The trip to Cambodia was quick, easy and absolutely what I had hoped for. I arrived in the morning of May 27 and toured the Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat temples in the morning and the Bayon Temple in the afternoon. On the 28th I visited the Banteay Temple and Ta Prohm--both of which were highlights. Because of the number of sites and the number of photos I am breaking this post into several smaller sections but the entire trip lasted two days.
After climbing back down we toured the panels inside some more than walked around the moat before driving over to another temple complex, Angkor Thom.
There is considerable debate as to Angkor Wat being included on the revised list of Seven Wonders of the World and it has my vote. Built on three levels in the 9th and 10th Centuries it represents the Hindu vision of the universe. It has more stones that the Egyptian pyramids but here most of the stone is exposed and nearly every inch has been intricately car
ved--literally miles of stone carvings. The magnitude hits you as you walk across the bridge over the moat. Once inside you go through several stone arches and entrances. In the center (the center of the universe) the third level has five large towers with the center and tallest being over 200 feet in the 
air. The temple itself covers about 500 acres. As you work your way in through the maze of passages you eventually reach the central tower which can be climbed (and I did) but the steps are very narrow and extremely steep. I'm in pretty good shape physically and I really struggled at points working my way up. I finally got to the top and straightened up to catch my breath and there's an old Japanese man standing there--he must have been 90 years old with the white goatee. It started misting while my guide and I were at the top and I was a little concerned about coming down on those stone steps but one of the stairs had a rail and that's how the elderly people were climbing up. Naturally I had to take the hard route!
Once at the top, however, the view was breathtaking. I had an excellent guide and he spoke perfect English despite having never been out of Cambodia. We spent about an hour walking around inspecting the carvings and sculptures while on the top. Cambodia is attempting to develop the complex for tourism but there is still a lot of pilfering and damaging of these priceless artifacts. Like I said the views were awe-inspiring.
ved--literally miles of stone carvings. The magnitude hits you as you walk across the bridge over the moat. Once inside you go through several stone arches and entrances. In the center (the center of the universe) the third level has five large towers with the center and tallest being over 200 feet in the 
air. The temple itself covers about 500 acres. As you work your way in through the maze of passages you eventually reach the central tower which can be climbed (and I did) but the steps are very narrow and extremely steep. I'm in pretty good shape physically and I really struggled at points working my way up. I finally got to the top and straightened up to catch my breath and there's an old Japanese man standing there--he must have been 90 years old with the white goatee. It started misting while my guide and I were at the top and I was a little concerned about coming down on those stone steps but one of the stairs had a rail and that's how the elderly people were climbing up. Naturally I had to take the hard route!
Once at the top, however, the view was breathtaking. I had an excellent guide and he spoke perfect English despite having never been out of Cambodia. We spent about an hour walking around inspecting the carvings and sculptures while on the top. Cambodia is attempting to develop the complex for tourism but there is still a lot of pilfering and damaging of these priceless artifacts. Like I said the views were awe-inspiring.
After climbing back down we toured the panels inside some more than walked around the moat before driving over to another temple complex, Angkor Thom.
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