Angkor Wat, Cambodia

This is the day that everyone has been waiting for.  We left early to avoid the rush of tourists.  Angkor, a holy city, sprawls across an area of roughly 96 square miles and was built in 800-1200 AD. Entering thru the East gate of Angkor Wat, the large temple built in 1113 - 1150, we crossed the moat which is 570 feet wide and walked around the temple into the alcoves.  During our walk we were treated by the appearance of a monkey.  The temple is three stores high and 210 meters by 80 meters.  It is one of the oldest and largest temple in the world.  There are tourist from all over the world here.  Vuthy, our guide, pointed out a lot of interesting carvings on the walls.  We walked to the second level and then a few of us walked to the top level which had some Buddhas in the center.

We were given some time for exploring and photos.  It is so impressive. We walked across the moat and met back with the group.  We went to another temple, Ta Prohm, which is overgrown with trees.  It is the most photographed temple since the movie, "Tomb Raider" was filmed there in 2000.  This temple has been left the way the French found it in the mid 1800s, covered by a dense jungle of trees and roots.  It was the most crowded temple with lots of tourist jockeying for photos.

After this Tempe we had a family hosted meal.  There are many families living in the temple grounds.  Our family was the Neeks and there 14 year old daughter was our hostess.  They served us a wonderful meal.  

In the afternoon we passed through the South gate of Angkor Thom, the capital city of Khmer rulers.  We saw monkeys again on the way in.  Bayon had 48 gold plated towers.  Then we stopped once more at the West entrance of Angkor Wat for sunset.