Project Cura: South East Asia 2012: Temples of Angkor

It has been a long couple of days. We met up as a group in LA, and together flew to Hong Kong. That in of itself was 14 hours. After Hong Kong, we flew to Phnom Penh and then took a 6 hour bus ride to Siem Reap. It was a lot of traveling! That doesn't even take into account how much we are feeling the jet lag! After all of that traveling, we literally reached the hotel and fell asleep immediately. We were so exhausted!

Angkor Wat. Source: Wikipedia

The next day, we headed out to Angkor Wat. I would upload photos, but the computer is giving me a hard time. Hopefully tomorrow it will be easier!

The major temples we visited were Ta Prohm, Angkor Wat, and Bayon temple. I never realized how old the temples were. Nearly 900 years old, and they were still amazingly beautiful. Everything represented a greater meaning; worthy of carving it into stone. Each of the temples were built by a king, and the faith and carvings of each temple were determined by his own beliefs.. Angkor Wat, for example, is a Hindu temple (Wikipedia Angkor Wat) while Ta Prohm is Buddhist (Wikipedia Ta Prohm.)

We learned a lot about not only the history of the temples and who made them and when, but also how modern history has taken a toll on these temples as well. The community regime, the Khmer Rouge, for example, destroyed many statues of deities and Buddhas as well as the Siamese in the 14th century (The Khmer Rouge perpetrated one of the largest genocides in history reducing the Cambodia population by 25% in the 1970's. Wikipedia.)

However, it is truly amazing to see that throughout the war-torn years, Angkor Wat has been preserved. Many times, soldiers and governments would specifically preserve this area as a no-fight zone to prevent the temples from being destroyed.

Anyway, we also had super good lunch. I think Justine wins the meal of the day with her lunch pick Khmer Amok. It was a coconut based soup, and even came inside a coconut! It was amazing!

Photos coming soon! Here are some photos from Wikipedia and my family to tide you over!