The Ruins of Angkor Wat and the Surrounding Temples

The stunning Angkor Wat

Occasionally when travelling and especially after seeing many different temples and religious sites, you almost become oblivious to the sheer beauty and vastness of everything around you.  For me, this happened in Phnom Penh where almost ever temple we saw was so beautiful that it was hard to distinguish which temple was which.

Inside Angkor Wat

However, upon seeing Angkor Wat, both Allan and I woke up from our temple haze and could finally see very clearly how stunning the grounds, temples and the ruins truly are.  There is a reason it's one of the seven wonders of the world.

Pillars underneath the temple

Without going into too much detail, Angkor Wat was originally created as a Hindu temple but then became a Buddhist temple complex and is the largest religious monument in the world.  In the grounds surrounding Angkor Wat are many other temples and sites that we wanted to see: Angkor Thom, Bayon and Ta Prohm (or the site where Tomb Raider was filmed) to name a few.  Anyway, check out these pics...

The bridge to Bayon Temple

The many faces of the Bayon Temple

Inside the dark Bayon

Each face is unique

Inside Ta Prohm (where Lara Croft Tomb Raider was filmed.)

The trees grow right through the temples.
They are amazingly resourceful.

We took so many pictures of the grounds and temples of Angkor but with as many tourists as there were, a lot of them did not turn out the way we'd hoped.  Regardless, I am so grateful to have the ones we do and to have seen such a mystical site.