Today is the day everyone has been waiting for - a trip to Angkor Wat. Angkor is really just a word meaning "the city" and the name after it is either a city name or a temple. The entire area is tremendous and from the ninth century was worked on, added to and generally improved upon by each emperor through the fourteenth century. Since there are entire books written about the sites, I will concentrate on impressions of the sites we visited in order.

Ta Prohm is a site that really demonstrates the power of the jungle. Large trees and vines have pushed over walls and caved in roofs. It has a magic to it, almost as if you are privileged to be the first to find it. At the first glance, it looks ramshackle but as you get closer, you can see many of the details still exist. Apsaras are everywhere and if you look carefully, you can find buddhas as well. This temple served as the backdrop for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider when Angelina Jolie was looking for the first piece of the triangle.

From the overgrown and exciting Ta Prohm, we moved on to the crown jewel - Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is known by the iconic five towers of the temple at the center, but there is so much more. We entered Angkor Wat through an unassuming small gatehouse where we could really see some fine examples of architecture. We entered and walked through a copse of trees and there the grandeur of Angkor Wat revealed itself. However large you may think it is, it is easily 10 times larger. The towers can be seen from all areas of the complex. It feels like you have stepped back in time and you wonder what the city must have looked like in it's prime. The building materials are sandstone and lava rocks intricately stacked on a packed sand foundation. Even in it's current restored (and continually restoring) state, the city is an impressive monument to those who built it. We uncovered layers of the city like peeling an onion finally getting to the towers in the middle. THere is a religious struggle being played our on the walls of the temple. It was originally built as a Hindu temple but during one of the regime changes the Buddhists took over. hindu icons were removed and replaced with statues of the Buddha. Today there is evidence of both even if most of the statues have been plundered.

We worked out way out from the healing baths to the outer wall. Once through the wall, you are on a stone "roadway" that is two or three cars wide (although this is a guess since no vehicles are allowed on it) that leads you over the moat and into the waiting arms of souvenir vendors. Looking back, you are presented with a fortress wall and the hint of towers and riches that lie within.

We hungrily wolfed down lunch and turned our attentions to Angkor Thom, the previous capital of Khmer and the physically largest site in Angkor. We entered through one of the four identical gates flanked by gods on the right and demons on the left. Crossing the moat, we learned that it used to be filled with hundreds of thousands of crocodiles. The gate itself is wide enough that there was a guard outside, a guard inside between an outer door and an inner door and finally a guard inside the wall. The king would also conduct random spot checks to ensure his guards were alert and in place. Incidentally, one of these gates was also used in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and was filled with fake blocks that a crew "pulled" down to enter a temple.

Five miles in from the wall is Bayon. This is another of the most commonly visited temples. It is in very good shape and is spiked with pointed chambers containing the face of buddha. There are fifty four chambers that make up the temple. It is impressive in its own right because of the complex structure and building techniques that must be used.

We exited Bayon onto an expansive rectangular field that was easily many football fields long. On one side were twelve identical structures whose use is a bit unclear. It seems that the practice was to settle disputes by putting those at odds into two or more of these structures. It is said that after a few days, the guilty party would develop a disease and this is how they would know who told the truth.

Across from these buildings are the elephant terrace and the leper king terrace. Behind the terraces are the gates to the imperial palace which was said to be replicated on the one in Beijing. THe elephant terrace is supported by a bas relief of elephants while the leper king terrace is supported by lions. We were getting pretty worn out by this time and a member of our group described the feeling as "ocular overload". I agree, we had seen so many temples and compared so many structures, we were having difficulty processing a lot of it.

We were not done yet. First, we visited the Chao Say Tevoda, a small temple complex that was built on a former graveyard. Without much foundation, it almost entirely collapsed and is currently being restored with natural materials in a cooperative effort between the Chinese and Cambodian artists.

Our day ended at Pre Rup where we climbed up and stayed for sunset. We were not the only group to do so and the people-watching was almost as good as the sunset. As the sun sank heavily into the jungle, the temple was bathed in rosy golden hues that made it come alive and feel, even if it was just for a moment, that we transcended time and shared an event with ancient peoples who must have seen the same sights.