Siem Reap, Cambodia

When I was a sophomore in college I took an archeology class called “Ancient Cities and Lost Tribes”. The teacher had recently visited Cambodia and was obsessed with Angkor Wat. I had never heard of it before, and I quickly tuned out his (many) lectures on it thinking “I’ll never go to Cambodia, so what’s the point of learning about this place?” But life often has a sense of humor, and years later I found myself looking at travel options in SE Asia. I saw “Angkor Wat Tour” as an option, and privately smiled to myself as I thought about that class and my assumption that I would never get to see what my teacher was talking about.

Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu(and later Buddhist) temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world. It was built in the 12th century as the capital of the Khmer Empire. My post on Angkor Thom featured one structure in the Angkor Wat complex. Angkor Wat temple is a separate structure and located a few miles South of Angkor Thom. Visitors will see Buddhist monks in orange robes scattered throughout the complex, and are free to climb anywhere they want. This type of hands-on exploration is what feeds my soul! 🙂

*These pictures were scanned from film originals, so the quality is less than ideal.

k.h. 2004