Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is simply indescribable. It's impossible to put into words the beauty and majesty one sees upon beholding this extreme feat of architectural genius pouring forth from the Cambodian jungle. Even today, with all the restoration going on andthe hundreds of tourists inundating it on a daily basis, the jungle still threatens to overtake these ancient ruins. At many times, we had to fold back foliage and climb over erratically growing trees in order to get at the ruins themselves. It is almost possible to imagine how Angkor Wat would have looked like upon its rediscovery by the Frenchman Charles-Emile Bouillevaux in 1858 deep in the wilds of northern Cambodia. We arrived around 10 am and it took us until 4.30 pm to visit only a fraction of what the temple complex has to offer. At a shocking $20 per ticket, it is worth one's while to see as much as possible in one day, even if one is completely exhausted by the end it. I do think that Angkor Wat was well worth the $20 entrance fee because the visitor can clearly see that the majority of that money is going straight back into restoration as there are many workers placed all around the grounds and the grounds themselves are kept immaculately clean from rubbish (something which is not true for the majority of Cambodia, or Indochina for that matter). Angkor Wat is the name of the principal and most photographed temple, but the area is really made up of more than 50 major and minor temples of varying names. Building began sometime around 802 CE and ended abruptly around 1219 CE. Each temple was originally a Hindu temple honoring the gods as well as the final resting place for the particular king that constructed it. Around the mid-1500s there were no longer any references to the temples and they were simply swallowed up by the encroaching jungle until their rediscovery and subsequent excavation by the French in the late 1800s. Now, they are an UNESCO protected world heritage sight and are among the few truly outstanding sights that this part of the world has left. One really must see the temples for themselves to be able to truly appreciate their importance.

This evening I am flying out of Siem Reap ultimately headed for Puerto Princesa on the Filipino island of Palawan for 3 weeks of sea, sand, sun, and scuba diving. More about that to come in the near future.