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Visiting Angkor Wat, Cambodia, was one of the highlights of my Asian Vacation. I set aside an entire day to visit the ruins, knowing I could use a week or more to do it properly.

The ruins are right on the edge of the small city of Siem Riep. This area was the capital of the Khmer Empire hundreds of years ago. Beginning around 1130, the Khmer kings began building the series of temples and buildings.  At first they were dedicated to Hindu deities and then later to Buddha. The capital city was called Angkor Thom and constructed by King Jayavarman VII around 1200. Under his rule, the Khmer Empire included all of Cambodia and large parts of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. The empire declined in the 1400's and Angkor Thom was sacked by the Thais in 1431.

Angkor Wat itself was constructed from 1113 through the next 50 years. It is believed that it served as a funerary temple to King Suryavarman II. It is the largest and best preserved of the monuments in this area.

My first thought was that I could get a lift out the the ruins and wander around all day by foot. Not possible, said my driver. (Did he just want more work)? A little more reading on the subject told me that the ruins were not in a single area, but covered an expanse of over 120 square miles, and included over 39 separate ruin sites. Yes, better to hire a motorscooter driver for the day.

Exploring the many ruins of Angkor Wat are great fun. They are very accessible to walk through and climb around on, and most have interior rooms and hallways. Some still have Buddhist alters where people still worship.

Admission price was $20 US per day, or 3 days for $40. Cambodians don't have to pay.

My plan was to cover as much territory as I could in a single day, and if I needed to see more, stay for a second day. This meant driving to a ruin, wander around on it for a while, take a photo or two and move on to the next one. I took a lot of photos here, but I am including only a few of the better ones.

I visited a major ruin complex first, named Angkor Thom, which had 5 or six different sets of buildings. My favorite here was the Bayon temple, pictured in the next photo below. I ended the day at Angkor Wat, which is the largest and most majestic of the sites. You can see in the photo below that the rock is covered with lots of lichens, which is damaging the surface carvings. Still, not bad for a thousand years old!

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Many of the buildings were overgrown with the jungle vegetation, like this banyon tree.

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An overgrown gate to one of the ruin sites, showing the ever-present Buddha faces.

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Another of the ruins, below. I think this one was named Takeo.

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Approaching the main gate for Angkor Wat in the afternoon. Hard to believe that something this large was hidden in the jungle and not re-discovered until the 1860's.

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The temple of Angkor Wat was open to explore inside and out. I caught this photo of a monk looking out from a high ledge. They live in the temple and take care of it.

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Yes, I really was there. This photo of me is just not a Photoshop trick.

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