Swimming in Siem Reap and all the temples of Angkor

We spent 3 days temple hopping  around Siem Reap, Home of Angkor Wat and dozens of other ancient ruins. We woke early on 2 of the days to meet up with our hired driver, jumped in our tuk-tuk and explored temple after temple til we dropped.  On our last day we rented some bikes and visited the sites just outside town, including Angkor itself and Ta Prohm (the idea was to save best for last).

One minor detail was that most of downtown Siem Reap was flooded due to the intense monsoon season affecting SE Asia. Thailand's been hogging most of the news coverage, but things have been equally bad all over the neighborhood.

However, life mostly continues as normal with most business staying open behind a wall of sandbags, though the kids seemed to be enjoying the new public pool.

Temples, temples and more temples. The detailed carvings were amazing (though lots of it has been restored). The diversity of the architecture and purposes throughout the ages gave each site a unique atmosphere.  Banteay Seri, above, constructed in the 9th century was one of the earliest examples of preserved detail.

The Cambodia Land Mine Museum run as NGO founded by a former Khmer Rouge soldier. While he was forced to plant mines in his childhood,  he's now personally been responsible for disarming over 50,000 mines and his organization continues to educate villages and help de-mine one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. 

Baneay Samre Temple, Graham's favorite.

Bayon Temple famous for it's 54 towers displaying 216 giant smiling stone faces said to resemble King Jayavarman VII.  This was Sue's favorite.

Baphuon, with its long elevated walkway.

Graham on the elephant terrace.

Some of the temples are interwoven by huge silk-cotton trees bulging through ruins

Angkor Wat, unfortunately the iconic 5 tower silhouette was marred by some construction awnings, but still remarkable to behold.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world at over 11 million square feet.   

Bas relief carvings that circle the entire outer wall of Angkor Wat and many of the other temples seen above.

Mama monkey doing her job

The South Gate of the Angkor Thom complex.  

Ta Prohm, a classic example of nature reclaiming human construction.

The temple is said to embody how many of the temples looked when Western explorers first rediscovered them, though Graham was mostly looking to discover Angelina Jolie dressed in her tomb raider outfit.