After a really long bus ride from Bangkok we made it into Siem Reap, in Cambodia.
Siem Reap is home to the world famous temples of Angkor. They were built by the Khmer people between 800 A.D and 1400 A.D. and cover a huge amount of ground, with many temples of many sizes; some that take hours to explore, some that are easy enough to see by walking past on the road. We spent three days exploring the many temples and met a lot of new friends!
Polly outside of Prasat Kravan, one of the first and smallest temples we visited. Prasat Kravan was built in the 10th century and was dedicated to Vishnu according to some inscriptions on the door jambs.
Polly with some new friends outside the temple. There were a lot of children playing around all the temples, they would go to school in the mornings and then come and help out with the family business of selling food, water and souvenirs to tourists.
Polly outside the East Mebon. East Mebon was built in the 10th century. It was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, and honours the parents of the King who was ruling Angkor at that time.
Polly at Preah Khan. It was built in teh 12th century. Preah Khan was very interesting because of the way the trees have grown in and around the temple and the walls surrounding it. The face of the statue here is missing because of looters.
Polly with one of the many Buddhist statues around the temples.
Listening to a concert preformed by some land mine victims outside one of the temples. Many Cambodians were seriously hurt by landmines left behind from the American war in Vietnam, as well as the Khmer Rouge take over. It is still a very large problem in Cambodia that many people all over the world are trying to help with.
Polly inside of Ta Phrom. This is a famous temple because of the amount of large trees growing inside and around the temple. This is also where Angelina Jolie filmed part of the movie 'Tomb Raider'.
Polly and Kristy heading for the largest religious monument in the world, Angkor Wat (meaning Temple City). This was the biggest temple in the Angkor area and taking us almost 3 hours to explore and was built in the early 12th century.
Tags: Polly 24
July 5th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Amazing pictures and great information!
July 5th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
The architecture in the pictures is, of course, unlike anything that I’ve ever seen. Life is kind of funny: this is a part of the world I have never had too big of an interest in, but the pictures and stories behind them are fascinating. I think your travels are going to pique the interest of a lot of people–and frogs.
July 5th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
I think this post is exactly what this website it all about–opening our eyes to the world and seeing and experiencing new places. I never once thought about traveling to Cambodia, but now I think your posts are going to get me into big trouble–my travel list is going to get bigger and bigger because of you! Your pictures and stories are great…thanks for posting!
July 5th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Great to hear, Angkor was an amazing and very interesting place to visit!! There is so much interesting information about the temples, I had to keep a lot out otherwise it would have gone from a post to an essay about the temples haha. I do hope everyone takes away from this post an interest to learn more about the temples!
Polly sure loved hopping around here!! so many different things to see and places to explore, and lots and lots of ponds with lilly pads 🙂
July 8th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
The pictures in your post are beautiful, espeically the “Tomb Raider” pic! I wonder if Angelina knows how lucky she was to do a film shoot there! Great stuff!
November 14th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Beautiful pictures. What an amazing place to visit.
December 10th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
I cant believe that the people outside the temple look like us!
(3rd grade student)