Anchored at Angkor

The ruins of Angkor are incredible. From Angkor Wat (the worlds largest religious building)…

to countless faces of the Bayon…

and the countless smaller (but no less impressive) temples, each temple has enough detailed stone carvings to leave you speechless.

Some temples are fighting a loosing battle against the invading jungle…

while some are simply falling victims to the ravages of time, but this only adds to the mythical quality of these temples, and what a spectacular squashing they would cause if one were to collapse on us!

How on earth did the ancient Khmers build such magnificent structures?

The spell of calm majestic beauty of the temples is broken as soon as you leave the temple and are surrounded by vendors selling everything from postcards to flutes. Most of these vendors are children, and they are every persistent and wont take no for an answer, they can pester you until you leave the area. What impressed me most was the amount of knowledge these kids have picked up, many of them being able to pick out the Canadian flag on our backpack, and even telling us the capital, the two official languages and the number of provinces and territories (including Nunavut). How many people in the US know that much about their northerly neighbours?

We spent 3 days exploring the temples, and battling the oppressive heat; a heat so intense that it makes the most mundane physical tasks, into arduous labor…

now try climbing up near vertical steps to get to the top of these huge temples; its debilitating. I guess that is what we get for visiting Angkor during the hottest month of the year. Regardless of the heat the Temples of Angkor will stand out as one of the trips major highlights.

We are now on the last leg of your trip, tomorrow we are heading to Sihanoukville in southern Cambodia to relax on the beach before heading home.

Here are the rest of the pics: