Angkor Wat -13 December

We've just arrived in Sihanoukville on the South Coast after an 11 hour bus trip. We had a great 6 days in Siem Reap. But it was very hot 36C and sticky. Walking around those stone temples was hard thirsty work. Goodness knows how Nogger walked in this level of heat in Spain.

Angkor Wat is the 'signature' temple and a very important temple in all kinds of ways. It's on the national flag, it brings in huge tourist dollars, it is still the largest religious monument in the world and it remains religiously important today.

The photo below shows the site with the main entrance top left. The moat is 190m wide and runs 1.9km x 1.3km around the temple. You enter the site across a causeway and through the entrance gates into an inner area which is all walled. The scale and size if it is amazing.

The phot below is taken in the inner area looking up at the main temple. You can see 3 of the 5 lotus flower shaped towers rising out of the main temple. The gallery you can see in the photo - looking like a covered walkway runs all around the temple. In the photo you can only see 1/8 th of the galleries as they wrap around the temple and onto each gallery is carved a series of bas reliefs depicting a famous scene from Hindu legend or Khmer history. It's amazing . We saw the bayeux tapestry last year which is fantastic. This is another level!

 

The inner temple is on 3 levels all of which are reached by climbing some pretty steep stairs. As Angkor is supposed to symbolise heaven on earth - the central lotus tower depicts Mount Meru the mythical Hindu mountain which is the resting place of the ancient gods. The accent to heaven is supposed to be difficult!

Last time we came the top level was closed. When we went agin on Thursday it was closed again. So we went back on Monday and it was open. FANTASTIC. Well worth the effort. The towers are fantastically detailed and the size of the top level is amazing. It is around 75m square with 4 inner courtyards and a central main tower - shown above in which statues of Vishnu reside. The views around are brilliant and you can sit and contemplate in a quiet corner . I love old buildings, particularly cathedrals and Angkor Wat is right at the top of the list. Much bigger and more impressive than any cathedral I've been to.

Although King Suryavarman II didn't need to build roofs to shelter his people from the rain and the cold. And his temples have not been since subjected to the rain, wind and particularly frost and pollution that St Paul's Cathedral has.

The steps to the top level are very steep but thankfully elf'n'safety haven't stepped in to stop us getting there

And a final view in the setting sun of the entrance to Angkor Wat. this is taken as you enter the main gate.

Oh and Ang has asked me to point out that she only reads the blogs after I've published them and accepts no responsibility for content OR more specifically spelling mistakes.

 

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