot of steep steps to climb! I wish I had counted how many we did during that day. I was too busy clinging on to the rails each time though!! The views were always worth while.

One of our favourite temples was Ta Prohm which has been left pretty much as it was discovered with the trees growning over and through the old temple walls with the jungle still surrounding it. It was an amazing sight. Once again it’s difficult to show it on photos.

And another temple… I could go on but I will stop now, I think you get the idea.

Looking back towards Angkor Wat at sunset after visiting over eight of the amazing temples and grounds.

At the end of a wonderful day amongst the Temples of Angkor we walked about 20 minutes up a track through the trees to the top of Phnom Bakheng. We stood, looking and waiting for the best sunset shot! As did a lot of others who arrived on coaches just in time!

It was amazing, well worth the long hot tiring walk up Phnom Bakheng after our nine hour day walking around and up! the Temples of Angkor.

Sunset over Tonlé Sap Lake

Official information

Angkor (Khmer “Capital City”) is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit nagara, meaning “city”. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the KhmerHindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a “universal monarch” and “god-king”, and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under Ayutthayansuzerainty in 1351. A Khmer rebellion resulted in the 1431 sacking of Angkor by Ayutthaya, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.

The ruins of Angkor are located amid forests and farmland to the north of the Great Lake (Tonlé Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern-day Siem Reap city in Siem Reap Province. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the magnificent Angkor Wat, said to be the world’s largest single religious monument. Many of the temples at Angkor have been restored, and together, they comprise the most significant site of Khmer architecture. Visitors approach two million annually, and the entire expanse, including Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom is collectively protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The popularity of the site among tourists presents multiple challenges to the preservation of the ruins.

In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world, with an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometres (390 sq miles) to the well-known temples at its core. Angkor is considered to be a “hydraulic city” because it had a complicated water management network, which was used for systematically stabilizing, storing, and dispersing water throughout the area. This network is believed to have been used for irrigation in order to offset the unpredictable monsoon season and to also support the increasing population. The closest rival to Angkor, the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala, was between 100 and 150 square kilometres (39 and 58 sq mi) in total size. Although the size of its population remains a topic of research and debate, newly identified agricultural systems in the Angkor area may have supported up to one million people.