Trip to Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand

Friday, October 20, 2006

== Angkor ==


We decided not to post necessarily in the order we traveled by, but rather by what we feel like posting. And currently, most definitely, it's about the Angkor Temples...

Angkor was a huge empire of the Khmer people, that existed in south-east Asia during the 9th-14th centuries B.C. It controlled most areas of what is currently Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. During this time the god-kings built tremendous temples, libraries, shrines and even a university. These magnificent structures were abandoned during the 15th century only to be rediscovered during early 20th century. They are considered one of the 7 great wonders of the world, and most rightfully so...

Siem Reap is the closest town to the temples which are laid out over a huge area. There are more beggars on the streets here than there are in Vietnam, and more people with half limbs (hands and feet) that come to you and ask for money. It's quite a difficult sight, but you try not to look and keep walking. The injuries were caused by the mines that were placed in the ground during the civil war that took place between 1975 to 1979. People are still getting hurt by these, and it is recommended not to stray off the main roads and paths. Almost 2 million Cambodians were routed and murdered by the communist party, which took control over Cambodia during these years.
After 2 days of traveling between the different temples we are absolutely stunned by the overwhelming magnificance and the enormity of the structures. We thought that after a couple of temples we would get the idea, but we were surprised to discover that each one is unique.

Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom was a really large area of temples, containing several structures:




Ta Prohm
This was the most untouched temple of all the temples. All the others have been, at least partially- restored, taken care of and cleaned of the jungle plants. But this temple was simply taken over by the trees of the forest in an unbelievable way !! It was one of the few places in all our trip where we just gasped at the sights that stood before us. We hope the pictures will explain the feeling: Trees growing on the top of the temple covering the walls, heavy rocks piled at the floor covering hallway passages.




Angkor Wat (a.k.a Angkor What ?!)
This huge temple is royal-like, highly preserved, aesthetic and built on a very large area, with long connecting bridges over the circiling moat. Here we found ourselves climbing a very steep staircase on the main temple, when only at the top we discovered how high and mainly how Steep it was, and we got scared of going down.




Benteay Srei
A surprisingly small temple, with unbelivably impressive intricate stone carvings.




Neak Pean
A temple built on a square island, containing a central lake surrounded by 4 lakes.




Preah Khan
This one is actually a stone university, which looks like a whole city made of stone.



We hope you can feel how powerful the Angkor Temples are through the pictures ... It really is one of the most impressive places we have ever seen...


Here are some pictures of Cambodia's country-side:

3 Comments:

  • At 6:17 AM, Blogger Writer said…

    Good to hear from you two! I can't see the pictures because of DNS error. You should change B.C. to A.D. about the Angkor empire.

     
  • At 11:54 PM, Blogger Asaf Mesika said…

    Excellent pictures. This country is beautiful - really worth a visit. The temples look awsome.
    I liked the slideShow, which is far better than just one picture.

     
  • At 1:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Amazing pictures!! really cool. Ankor always makes me wanna go see Tomb Raider again... or fly to east asia :)

    Beautiful pictures.


    Have fun, take care, and take many more pics,

    nadav.

     

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