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| Bob and Sue at the east entrance to Angkor Wat. | In the moat, pretty water lilies. | The heads here have been re-constructed. | Our awesome guide | |||
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| monkeys | our Tuk-tuk driver. | Our guide demonstrates this tool - with 3 people, sanding one side of a block to silky smooth - one lifts up on the end (on left), on on each side (front/back) slide the block back and forth | Elephant rides! | |||
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| Map of how big this temple complex is. | The relief carvings are gorgeous even over 1000 years later. They all tell stories. | |||||
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| Boats of locals and attackers. | Below the boat are fish and crocodiles. Below that the local people going about their daily lives. | Some has been reconstructed, some is still rubble. | ||||
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| From the doorway on the right you can see how large these blocks are. | Steep steps going up! | |||||
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| Originally the inset had a Buddah carving, but the next king was Hindu so all these Buddah carvings were destroyed (hundreds) and Hindu gods put on with plaster in their place. Next king was Buddhist so more destruction. | All this smashing of beautiful carvings, in the name of religion :-( How can religion preach "love thy neighbor" and "treat others as you wish to be treated" but religious people can be so hateful? | |||||
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| Sue! | Guy fishing here! | Next beautiful temple. | ||||
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| Going up there next. | Originally a pool for washing your feet before going into the temple. All rainwater. | |||||
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| Looking back down from the first level up. | Walking around on the first level up, looking at the second level up. | Next set of veeerrrry steep steps up. | Heading up. Hard part for Sue is coming down (scared of heights) | |||
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| Made it up. | Graffiti? | Then another set of steps up. | One set of steps going up, another set going down. | From the top, view is gorgeous. | ||
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| Very tip-top is roped off | Some re-construction here. | |||||
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| At one time the tip-top was open, or will be opened. | Selfie! | |||||
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| Down we go, more temples to see | ||||||
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| Info on the restoration efforts, by many countries. | Next, we wander by another ruin | |||||
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| Altars & shrines here and there. | Was a real flush toilet here - notice the bidet-style hose on the left side. | With "no squatting on the toilet" for those who are used to squat toilets. Also no feet washing and no showering with the hose. | ||||
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| This is one of the coolest temples showing the power of Nature. | These temples were abandoned for ~300 years and the trees were allowed to grow freely. What resulted is pretty neat. | Huge trees and vines everywhere, including on the top of the building on the left. | Interesting vaulted ceiling. We learned a new word "corbel". The guide had had to learn it in his guide-certification class and he was a little disappointed that we'd never heard of the word :-) | |||
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| This is awesomely neat - the tree on top of the temple and part of the temple structure now. | ||||||
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| _huge_ trees! | A face carved into the wall is just barely visible through the tree's roots. | Vines have nearly strangled the orginal tree. | Just massively huge trees and vines. | |||
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| This tree is now part of the wall around the temple. | Our typical lunch - veggies and rice. | Juice to drink, calories listed in kj. | Bob's lunch, noodles with veggies. | For Lauri at the Keysight cafeteria - stir-fried veggies in Cambodia includes cucumbers. | ||
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| Monkeys everywhere. | Next, the east entrance to the main central Angkor Wat temple. | Bob at Angkor Wat. | We enter from the east and exit to the west, opposite of most of the tourist traffic. | We wait in a short line to climb up to the top (good timing on our guide's part, line doubles after we're up). We are now wandering the top. | ||
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| Beautifully carved walls. Every circle's carving is unique. | Temple in the center is gorgeous. | Looking out to the west gate and the main influx of tourists. | ||||
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| Inside the central tower, on each side is a shrine. No electrical lights so only the one with sunlight is visible enough for a photo with just an iPhone camera. | Outside looking back at the gate. | Truly outside looking at the reflection. | This spot is extremely popular at sunrise with the sun peeping over the temple (we're looking east). | Again the snakes at the entrance, 7 heads. | ||
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| Massive amounts of tourists. | Lions guarding the walkway (though there have never been lions in Cambodia). | ||