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Temples of Angkor
The Angkor temples are considered the heart and soul of Cambodia and are the largest religious structure in the world. They are a national pride to all Khmers as they struggle to rebuild their lives after years of terror and trauma. They date back to as early as 800AD. The architecture differ depending in which dynasty they were built & which religion (Hindu or Buddism). At various times throughout history, they may served various rulers and religions. If a temple was built under Buddism control but taken over years later by Hindu, all the buddas and associated symbols were cut out of the rock and new carvings were placed on top. They were rediscovered in 1860 by a French party and sadly, it has been raided since. Statue heads have been removed (stolen) and sold worldwide to private collectors. There were various walls with thousands of holes in them, where once precious gems (rubys, sapphires the size of baseballs) where set. To date, one man (French) in the early 1930′s was prosecuted for robbing the temples. Then the country has been in civil war up until only 20 years ago, where the grounds were used as battle fields and administration centers including the Vietnam War. Various corporations, associations and other governments (Germany, Japan) have dedicated staff and funds to help recover the temples from the strangling jungle and restore them for further study and tourism. There are signs cautioning you to stay on the trails due to live land mines in the bush. It is still a place of worship – while we were leaving one of the temples, the Prime Minister and the King arrived with their armed guards for prayer. It is also a common place for local wedding photos. We were lucky enough to come across this – the bride and groom rent “traditional costumes” to have their photos taken in. Also… it was the site of the Angelina Jolie movie “Tomb Raider”. She is fondly liked here simply because she adopted a young Cambodian boy. Cambodia is overflowing with orphanages.
We spent 2 days “templing” but you could easily spend up 6 days as there is so much to see and know. On our first day, we hired a knowledgeable guide that made a huge difference. Not only did he educate us on the history and significance of the temples and associated religions, but he was invaluable on enlightening us about Cambodia in general. There is still so much corruption from lower level (police) to the top government. Also, there is so much hatred and despair between their neighbors Vietnam and Thailand. It has been front news papers everyday we have been here. But still, the people are always smiling and friendly!
The weather has been so much fun. It gets so hot and humid that it is hardly bearable and then the sky opens up for 10 minutes and just downpours so hard. Then the temperature becomes better for about an hour and them the cycle begins. It downpours about 3 times a day but like I said, only for minutes and it is still above 30 degrees.
…many, many more photos in the Gallery above.
Hi there,
just wanted to say that I love reading your blog … and the photos are really awesome! Unfortunately they make long, boring office days in rainy, gray Austria even worse
Enjoy the rest of your travels (I’m sooo jealous!),
Eva (Elias’ cousin)