Cambodia: Angkor Wat (Revisited)
Angkor Wat is one of the largest temples in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (it hiked a the Guinness World Record for the largest ancient religious place). It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as the capital of Khmer Empire and his palace and mausoleum. First Hindu and then Buddhist, the temple is a well-known symbol of the kingdom of Cambodia and is on the national flag. Angkor Wat is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology. A moat surrounds the outer wall of 3.6 km (2.2 mi, and monkey greet and often attack your approach to the temple walls). Inside, there are three long rectangular galleries covered in bas-reliefs (more on them in the next post), each gallery is raised above the next. At the center of the temple stand five towers. Spectacular pictures can be had from the front of the moat lakes surrounding the western side of the temples. It is surely grand and impressive and is considered one of the new seven wonders of the world! Angkor Wat means City of Temples on Khmer.
