Welcome Seim Reap-Angkor Wat
Back in the 1960s, Siem Reap (See-em-ree-ep) was the place to be in Southeast Asia and saw a steady steam of the rich and famous. After three decades of slumber, it's well and truly back and one of the most popular destinations on the planet right now. The life-support system for the temple of Angkor, Cambodia's eighth wonder of the world, Siem Reap was always destined for great things, but few people saw them coming this thick and this fast. It has reinvented itself as the centripetal of the new Cambodia, with more guesthouse and hotels than temples, world-class wining and dining and sumptuous spas.
At its heart, Siem Reap is still a little charmer, with old Frech ship-houses, shady tree-lined boulevards and a slow-flowing river. But it is expanding at breakneck speed with new houses and apartments, hotels and resorts sprouting like mushrooms in the surrounding countryside. The tourist tide has arrived and locals are riding the wave. Not only is this great news for the long-suffering Khmers, but it has transformed the town into a pulsating place for visitor. Forget the naysayers who mutter into their about Siem Reap in the 'old days, now is the time to be here, although you may curse your luck when stuck behind a jam of tour buses on the way back from the temple. Angkor is a place to be savored, not rushed, and this is the base to plan your adventures, Still think three days at the temples is enough? Think again with Siem Reap on the doorstep.
At its heart, Siem Reap is still a little charmer, with old Frech ship-houses, shady tree-lined boulevards and a slow-flowing river. But it is expanding at breakneck speed with new houses and apartments, hotels and resorts sprouting like mushrooms in the surrounding countryside. The tourist tide has arrived and locals are riding the wave. Not only is this great news for the long-suffering Khmers, but it has transformed the town into a pulsating place for visitor. Forget the naysayers who mutter into their about Siem Reap in the 'old days, now is the time to be here, although you may curse your luck when stuck behind a jam of tour buses on the way back from the temple. Angkor is a place to be savored, not rushed, and this is the base to plan your adventures, Still think three days at the temples is enough? Think again with Siem Reap on the doorstep.
Temples of Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is the larget and undoubtedly the most breathtaking of the monuments at Angkor, and is widely believed to be the largest religious structure in the world. It is simply unique, a stunning blend of spirituality and symmetry, an enduring example of man's devotion to his gods. Relish the very first approach, as that spine-tickling moment when you emerge on the inner causeway will rarely ve felt again, It is the best-preserved temple at Angkor, as it was never abandoned to the element and repeat visits are rewarded with previously unnoticed details. It was probably built as a funerary temple for Suryavarman II (r 112-52) to honour Vishnu the Hindu deity with whom the king identified.
Angkor scenic aerial view
The best viewing from Helicopter
The best viewing Angkor Wat from Balloon
The viewing from in font of Angkor Wat
Viewing in front the Angkor Wat
Carving
Apsara Carving
There is much about Angkor Wat that is unique among the temples of Angkor. The most significant fact is that the temple is oriented toward the west. West is symbolically the direction of death, which once led a large number of scholars to conclude that Angkor Wat must have existed primarily as a tomb. This idea was supported by the fact that the magnificent bas-reliefs of the temple ware designed to be viewed in as anticlockwise direction, a practice that has precedents in ancient Hindu funerary rites. Vishnu, however, is also frequently associated with the west, and it is now commonly accepted that Angkor Wat most likely served both as a temple and a mausoleum for Suryavarman II.
Angkor Wat is famousor its beguiling apsara (heavenly nymphs). Many of these exquisite apsara were demaged during Indian efforts to clean the temple with chemicals during the 1980s, the ultimate bed acid trip, but they are now being restored by the teams with the German Apsara Conservation Project. The organisation operates a small information booth in the northwest corner of Angkor Wat, near the wat where beautiful black-and-white postcards and images of Angkor are available
Sunrise At Angkor Wat
2016-March-23 Amazing sunrise at Angkor Wat
The must beautiful sunrise on equinox day at Angkor Wat 23-03 and 23-09
Angkor Thom
The fortified city of Angkor Thom (Great Angkor, or Great City), is on an epic scale, some 12 sq km in size. It was built by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII (r 1181-1219), who came to power following the disastrous sackingof the previous Khmer capital by the Chams. At the city's height, it may. Centred on the Bayon, Angkor Thom is enclosed by a jayagiri (square wall) 8m hight and 12 km in length and encircled by a 100m-wide jayasindh (most). The moat is said to have been inhabited by fierce crocodiles). This architectural layout is yet another monumental expression of Mt Meru surrounded by the oceans.
