Siem Reap, Cambodia - Angkor Wat (Wednesday, November 9th, 2016)

Our final temple of the day was Angkor Wat, designated as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World".  Angkor Wat was one of the reasons we were so interested in visiting Cambodia.  The magnitude and the beauty of this temple can't be portrayed in pictures, but we have done our best to bring it to you in it's fullest splendor.  Angkor Wat is about 100 years older than the other two temples we saw today.  It was built by about 4500 peasants and slaves in 1200 a.d. We were amazed at the level and quality of detail.

As we've walked through the temples today, we noticed two things that stand out.  First, they let you in to really see the temples and although they are concerned about preserving them, they don't use that as an excuse to keep you out of them.  Something that we really appreciated!

The second thing that really stood out was the difference in building strategies between ancient Europe and ancient Asia. When we visited Europe, there were forts and city walls in every country, built to protect the people inside from invaders.  In Asia, the ancient ruins are all of temples, built not for protection, but for worship. 

Angkor Wat, a temple dedicated to  the Hindu god Vishnu, has the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, which runs along the entire outer gallery walls, narrating stories from Hindu mythology. 

After we published this post, our friend Sarah came back to us with some additional facts about the bas-relief, that we missed during our tour of Angkor Wat, so I wanted to add it here in the next two paragraphs.  Gate-1 provides so much detail that it is hard to pick up on everything they pass on to us:

In addition to the bas-relief being the longest one in the world, it depicts the story of the Mahabharata, which is the longest epic poem in recorded history – which may have something to do with why the bas-relief is so long! I think it has something like a million verses. The Bhagavad Gita is only a few chapters contained within the Mahabharata.

I first heard of the Mahabharata when I took a course on the Bhagavad Gita years ago. Ever since, I have found these stories fascinating. So, when Sam told us that the bas-relief was depicting the Mahabharata on the outer walls of Angkor Wat, it really caught my attention. In addition to the bas-relief being a gorgeous work of art, the stories it depicts from the Mahabharata are truly amazing and inspiring – lessons about human nature, morality and spirituality that are still relevant today.
Approaching the moat that surrounds grounds of Anchor Wat was a seven headed snake at the west entrance.  This was our first impression of what Angkor Wat might be, and we were impressed.

As you can see from the huge crowds of people here to visit Angkor Wat, it is a very popular destination in Cambodia, but given the magnitude of the temple and the ability of our local guide to take us off the beaten path it really was not problem.

It is hard to believe the magnitude of the moat running around the property!

As we crossed the moat, we entered the grounds of Angkor Wat with its multiple buildings and expances of beautiful grass fields. The first building houses a large Buddha, where people actively worship even today.

Young monks shave most of their head as they learn about being a monk.  Once they fully commit to this way of life they will shave their entire head.

Our first glimpse of the Angkor Wat Temple, looking out from the entrance building across the grass fields.  Photos just don't give you insights into the magnitude of the facility.  The tallest structure in the temple is nearly 700 feet or 65 stories above the grassy field in front of it!  And to think it was built in 1200 a.d.

As we walked across the grounds, we were greeted by a group of monkeys.  At first everyone thought they were "so cute", until they started attacking anyone who had food in their pocket.  Then they weren't so cute any more!  One of them even stole a water bottle from one of the women in our group.

As we entered the Angkor Wat Temple, there was a huge bas-relief wall.  We found out later it is the longest in the world.

Each of the four sides of the temple have a similar relief area.  Unbelievable!

One of four swimming pools in the temple.

In this temple, only the king was allowed to enter the upper levels, this was he could get closer to their god.  He would then bring the blessings back down to the people.

Even the spindles in the windows were turned out of stone, not wood.

Remember that this is just the top section of the temple.  There's a huge temple area that we are standing on now and and another below where we are.  Again this entire structure is over 65 stores high!

There was an entrance that had been modified with railings, where we could climb to the "kings" area, high in the towers of the temple.  A few people from our group chose not to climb for various reasons, so I am excited to share my pictures from the towers for them.

Steve heading up the steps.

This photo was taken from the top of the steps looking down.

We thought the area at the top of the towers was going to be small, but it was actually very large with multiple rooms, another swimming pool and views of the temple grounds in all directions and several Buddhas.

Another swimming pool!

It's almost like a whole other temple on the upper level.

Getting ready to come back down.  Oh My!

Three monks who were kind enough to pose for a picture.

Just as the sun was setting, we were given the perfect opportunity to take pictures of the Angkor Wat Temple in the perfect lighting.

Look at the sweat on my husband!  Do you think it might be a little warm and humid?

A gorgeous evening as we walked back toward the entrance of Angkor Wat.

Steve and I talked a lot about what we saw today on our ride back to the hotel.  We had very high expectations coming into the day and what we saw far exceeded our wildest dreams!  We feel so blessed and lucky to be able to have experiences like today.  It makes us both feel so excited about life and what's to come next on this adventure!