Wat's Up? A Dream Come True.

Angkor Wat is a site O. and I have dreamed of visiting for most of our lives. I can remember as a kid seeing pictures of these fantastically overgrown temples in the middle of the jungle and thinking that I had to go there some day. So our being here is really a dream come true for both of us.

It's taken a while to put this post together because of the sheer volume of photos and also because we didn't have them all. On day one of our two days in the area, as I started to take pictures of the temples, I realized that the camera battery was almost depleted. Luckily, we were with our friends Justin and Jyoti, who just happened to have scheduled their Tet vacation in Angkor Wat for the same few days as we did. So after we got back to Hanoi, we downloaded some of their photos to supplement ours. Their photos are marked with a (J).

The spires of Angkor Wat tower over the trees of the surrounding forest.

The temple is surrounded by a huge moat that served as a water source as well as protection.

On the first day we decided to visit four of the lesser temples,
Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Ta Som, and Ta Prohm since Justin and Jyoti
had already visited the main temple complex the previous day.

The setting is more forest than jungle. It has a much more park-like
feeling than Tikal in Guatemala.

The first of many depictions of gods and demons wrestling with the
five or seven-headed naga. This motif is repeated endlessly throughout
all of the temples in the area.

Garuda is everywhere, too.

There are at least a dozen major temples in the area in various stages of decay or restoration.

The temple of Ta Prohm is one of the most overgrown. It's the one
you've probably seen in photos. Several scenes from
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider were filmed here. (J)

The next few pictures show how the roots of trees are slowly becoming one with the ruins.
(J)

For obvious reasons, this one is called the Snake Root.
(J)

(J)

(J)(J)

Some of these trees are massive.
(J)

We stopped for lunch and much needed refreshment. (J)

P. found a feline buddy. Unlike in Vietnam, the cats in Cambodia
were friendly and not semi-feral.

P. & O.