Also known as the lost city of Siem Reap Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument of early 12th Century built with the high classical style of the Khmer architecture. Hundreds of monuments of these Magnificent temples contain more stones than the Egyptian Pyramids. This was the capital of an Empire that controlled most of Southeast Asia. Its people were called the Khmer who fled the city more than 500 years ago. After a long battle in the 15th century, all but abandoned, the Khmer capital was lulled  into a centuries long sleep by the encroaching jungle.  In 1860, missionaries came across ruins in the Cambodian jungle and discovered the lost city of Angkor.

Angkor Wat is of sufficient complexity that at any time of day there are features to be seen at their best. Equally, it is too large  to take in at one specific time.You can purchase passes for one, three or seven days.

  • 1 Day = $20 USD
  • 3 Days  = $40 USD and can be used on nonconsecutive days within a week
  • 7 Days = $60 USD and can be used on nonconsecutive days within a month

Like it is impossible to cover the details of temples in Angkor in one day, it will not be fair to put all the temples in one blog. I will be writing multiple blogs on Angkor, this being the second in the series, read the first one here.

I shall take you through the pictorial journey of each temple, at least the main temples and in a separate blog I shall give you tips to travel to Cambodia.

Let me take you through the first Pictorial journey of Angkor Wat temple

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Temple, whose moat, enclosures and towers represent the Universe
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Lions and Nagas flank the steps down from the causeway
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Small alcove off the main temple where Buddhist relics are kept
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Elegant Buddha Statue echoing the historical saga
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Ruins of Library of the Outer enclosure
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Despite the difficulty, stone windows commonly featured lathe-turned balusters
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Archaeological Park at the entrance of the Temple
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The gallery of Bas-Reliefs from one of the Gopuras
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Lion protecting the Angkor Wat from mainland
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Magnificent carvings of the Connecting Gallery at lower level
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Buddha Temple inside Angkor Wat where Monks still pray during the day
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The Corridor illustrating the mythological battle scenes from Mahabharata and Ramayana
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A devout whose body has been crudely hacked off
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One of the four basins in the ‘cruciform cloister’
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Carvings of the Nymphs who had 37 different hairstyles
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Side elevation showing five Gopuras of Angkor Wat
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Upper level and towers from the courtyard of the second level

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Vandalized Apsara near the stairs leading to the hallway
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My best shot of Angkor Wat, the temple during the day

Take some down time before I take you to the next trip of another magnificent temple of Angkor.