temples at last

Your first view of Ankor Wat is stunning, it is surrounded by a square moat, it has 5 lotus like towers rising 65 meters from ground level,you walk across a causeway to the entrance, even in the rain it was more impressive than I had imagined.It was built by Suryavarman II in the Mid. 12th century it was dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu, but later to Buddha.

This is one of the "libraries"

I loved the pert bottoms on these lion statues but all had missing tails.

The inner most tower at Ankor wat,you are no longer allowed to climb up as the steps are very worn,not to mention narrow. A bias relief of temple dancers,all of which are well endowed in the bust department.

The windows are decorated with these lovely pillars

These statues guard the bridge to Angkor Thom a 3km walled and moated royal city the builing was started in 1181 by Jayavarman as his new capital.

One of the five gates to the city each have four faces.

Bayon is one of the temples in this complex and my favourite, all the massive stone Buddha faces are very impressive,there are 37 standing towers most of them with four faces.

Elephant terrace, many of them are damaged it is 300 meters long with the terrace of the leper King at the north end.

Ta Prohm built by Jayavarman VII and dedicated to his mother,the jungle really encroaches into this temple.

The children have such beautiful ,happy faces even in the rain.

This is Ta Prohm, massive fig and cotton trees grow out from the stones it is very atmospheric and the tree bark is a golden colour, this temple is where the film Tomb Raider was filmed.

The trunks look very fluid as they flow over the stones.

This is the path on the way out,it was knee deep in places, but at least warm.