Angkor Wat - Siem Reap. Cambodia

We were finally here to visit the renounced Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. We booked a driver, Mr. Kin, who picked us up at the airport and transported us using the ubiquitous Tuk Tuk (motor bike carrying a carriage) to the hotel. Our room was not ready so they gave us a refreshing drink and we were ready to hit the road to see the many temples in the area. 

The Cambodian government is soliciting foreign funding to help restore the temples as they had been neglected so many years. Construction work is everywhere and signs that stated "Dangerous area.  Do not enter" are placed in many of the locations as some of the entrances are now been covered by fallen rocks or broken statues. 

However, the remaining temples are still very impressive. The drawings on the walls have been kept intact and in so many ways, reminded us of drawings from Egypt.  There were many tour buses dropped tourists in the later afternoon and making the places lot more crowded. I was very impressed by the strangler fig trees that wrap their roots to the buildings of the temples. These structures were made well known in the movie Tomb Raider by Angelina Jolie. 

Angkor Thom (Great City) is another very impressive temple. This epic temple personifies the glory days of Khmer empire and set over 10 sq km. the whole temple is fortified with formidable walls and a massive moat to protect from invaders. As much as one million people lived in the region during 1181-1219. Churning of the Ocean of Milk with 54 demons and 54 gods engaged in the tug of war is the most well known carving on the wall. Some of the gates have been fallen into ruins but the south gate has been well restored with copied heads put back to the statues. 

I was surprised to learn that the Koreans have well been established in here. They even have a direct flight from Soul to Siem Reap. This is the beginning of the rain season and during the raining season from Aug to Oct, tourists dropped considerable and schools also close to allow kids to help out in the rice field.  Majority of the farmers plant rice (80%) and either use it for themselves or sell to the locals. 

We had a long day seeing a number of temples. As a result of the very early flight from KL to Siem Reap and we hit the road right after we landed here, we were very tired late afternoon. The hot sun and humidity drained our energy quickly. Plus each temples is huge with a very wide area to walk and high temples with many vertical steps to climb to the top. As much as we would have liked to spend more time to enjoy these beautiful and ancient structures, we gave up one of the popular activities, i.e., watching the Angkor Wat at sunset and went back to the hotel for an early rest.