Today was spent at Angkor Wat, an enormous temple complex once home to SE Asia's largest ancient civilisation, and Cambodia's most famous landmark.
I went expecting a very touristy experience, however despite large numbers of tourists the place didn't have that sort of atmosphere at all. Instead, I found a lush, green paradise with beautiful old temples that had fallen to ruin and been reclaimed by a jungle - it felt like I'd fallen into a set from an old Indiana Jones film. The tourist set up there is pretty slick, and the sites are well run and taken care of, however this is done in a very unobtrusive way. You're free to wander around the old ruins, listening to crickets hissing and watching butterflies floating by, making the whole place extremely peaceful and relaxing despite the numbers of people.
The thing I liked about it the most was that the preservation attempts seem to be keeping the buildings intact, without ignoring the past few centuries when the jungle has moved in! I'm sure in most instances it would create more damage trying to untangle the forest from the buildings than just letting it be, but it creates an amazing other-worldly atmosphere. There are ancient, imposing old stones and carvings with huge tree roots tangled all over them, wild grass and parts of old walls and statues littered around, with lush canopy overhead and the sounds of the forest buzzing all around. Most people tend to wander around in a bit of a daze; it feels like walking around a huge fairy's grotto.
One of the most impressive things I've ever seen - the dodgy border crossing was well worth it! One day one of the 400 (no joke) photos I took should make it up here.
I went expecting a very touristy experience, however despite large numbers of tourists the place didn't have that sort of atmosphere at all. Instead, I found a lush, green paradise with beautiful old temples that had fallen to ruin and been reclaimed by a jungle - it felt like I'd fallen into a set from an old Indiana Jones film. The tourist set up there is pretty slick, and the sites are well run and taken care of, however this is done in a very unobtrusive way. You're free to wander around the old ruins, listening to crickets hissing and watching butterflies floating by, making the whole place extremely peaceful and relaxing despite the numbers of people.
The thing I liked about it the most was that the preservation attempts seem to be keeping the buildings intact, without ignoring the past few centuries when the jungle has moved in! I'm sure in most instances it would create more damage trying to untangle the forest from the buildings than just letting it be, but it creates an amazing other-worldly atmosphere. There are ancient, imposing old stones and carvings with huge tree roots tangled all over them, wild grass and parts of old walls and statues littered around, with lush canopy overhead and the sounds of the forest buzzing all around. Most people tend to wander around in a bit of a daze; it feels like walking around a huge fairy's grotto.
One of the most impressive things I've ever seen - the dodgy border crossing was well worth it! One day one of the 400 (no joke) photos I took should make it up here.
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