Angkor Wat in Cambodia:
Unusual & Interesting Travel Destinations #5
by www.SixWise.com
What is now Cambodia's greatest tourist attraction, the Angkor
temples, was once spoken of only by Cambodian peasants, who
regarded the magnificent structures as temples built by gods
or giants. It wasn't until 1860, when French explorer Henri
Mahout "discovered" the temples, that the rest of
the world accepted them as fact, not legend.
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Angkor Wat, the grandest temple of the Angkor temples,
is surrounded by a moat that's 570 feet wide.
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The temples of Angkor were built by the Khmer civilization
sometime between 802 and 1220 AD. With over 100 stone temples
in all, along with wooden palaces, houses and public buildings
that no longer exist, the area was a magnificent religious,
social and business metropolis, so grand that about 1 million
people are thought to have resided there in ancient times.
The architectural achievements of the Angkor temples rival
those of the Egyptian pyramids. They occupy a 40-mile area
around the village of Siem Reap, about 200 miles from Phnom
Penh, the Cambodian capital.
Ranging from single towers to sprawling complexes, the temples
were built not only to honor the kings and deities of the
time, but also as calendrical, historical and cosmological
themes. Angkor Wat, for instance, has solar alignments with
a nearby mountaintop shrine.
Angkor Wat and Other Sites to See
Angkor Wat is the most well-known and grandest of the temples
(it's also the most recognizable; it's featured on Cambodian
bank notes and also on the national flag). The massive pyramid
temple was built to honor the Hindu god Vishnu, and is surrounded
by a moat that's 570 feet wide and four miles long. It's also
known for its bas-relief carvings.
Other temples to see are the Bayon temple, which has over
200 faces of King Jayavarman VII carved into its walls, and
Ta Prohm, a temple that's surrounded by jungle and has been
intentionally left unrestored to preserve its authenticity
(this temple was also used to film a scene in the movie "Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider").
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Ta Prohm Temple is surrounded by jungle and has not
been restored, giving visitors a glimpse back in time.
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Getting to the Angkor Temples
Singapore Air flies into Siem Reap (expect about a 22-hour
trip), and from there you can travel by tuk-tuk (a motorized
rickshaw), by rental car or by limousine. Today, the Angkor
temples have been designated a World Heritage site, and tourism
in the region has been on the rise since the site opened in
1993.
Cambodian tourists topped 1 million in 2004 for the first
time, and surpassed 1 million by September in 2005, according
to the Ministry of Tourism. So if you're looking to travel
to the Angkor temples before they're turned into a more commercialized
tourist area (already, luxury hotels are popping up all over
Siem Reap), experts say to plan your travel soon.
One other expert tip: to avoid the tour crowds at Angkor
Wat and the other temples, hire a local Cambodian guide to
take you through the temples (they know when and where to
go to avoid the rush).
For more travel information, visit:
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Tickets
Sources
The
New York Times: Why is Everybody Going to Cambodia?
NASA:
Ancient Observatories
MercuryNews.com
October 15, 2006
Angkor
Wat