Gate Angkor Thom (Bayon)
The city has five immense gates, one each in the northern, western and southern walls and two in the eastern wall. The gates are 20 m in height decorated with stone elephant trunks and crowned by four gargantuan faces of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, facing the cardinal directions. In front of each gate stands giant statues of 54 gods (to the left of the causeway) and 54 demons (to the right of the causeway), a motif taken from the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The south gate is most popular with visitors, as it has been fully restored and many of the heads (usually copies) remain in place. The gate is one main road into Angkor Thom from Angkor Wat, and it gets very busy. More peaceful are the east and west gates, found at the end of uneven trails. The east gate was used as a location in Tomb Raider where the bad guys broke into the 'tomb' by pulling down a giant (polystyrene!) Apsara.
In the centre of the walled enclosure are the city's most important monument, including the Bayon, the Baphoun, the Royal Enclosure, Phimeankas and the Terrace of Elephants.
Unique, even among its cherished contemporaries the creative genius inflated ego of Cambodia's legendary king, Jayavarman VII. It's a place of stooped corridors, precipitous flights of stairs and, best of all, a collection of 54 Gothic towers decorated with 216 coldly smiling, enormous faces of Avalokiteshvara that bear more than a passing resemblance to the geat king himself. These huge heads glare down from every angle, exuding power and control with a hinft of humanity-this was precisely the blend required to hold sway over such a vast empire, ensuring the dispareate and far-flung population yieldede to his magnanimous will. As you walk around, a dozen or more of the heads are visible at any one time - full-face or in profile, almost level with your eyes or staring down from on high.
The viewing north side of BayonThe eastward orientation of Bayon leads most people to visit early in the morning, preferably just after sunrise, when thesun inches upards, lighting face after face, Bayon, however , looks equally good in the late afternoon, and if you stay for the sunset you get the same effect as at sunrise, in reverse. A Japanese teams, is restoring several outer areas of the temple.
Located around 400m south of Angkor Thom, the main attraction at Phnom Bakheng is the photo up of a sunset view of Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, the whole affair has turned into something of a circus, with crowds of tourists ascending the slopes of the hill and jockeying for space once on top. Coming odwn can be even worse as there is nothing at all in the way of lighting. Still, the sunset over the Western Baray is very impressive from the hill. To get a decent picture of Angkor Wat in the warm glow of the late afternoon sun you will need at least a 300mm lens, as the temple is 1.3km away.
Phnom Bakheng also lays claim to being home to the first of the temple-mountains bult in the vicinity of Angkor. Yasovarman I (r 889-910) chose Phnom Bakheng over the Roluose area, where the earlier capital (and temple-mountains) had been located.
The temple-mountain has five tiers, with seven levels (including the base and the summit). At the base are-or were -44 towers. Each of the five tiers had 12 towers. The summits of the temple has four towers at the cardinal points of the compass as well as a central sanctuary. All of these numbers are of symbolic significance. The seven levels, for example, represent the seven Hindu heavens, while the total number of tower, excluding the Central Sanctuary, is 108, a particularly auspicious number and one that correlates to the lunar calendar. It is now possible to arrange an elephant ride up the hill.
Riding elephant to the club up to the top on mountain for beautiful sunset
Waiting for sunset
Ta Prohm is undoubtedly the most atmospheric ruin at Angkor and should be high on the hit list of very visitor. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments. of Angkor, it has been swallowed by the jungle, and looks very much the way most of the monuments of Angkor appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them. Well, that's the theory, but in fact the Jungle is pegged back and only the largest trees are left in place, making it manicured other than raw like Beng Mealea. Still, a visit to Ta Prohm is a unique, other-world experience. The temple is cloaked in dep-pled shadow, its crumbling towers and walls locked in the slow muscular embrace of vast root systems. If Angkor Wat, the Bayon and other temples are testimony to the genius of the ancient Khmers, Ta Prohm reminds us equally of the awesome fecundity and power of the jungle. There is a poetic cycle to this venerable ruin, with humanity first conquering nature to rapidly create, and nature once again conquering humanity to slowly destroy.
