Angkor Wat...

N 13 deg 24.749
E 103 deg 51.963

Angkor Wat

This first of the Seven Man-made Wonders of the World that I have been to. Way cool. Words cannot express the way you feel walking around a temple that is the epicenter of a lost metropolis the size of Los Angeles. Yeah, I’m not making that up. I always thought that the Angkor Wat temple was the whole lot of it. There are actually about 3,000 temples around a 400 Km2 area. “Angkor” means “City” or “Government” depending on which tour guide you ask. “Wat” means “Temple.” So this is the main temple at the center of the government and the city. Hence; the most famous. Naturally, the main temple was our first stop.

Monks walking around

The closer you get the more you notice the detailed carvings. I didn’t realize how much of every surface has something on it. Every wall on every end is covered with stories. Here is just one wall and the carvings go on forever.

The detailed carvings cover nearly every surface you will find anywhere in the temple (sans flooring).

The temple is made of sandstone. A poor choice if you are going for longevity. Well, to be fair, this one lasted a while, but many parts are wearing away. In addition, tourists have touched so many carvings that they are starting to fade. The places touched most commonly are worn shiny. Which is great, until any water gets on them, and then they fall apart easier because of the acids, oils and whatnot we leave behind.

I wonder what part of this carving people touch the most. Perverts.

As you come in from the walkways through thousands-year-old door frames into the center courtyard your jaw instinctively drops.



Being off season, there were less tourists to contend with, but they still instinctively flocked precisely in front of all the good shots. Once the rain came, they cleared right out making it open for pictures.



Even just the center Angkor Wat temple is so large that you’ll get tired walking around. There are stones all around to take a seat on. But you feel a bit guilty when you realize these are also carved ruins.

The Korean tourists touched everything and crawled all over places that signs asked them not to. Finally, a race of tourists that make Americans look good.

As impressive as it is, there is only so long you can walk around and look at it. Time came for us to leave. We knew fully well that we’d be back the next day to see some of the other 3,000 temples in the area, but I still could not stop looking back at Angkor Wat constantly as we walked away. I have seen for myself now why this is one of the Seven Man-made Wonders of the World. Six more to go…