Cambodian Temples

I've realised that my blog had run out pictures, so I searched for a picture to put. This picture was taken at a temple ruin in Cambodia and this is apparently a spot where that Angelina Joli movie was filmed. Tomb Raiders or something? As you can see, there was quite a group of us there :p


Alot of the temple ruins look like this. Like crumbling rock. Cold and majestic, a sense of history and archaeic wisdom resounding in its porous, lichen infested walls.

When you walk into some of the smaller buildings, you feel like you're inside a cave. Some of the bigger ones had architectural genius in them. They were more airy and you couldn't help but feel almost reverant in them. And ALL of the temples were worshipfully decorated with carvings.

Beautiful carvings of gods, devils, dancing nymphs and alot of the doorposts were engraved with holy words written in sanskrit, an ancient language which formed pretty much most of the south east asian languages including Thai, Tamil and even Malay. In some rooms, stories of battle scenes were carved into the wall, end to end till the gruesome death and triumphant victory. Some other carvings told the daily lives of people who lived in that era, going about their agricultural ways.

Whats amazing is the amount of time, energy and care that they put into making these carvings...obviously quality works of art because even after many centuries, their features are quite prominent despite the wear and tear of nature.

Many of the temples also had huge giant statues. Some of the bigger temples had rows of warriors, guarding the temple, amongst other devoted sentry beings.

Most of the temples were built by kings of old, so they gave it lots of land. Many of the temples have huge grounds, even having seperate entrances for the heiarchy of society. And these are HUGE entrances...not just doorways but literally highways that stretch for like a kilometer or so. This temple is the famous Angkor Wat. It has two reflection pools at its main entrance. On such a beautiful day like this, you can see why it was called that.


Quite a fascinating place, I'd recommend a visit from backpackers. However, I saw far too many temples which confused me alot and personally, I would have liked to see more culture and less temple. Their temples are their prominent feature though.