When the tour company with whom we went to China expanded and began offering trips to Southeast Asia, I took notice. I had always wanted to see Angkor Wat, the temple-mountain built in the capital of the Khmer empire in the 12th century. Unfortunately, it was not part of the itineraries until a few years ago when a trip to Thailand was introduced. Three days at the end of that trip were devoted to Angkor province in Cambodia. The introductory price was amazingly low and even though I had sworn off 12 hour plane rides (LA to Beijing) I could not resist.
The trip did not start off well. Dealing with lost luggage on arrival meant missing our tour ride to the hotel and we found ourselves having to figure out how to do taxis in Bangkok at 2 am. After precious few hours of sleep the morning tour of Bangkok’s
Chinese Market felt like a forced march and my ankles looked like baseballs. However, a free afternoon and a good night’s sleep and we were ready for anything. And a good thing that was because the pace, as well as the heat and humidity, were intense.
I say more about Thailand in other posts and show photos on other gallery pages. We did spend most of our time there but my destination was Angkor.
Siem Reap is the small Cambodian town from which one visits the main temple complex, which is huge, covering an area stretching more than 15 miles east to west and 6 miles north to south. “Angkor” means “Capitol City” in Khmer, the official language of Cambodia. At its peak it was the largest pre-industrialized city in the world with a complex water management system that supported rice cultivation and close to 1 million people. There are about 1000 ruins of temples (few remains of secular works have survived) in the jungles of the Siem Reap area, many of which have been restored. We spent two days exploring several of the major temples and could have spent two months. Were I young and fit and had the means, I would plan to live in Siem Reap for a few months and explore the area via bicycle as an acquaintance has done.
More images of the Angkor ruins here and some impressions here.
Jconcetta's Journeys 