Angkor Wat by Matt

Arriving just before sunrise, the famous stupas slowly revealed themselves, towering above the jungle. We stood behind the crowd of people trying to get a photo of the reflection in the small pool in front of it. Despite all the people it was very serene and a collective awe grew as the daylight brought out more and more detail of the temple.

Once the sun was fully risen we briefly explored an ancient library before walking along the causeway flanked by the serpent goddess Naga. We slowly walked around the perimeter of the temple as Narin patiently explained the meaning of the reliefs etched into the walls.

Originally a Hindu temple, but since converted to Buddhism, it was built to worship Vishnu in the 12th century, when Angkor was the centre of the ancient Khmer empire boasting a population of 1 million people. Hundreds of temples survived in this area, a protected UNESCO site, a lot of which has been methodically restored but much is in grand ruin.

We entered the temple, which has a massive grass courtyard with the huge towers, representing mountains, on a platform in the middle. We climbed up to the next level from where we could climb some very steep, dizzying steps into the towers themselves. The views of the surrounding jungle were amazing but unfortunately Eashan was too young to go up so we waved to him from one of the windows.

Representing a mini universe, with mountains, continents and oceans, seen by the surrounding moat, it is truly breathtaking.Read more