Here’s the post on the sites that bring the tourists to Cambodia, and for good reason.  I can’t imagine taking a trip to Cambodia and not seeing the ancient Khmer ruins.  When I was a kid, I had this really cool map hanging up in my room (now it’s in storage in the basement of my condo).  Though it sits under glass, it appears brown, crinkled, and very old.  And, it’s illustrated with various famous sites all around the world.  The map is titled “Wonders of the World” and includes natural as well as man-made wonders.  I can clearly visualize Angkor Wat displayed on the lower center part of the map.  And, I recall often looking at that map and imagining what those places, including Angkor Wat, must be like.

The funny thing is that whenever I go on these trips, I do little in depth reading of what I’m about to see.  The same thing with climbing trips.  I never fool with too much detailed beta (my partners usually do that).  But, I notice that I enjoy reading these details after I visit a place.  Strangely enough, I usually purchase my guidebooks either during my visit or after.  Weird, huh?

Well, I had no idea that the system of temples in this area was so vast.  I assumed there were a couple of big ones and then several small ones, maybe consisting of a small courtyard and a pagoda.  No.  The short guidebook provided by the owner of the guest house showed maybe 50-75 temples in the nearby area, all of them quite big.  Some of them are like small cities.  Angkor Wat, of course, is the single largest structure and is well-preserved.  It sits on it’s own island surrounded by a wide moat.  The image that we’re all familiar with is just the main area, but there are outer walls that enclose a much bigger area complete with the original streets.  There’s not much to see anymore on the outskirts other than jungle, but it’s a pleasant walk.

I was warned that I would be “templed out” by day three and this was certainly true.  We only spent a half day seeing temples on the last day, the main one being Beng Mealea, which was a two-hour drive on decent dirt roads from Siem Reap.  I hear it’s often impossible to get to during the rainy season without a boat.  The neat thing about Beng Melea is that much of it is still wild and dominated by the jungle.  The locals talked this place up about how you can crawl around and explore.  Well, it wasn’t nearly that wild; since there’s a $5 entrance fee, there’s also a guide provided who will take you around the most expiditious route.  I probably got on his nerves some by often slowing down and wandering off on my own, climbing on some unsafe roof, or whatever.  I behaved, for the most part.

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(Above) Panoramas of Angkor Temples

If I had to pick a favorite temple, hmm, it would probably be Bayon, which is part of the huge fortified city called Angkor Thom, right down the road from Angkor Wat.  This is the site with all the big smiling faces – over two hundred of them!  It was so neat because it was big, well-preserved, and loaded with passageways, steep stairs leading to numerous towers, and hidden alcoves.

But, of course, each temple had it’s own charm. Ta Phrom was made famous from that awful “Tomb Raider” movie (yes, I endured watching it after returning from Cambodia).  With various trees supporting the crumbling walls, it has some of the best “temple” atmosphere in all of Cambodia.  Angkor Wat, of course, is by far the biggest single structure.  It’s a chore looking at all the carvings on one side of the structure, and there are four sides!  If you love that sort of thing, you will go nuts over Angkor Wat.  There are just too many to mention and some of the others started blending together in my head by day three.

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(Above) Lots of images from the Angkor Temples