Seim Reap, Cambodia / September, 2011 –

These are only two of four faces on one of many similar structures and are but only a minute part of the total Angkor Wat site area. I stayed in near by Seim Reap for several days with my wife – Louise, while we explored outlying areas and various parts of this amazing UNESCO world heritage site.

Angkor Wat is also known as the “City of Temples” and was built in the early 12th century. It’s the world’s largest religious monument. Visiting it without a horde of tourists is now a very rare feat. We were lucky avoiding the massive crowds as we timed our visitations to coincide with many tourists’ siesta time. But we also paid the price for being there at the hottest time of the day. The literally many thousands of stone art carvings and ruins stretch way out to more than 248 square miles! However, most of what you’d want to see is more localized within four or five key areas.

I was awed by the sheer grandness of the site and the art intricacies that grace every building, walkway or garden. The architects of this site would have had to have been geniuses with brilliant planning skills to have thought of every construction detail, let alone to have to have coordinated its establishment. Where is the quarry that all the stones came from? How many stone carvers were involved? Where did they house the workers and artisans? Who paid for all this? Who was the mastermind and general contractor? Did it get completed in his lifetime? And on it goes just trying to imagine the sheer magnitude of the whole thing.

Many of you may know that the movie – Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was filmed on location here starring Angelina Jolie. No doubt she gained an affinity for the Cambodian people as she eventually adopted children from the region. Stay tuned for more photos.