The magnificent sight of the five towers of Angkor Wat. Wow....till this day we still can witness this charm and beauty. Located in Northwestern Cambodia, Angkor, the Capital of the Ancient Khmer Empire was possibly founded around the Ninth Century AD by King Jayavarman II. However, the city reached its peak glory in the 12th Century under Kings Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII. The most beautiful and most famous monument in the city, Angkor Wat, lies about one kilometer south of the Royal town of Angkor Thom which was founded by Jayavarman VII. The Temple of Angkor Wat was dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu by King Suryavarman II, who reigned between AD 1131 and 1150. The Temple was constructed over a period of 30 years, and illustrates some of the most beautiful examples of Khmer and Hindu art. Covering an area of about 81 hectares, the complex consists of five towers, which are presently shown on the Cambodian national flag. These towers are believed to represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, the Home of Gods and Center of the Hindu Universe. Angkor Wat features the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, which runs along the outer gallery walls, narrating stories from Hindu Mythology. With the decline of the Ancient Khmer Empire, Angkor Wat was turned into a Buddhist Temple and was continuously maintained, which helped its preservation. In 1992, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee declared the monument, and the whole city of Angkor, a World Heritage Site.

There are a couple of reasons why tourists visit Angkor, for the ruins and the beautiful sunrise and sunset scenes. The weather wasn't exactly good to take sunset or even sunrise pictures as it was cloudy. It was hard to make it for the sunrise shots. We had to wake up as early as 5am to make our way to the Wat. We were kind of lucky to see the sunrise as we reached there pretty early, probably missed the best shot.

I love the corridors at the surroundings of the Wat. It seems like a good place to play hide and seek too! So many hidden corners.

We don't normally bother looking up the ceilings. But this particular section was beautifully decorated with `hanging umbrellas'..or ??. Beautiful sight isn't it?

There a lot of corridors in the Wat. The ceilings are also very high. It's actually a good place for `model shooting' but of course being a religious place, that is forbidden..or I have not heard of. Take a look at the shot and see for yourself how high it is.

An apsara has been variously described as a female divinity, a heavenly dancer and a celestial nymph. An apsara is skilled in dance and music, and said to be irresistible to men. It's obviously seen on the bosoms of these dancers!

Nearly 2,000 apsara sculptures adorn one central tower in the temple ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

I took a peek out of the stone window and decided to take a shot of this.

Another shot of the apsaras next to the stone window.

Travelers must climb the steep stairs in order to enter and see the interior beauty of the vast Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia.

This is another shot of the tall and dangerous temple of the Wat. If you can climb up the steps...I salute you!

I was told by the guide that this is the library. No further information provided/available on my end, as I have no knowledge of this image. For another shot of this building, click here.

Angkor has one of the most beautiful spots in Cambodia to witness this scene. This shot was taken at Phnom Bakheng,one of the most beautiful spots at Angkor for sunset shots. We weren't that lucky in that sense that the weather wasn't of best condition and by the time we reached there the entire place was almost filled with tourists. Good spots were already `booked', even then if you have thought you got a reasonably good spot, somebody would stand right in front of you, blocking the view. I moved a bit around the place. I wasn't too excited as the sky was over cast with haze and cloudy. I moved down where there were fewer people and tried to capture a good composition of the sun. I found one, more or less, stood there with my camera and waited for the perfect moment to take the shot. I like this shot for the woman's silhouette and her posture holding the camera made it perfect.

The Bayon was the last state temple to be built at Angkor, and the only one to be built primarily as a Mahayana Buddhist temple (although various local deities were also worshipped there). By the way, this shot was taken from a framed entrance, so you see the black frame on the outside. It's not cropped deliberately as it looks, eventhough it looks like a `frame'.

The Bayon is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. It was built in the 13th century as the state temple of king Jayavarman VII, and stands at the centre of his capital, Angkor Thom. There are 49 towers located in Bayon originally. And each tower has 4 faces. There is a lotus flower also on the tip of the tower.

This is a close up shot of the face. The face has a beautiful smile. By the way these are not machine made. It was centuries ago and hand crafted, every single piece. Just imagine having to reconstruct the entire tower. It sure takes a genuis to do that! And fitting it back like a jig saw puzzle and finding the correct, almost identical pieces of the towers! It's more than skill, it's an unbelievable effort.

This is another shot of the tower.

You can see some of the tree's overgrown roots clinging on the ruins. Beng Mealea: is a spectacular jungle temple around 60 Kms drive to the north east of Siem Reap. It is one of the "new "highlights of Cambodia; having only been cleared of mines at the end of 2003.

Built By Jayarvaman VII; in the style of Angkor Wat; its scale is huge; being well over one square Kilometre within its moat. Approached by a four causeways; Beng Mealea appears to be a huge pile of rubble partially hidden in the trees. Once you get closer the high walls, the ancient Khmer Architecture reveals itself. Cloaked in vegetation and with few concessions to tourism; this temple looks like it would have done when the early French explorers found it.

The surroundings of the untouched temple grounds.

One of the carved stones at Beng Mealea.

Just look at the magnificent carvings on the walls of the sanctuary.

Another one of the beautiful carvings found on the walls of the temple.

More carvings on the stones of the temple walls.

One of the four faces at north gate of Angkor Thom.

Another profile of the four faces. I only managed to capture 2 of the faces.

Around Preah Palilay.