An Aspara dancer at Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

For most westerners, Angkor Wat induces an image of a lone European explorer hacking his way through the thick jungle of Cambodia when he by chance stumbling across the lost ruins of Angkor… Ruins, which turned out to become a wonder of the ancient world. To be frank, I was no different. Before I visited Angkor for the first time in 2007, I also thought that Henri Mouhot – a French naturalist – re-discovered these temples.

But this is just an urban myth; When Henri Mouhot came across the temples in 1860, Angkor was run-down, succumbing to nature and being in a serious state of disrepair, yet it was never lost as many people think… The location of all Angkor sites, which are on the tourist itinerary today, was always known to the Khmer and other westerners have been there before. Mouhot himself never claimed that he was the one to discover it, yet somehow he became associated with it.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world. It’s the crowning achievement of the classical Khmer Empire, which once ruled most of Southeast Asia.

Personally I think it’s one of these sights every tourist and/or traveller should have seen at least once in their lifetime. Angkor’s many temples will capture you immediately – the area is truly magical and the atmosphere one of a kind.

The Obvious:

Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is the main temple and largest monument of the Angkor group, as well as the best preserved. It’s truly an architectural masterpiece. The main tower represents the mountain “Meru”, which is the centre of the universe for Hindus & Buddhists. The best time to visit is just before sunset, when the sunlight directly hits the temple structure.

Style: Angkor Wat
Reign: Suryavarman II

The main temple Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The main temple Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Ta Prohm.

Ta Phrom is definitely one of the most unique temples in Angkor. Unlike most temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found. Trees growing out of the ruins give you the impression that the jungle is taking over.

Style: Bayon
Reign: Jayavarman VII, enlarged by Indravarman II

Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Ta Prohm temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Bayon.

Bayon is one of the most enigmatic and powerful religious constructions. Today the temple is best known for the gigantic face sculptures that adorn its 37 surviving towers, facing in four directions on each tower.

Style: Bayon
Reign: Jayavarman VII to Jayavarman VIII

Bayon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Bayon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Bayon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Bayon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

The Less Obvious:

Ta Som.

In spite of its ruinous state, Ta Som temple has a captivating beauty like very few of the Angkor temples. This comes from its remote location and the merge of nature with the temple. It’s located away from the crowds, and with continually growing plants and trees which makes visitors more curious to explore every dark corner of the temple.

Style: Bayon
Reign: Jayavarman VII

Ta Som temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Ta Som temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Ta Som temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Preah Khan.

Preah Khan is one of the largest Angkor temples, measuring 700 meters by 800 meters. It’s immense, beautiful and full of surprises. Definitely allow yourself that bit of extra time to see more than you’d expect in the first place.

Style: Bayon
Reign: Jayavarman VII

Preah Khan temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Preah Khan temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Preah Khan temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Preah Khan temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Preah Khan temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

East Mebon.

The lovely temple of Mebon is a pyramid of receding terraces. The sculpture at the East Mebon include two-meter-high free-standing stone elephants at corners of the first and second tiers.

Style: Pre Rup
Reign: Rajendravarman II

East Mebon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

East Mebon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

East Mebon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

East Mebon temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Banteay Kdei.

Banteay Kdei has not really been restored (yet they are working on it right now) and therefore allows the visitor to experience what it may have looked like originally.

Style: Angkor Wat/Bayon
Reign: Jayavarman VII

Banteay Kdei temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Banteay Kdei temple in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

Anyway, the park was built by Bunleua Sulilat, who fled to Thailand in the 70s where he built another Buddha Park known as Sala Keoku. As you might notice, the word “Sala” is a present in both names: Sala Xieng Khoan (in Laos) & Sala Keoku (in Thailand). The word “Sala” means the place where you can meditate or recover. This is why the park is “used” by many monks for resting, reading or studying.

When walking through the park, you’ll come across some bizarre statues of humans, gods, animals, demons and an enormous sculpture of a sleeping Buddha. One notable sculpture in the park resembles a giant pumpkin. It consists of three stories representing hell, earth and heaven. Visitors can enter through an opening which is a mouth of a demon head (second photo below) and climb up a staircases (from hell to heaven) where you’ll have an amazing view of the park.

