Siem Reap, Cambodia

We are in central Cambodia. It was Nancy's desire to see the famous Angkor Wat temple. The largest religious monument/building in the world was built in the 4th or 5th century as a Hindu temple by the early Kymer kings that probably migrated from India. They slowly transitioned to Buddhism and now it seems to supply both followers with plenty of religious artifact to be happy. We say Buddhist monks there in the traditional orange robes (we were wondering if they had seen "Orange is the New Black"). They of course like all tourists were caught not only in the lotus position meditating but also taking pictures with their smartphones of the Buddhas around the temple.
It was pretty cool to see. It, unlike Borabadur in Indonesia, has been in constant use since being built including housing a large contingent of the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian civil war that lasted until 1995. They still think that there are up to 5 million land mines still active in the north part of the country. 1 in every 360 people have a limb missing due to land mines and the country is a very young country since so many of its adults were killed. It also is in need of specialists since it appears that the Khmer Rouge killed everybody that had much education or any ties to the West in their effort to reestablish the agrarian society of the past.
Because of this it appears that many countries are stepping up and taking over parts of the restoration and preservation of the temple complex while Cambodia gets the ability to manage it themselves. Germany, Japan and others all have teams there helping the Cambodians manage the onslaught of tourism and growth that is occurring in the area. I hope they can manage it because it appears to be growing at a pace that any country would have difficulty keeping up with.Read more