Build from 1186 and originally known as Rayavihara (Monastery of the King), Ta Prohm was a budhist temple dedicated to the mother of Jayavarman VII. It is one of the few temple in the Angkor region where an inscription provides information about the temple's dependents and inhabitants.
Great view the three Carver on the Ta Prohm temple
Ta Prohm is a temple of towers, closed courtyard and narrow cor-riders. Many of the corridors are impassable, clogged with jumbled piles of delicately carved stone blocks dislodged by the roots of long-decayed trees. Bes-reliefs on bulging walls are carpeted with lichen, moss and creeping plants, and shrubs sprout from the roofs of monuments porches. Trees, hundreds of year old-some supported by flying buttresses-tower overhead, their leaves filtering the sunlight and casting a greenish pall over the whole scene. The most popular of the many strangulating root formations is that on the inside of the easternmost gopura (entrance pavilion) of the central enclosure, nicknamed the Crocodile Tree.
It used to be possible to climb onto the damaged galleries, but this is now prohibited to protedt hoth the temple and visitor. Many of these precariously balanced stones weigh a tonne or more and would do some serious damage if they came down.
Banteay Srey
Date: Late 10th century, Religion: Hindu, Rein : Rajendravarman II &Jayavarman V, Style Banteay Srey.
Located 20km north of Angkor, this ezquisite little jevel of a temple was buit by Jajna-varaha, an official of Rajendravarman (944-968) and Branhmanist guru of Jayavarman V (968-1000). As if to make up for its diminutive size (the first enclosure is a mere 80 square) every square inch of Banteay Srey is covered in carvings of the very finest detail and artistry. The temple is located about 25km from Angkor Wat and should be included on any temple itinerary. The road to Banteay Srey passes though wonderful scenery, making the journey a pleasure in itself. Banteay Srey, built in the 10th century, is fashioned from a pinkish sandstone instead of the normal grey late rite of other temples. The properties of this stone allowed the ancient masons to imbue their work with an unworldly level of sharpness and detail. Banteay Srey's location means that almost all taxi, motorbike and Remok (moto trailing) drivers charge more for this trip to cover their additional fuel and maintenance costs.
The beautiful carving on the gate Lady temple (Banteay Srey)
Phreah Vihear Temple
Preah Vihear province's border with Thailand and northern Laos where should impress the three temples in Angkor temple Koh Ker and Preah Khan Kampong Svay. Here also is home to many communities of ethnic hill tribes. Koh Ker was the capital of the Empire Khmer King Jayavarman Russell 4th Khmer city, built in 921. Parts of the castle were buried away in the forest who can not travel. Temple is the most special places of the province.
Phreah Vihear Temple was known as "Se Khari Svarak" in the late 9th and 10th centuries under the reigns of four kings:
Preah Bat Yasovarman I (AD 889-910)
Preah Bat Suryavarman I (AD 1000-1050)
Preah Bat Suryavarman II (AD 1114-1150)
Pheah Bat Jayavarman V (AD 1080-1108)
The architectural gandeur of Preash Vihear is comparable with almost any other temple in Cambodia. Its location on the crest of a mountain range, with commanding views over much of northern Cambodia. puts Preah Vihear in a league of tis own. The experience is absolutely memorable. The temple has four levels and four courtyards, and also has five Gopuras, or entrance pavilions sometimes surmounted by a tower. Phreah Vihear temple was handed to Thailand by the France in 1954, but was eventually returned to Cambodia by an International Court in June 1962.
View Phreah Vihear Temple
103km north-east of Siem Reap is Koh Ker: the site of the old capital of Jayavarman IV. The main ruins at Kog Ker consist of a 7-teir pyramid current accessed via a vertiginous ladder and narrow, sloping stepss.
