Angkor Wat

As promised, here are a few photos from the beautiful temples at Angkor Wat, and the rest of our time in Cambodia.

 The causeway at the gate to Angkor Wat.  The enormous moat and footbridges were completed some hundred or so years after the main temple.  Our friends tell us that the rulers would keep alligators in the water as a welcoming committee to greet any would-be marauders.

 View from the galleries

 B takes a load off.

 These basins were most likely sealed and filled with water.

 Nearly all the statue's heads have gone missing over the years.  The great majority of the looting has taken place during the 20th century.

 Traveling buddies

 (L-R) S, T, R, D, E and B

 "No pain, no gain."  I over heard a guide telling some other visitors that the steps to many of the main towers were built intentionally steep to make them as arduous as possible to climb: a not-so-subtle allegory comparing the path to the top of the structure to the route towards enlightenment or nirvana.  Since no one lived in these temples, the priests and custodians would have to climb these stairs to make offerings, and tend to the various shrines.

 One of the ornate buddhas left intact at Angkor Wat.

 This is the only building featured on a national flag.

 Lunch on the front lawn

 Turtle salesman

Sugar cane vendors.  They would fresh squeeze the cane for you which produced about 10 oz. of sweet juice.  Delicious on a sweltering Siem Reap day.

 Monkeys!  These fellows have no trouble maintaining their body weight.

Approaching the gate to the Bayon.

Then, we came to our penultimate temple of the day: Ta Prohm.  This site was chosen by conservationalists to be left in its natural state to illustrate what most of the temples looked like when they were rediscovered in the early stages of restoration  The temple structures are overgrown with strangler fig and silk-cotton trees which entertwine their branches directly through the sandstone foundations and supports.  When a tree dies or is felled by a storm, the surrounding stones collapse.

...and then I took a bunch more photos, but my memory card fritzed out on me when we got back to Korea.  Some of the shots you won't get to see include: 1. Elephants at the foot of the mountain temple  2. An unbelievably beautiful sunset from the summit. 3. Shots from the scary drive back to Phnom Penh in the pitch dark.  4.  A Glimpse of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh  5.  Shots from the Cambodian Cultural village.  6. Final tearful goodbyes at the airport.

Thank you, friends.  With any luck, we'll be back at some point in the future.  -es