Angkor Wat

We explore the largest temples at Angkor Park, Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world, in its beauty and state of preservation, is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and a luxury surpassing that of a Pharaoh or a Shah Jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the Pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal. Angkor Wat is located about six kilometers (four miles) north of Siem Reap, south of Angkor Thom. Entry and exit to Angkor Wat can only be access from its west gate. Angkor Wat was built in the first half of the 12th century (113-5BC). The estimated construction time of the temple is 30 years by King Suryavarman II, dedicated to Vishnu (Hindu), a replica of Angkor Thom style of art.

Angkor Thom South Gate

We do stop at the Entrance gate of Angkor Thom city. Angkor Thom is quadrangle of defensive walls totaling 12 kilometers that once protected the Khmer capital of the same name (Angkor Thom means 'Great City'). Built in the late 12th and early 13th centuries by King Jayavarman VII, the walls are divided by two axes running north-south and east-west. A gateway lies at the end of each axis, four in total, facing the four cardinal directions.

Bayon Temple

Bayon was the state temple of Jayavarman VII, a powerful ruler in the late 13th century. The temple sat at the center of Angkor Thom, a walled city that served as the capital of the Khmer Empire. In keeping with this cosmic symbolism, the plan of the temple is based on a 'yantra', a symbol used by Tantric Buddhists as the basis of mandala diagrams that represent the layout of the universe. The temple honored not just one deity, but a host of gods found throughout the Khmer empire. Its central shrine held an image of Jayavarman VII, who perhaps imagined himself as a god-King ruling in the name of the Buddha.

Visit Baphuon was erected in the reign of Udayadityavarman II, who ruled from 1050-1066. It served as the state temple of Yasodharapura, the capital city of the Khmer empire in the 11th century. Baphuon was converted to a Buddhist temple in the 16th century. This involved the demolition of the outer galleries, causeway stones, and other structures to reuse the material for construction of an enormous reclining Buddha statue on the west side of the temple. The work was never completed, however, and the half-finished Buddha is only barely distinguishable.

Terrace of the Elephants

Visit the Terrace of the Elephants" is part of the Royal Terraces, a 360-meter long sandstone wall that forms the eastern boundary of the Royal Palace area. It runs north-south and faces the Prasat Suor Prat towers across a wide esplanade to the east. The terraces are about 4 meters high and 15 meters wide along their entire length, although the north, south, and central sections include flights of stairs that project eastward toward the parade grounds. The Elephant Terraces are distinct from the Terrace of the Leper King, which stands just to the north, though they form a continuous visual ensemble. The terraces are named after the rows of life-size elephants carved in high relief along the walls and fully in the round with projecting trunks along the stairs.

Explore the Rajavihara, the 'Royal Monastery' of the Khmer Empire. built during the reign of Jayavarman VII, a great king who reconquered the Khmer empire from Cham invaders in the years 1177-1181, Ta Prohm housed the deity Prajnaparamita, the 'perfection of wisdom.' It was consecrated in 1186. Like many Khmer kings, Jayavarman had it carved in the likeness of his mother. The Prajnaparamita statue was surrounded by 260 lesser divinities, housed in their own sanctuaries. Interestingly, the temple was also the headquarters of a vast hospital network created by the king. From Ta Prohm, supplies filtered out to 102 hospitals located throughout the empire.

Srah Srang

Srah Srang the "Royal Bath") is a Baray or reservoir at Angkor, Cambodia, located south of the East Baray and east of Banteay Kdei.

Banteay Kdei

We drive pass Banteay Kdei Temple (mid-12th-early 13th centuries) Banteay Kdei is a mysterious temple. There is no record of why it was built or by whom as no inscriptions have ever been found at the site. Its name means 'The citadel of the monks' cells'. What is known is that Banteay Kdei grew by amalgamation from a small site to a large central temple with its own enclosure wall that protected a large city.

Preah Khan

Visit Preah Khan was built in 1191 during the reign of King Jayavarman VII. He was a warrior king celebrated for reconstructing the Khmer Empire after a period of fragmentation. The central Buddhist temple at Preah Khan included an image of the Boddhisattva Lokeshrvara, carved to resemble the King's father. There were 282 sub-deities around the main statue, including Khmer heroes and deceased officials. There was even a statue of the usurper-king in front of the temple. Though this seems odd, the Khmers believed that all past kings.

Visit Neak Pean is a tiny temple built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, an energetic king who ruled in the late 12th century (for biographical details, see the Preah Khan page). The King ordered the construction of a vast Baray (reservoir) east of Preah Khan temple possibly to provide water to its hundred-thousand support workers. Neak Pean probably represents Anavatapta, a mythical lake in the Himalayas whose waters are thought to cure all illness. Descriptions of Anavatapta include references to four springs spewing from the mouths of a lion, an elephant, a horse, and an ox. This closely corresponds to Neak Pean—its central pond drains into the four surrounding ponds through gargoyles shaped like a lion, an elephant, a horse, and a man respectively. If the theory is correct, it is uncertain why one of the gargoyles was fashioned as a man and not an ox.

Banteay Srei

Visit Banteay Prei, the "Citadel of the Forest", is a small Buddhist temple is located about 300 meters northwest of the Jayatataka Baray (the reservoir of Preah Khan Temple). It was built during the reign of Jayavarman VII and is stylistically similar to nearby Preah Khan and Ta Prohm temples. However, it is relatively small, with its outer enclosure measuring about 150 x 200 meters, inside of which is a moat measuring 80 x 60 meters.

Pre Rup

Visit the Pre Rup Within the temple proper, the outer 'walls' are actually a series of eight long galleries (two on each side) with gaps in between. Pre Rup was the last of the temples at Angkor with this feature, as all succeeding temples employed continuous galleries forming unbroken corridors around the perimeter. Pre Rup was built during the reign of King Rajendravarman and served as the state temple of his capital. Rajendravarman (r. 944-68) was responsible for returning the capital to Angkor following the power struggle that erupted after the death of Jayavarman IV, The site of Pre Rup was located on the south side of the East Baray, which was already in existence in Rajendravarman's era.

Prasat Bakong

Visit Bakong the earliest of the great Khmer temples, completed in 881 during the reign of Indravarman I at the capital of Hariharalya. It is the first temple built largely of sandstone and is notable for its mandala layout which evokes mythical Mount Meru. As the largest temple constructed at Hariharalya, its construction testifies to the centralization of authority under Indravarman which permitted a sizeable portion of the population to work on temple-building projects. As construction began just a year after nearby Preah Ko, and 12 years before Lolei to the north, it is quite likely that a number of the same craftsmen and laborers worked on all three projects. then to Siem Reap hotel.