The park has something distinctly ancient looking about it. Giant Buddhas lounge as Vishnu looks on, and Shiva menaces both with eight arms full of weaponry.

The more than 200 statues, filled with cryptic symbols, concentrated in a small area give the Xieng Khuan park spot an aura of horror fantasy.

Xieng Khuan park was Sulilat’s first sculpture park and was built by the side of the Mekong River, about 25 kilometers from Vientiane. Said to have been built by himself and his students the park is an astounding display of outsider artistry.

Among these ferro-concrete sculptures are skeleton thin Buddhas, a giant pumpkin with with a demon head for an opening and three floors representing Heaven, Hell and Earth as well as a gigantic 40 meter long reclining Buddha.

In fact, the Xieng Khuan, or “Spirit City” park was built in 1958 by Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat. Luang Pu Bunleua Sulilat was a priest-shaman, myth-maker, mystic and sculpture artist with a large following in Laos and later in Thailand.

Sadly, the place is about to fall into ruins because of floods from the Mekong River and a general lack of conservation. If it is now already a place of surreal lore that looks of ancient ruins, it will surely transform into something even stranger when it actually becomes ruins.

Important historical details about Angkor Wat.

What most people don’t know is that Angkor Wat (which literally means “City of Temple”) was actually the name of the main temple, not the entire complex. It was built in the time of King Suryavarman II in the 12th century and is the best-preserved & most visited temple at the site. The complete temple area was known only as Angkor (which is situated on the plain of present-day Siem Reap province north of the Great Lake of Tonle Sap) and it served as the seat of the Khmer Empire until the 15th century. Each king built at least one giant temple during his ruling, which led to a total size of 200km2.

Angkor Wat.

Second thing a lot of people don’t know: The discovery of Angkor by French explorer Henri Mouhot is a bit of a myth. It is said that he re-discovered Angkor Wat in 1860 and that he was the first European to visit the area; both of which is not true. Angkor was never really “lost”. The Khmer knew of the existence even after the kingdom broke down. Some of the temples have been used all the time by fishermen and farmers who lived in the surroundings. In the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries reached the city and even reported about it. The interests of the colonial powers seemed to have swept this under the table…

Angkor Wat temple built for king Suryavarman II.

Tourists at Angkor Wat.

The temple area of Angkor is the most famous tourist site in Cambodia. It has become a symbol of this country, also appearing on its national flag. More than two million visitors come here every year. For the country itself this is a good thing, because there’s not that many other tourist attractions but for the complex, it’s not that convenient. Why? Well, let me try to get this straight: The average person doesn’t really look our for anyone but themselves … and that’s the truth. I could give you a million examples but for Angkor Wat in particular, I’ll give you these two:

1.) During our visit in 2010, we saw how some tourists leaned on a clearly not stable part of a less known temple … Do I don’t have to tell you how the story ended? No. Did they report it? I wouldn’t count on it. Did we report it? Yes, but the guys that we told didn’t seem to care that much.

2.) Four million feet each year (including a couple of thousand from elephants as seen in the photo below) can’t be good for these grounds. But that’s just my opinion.

Obviously I was not the only one who thought this because nowadays, you’re not able to get to all the temples as easy anymore. Some parts are even cut off completely (for example the door of Ta Prohm temple also seen below). Maybe the perfect photograph is ruined this way, but after all we want to enjoy this magical place for much longer!

Millions of tourist visit Angkor Wat each year.

Tourist in front of the main temple at sunrise.

This is the absolute last thing we would ever do…

Of course it’s also possible to enjoy Angkor Wat without all the tourists. Just leave the normal path and you’re in the middle of a (almost spooky) jungle. The arsenal is so huge, you could walk for hours and maybe even get lost at some point…

Away from the tourist areas, Angkor can really be a bit spooky.

One of the faces at Bayon temple.

Impressive walls around the temples were built as well.

The jungle is taking over.

Not only the destruction of the temples is visible but also how the jungle is taking over the temple complex. It’s no wonder that Angkor Wat succumbed to the encroaching jungle…

The jungle is taking over at Angkor Wat.

The world famous Ta Prohm temple in 2007.

Workers try to keep Angkor Wat in a good stage.

Looks a bit like out of a science fiction movie…Taken in 2007.

Giant trees “eat” up the walls.

Giant trees literally “eat” up the temples.