Because I had to renew my visa, I decided to travel to Cambodia. After a long, dusty and beautiful overland journey, I arrived in the town of Siem Reap. Most of the temples at Angkor Wat are within biking distance, so the following morning I rented a bike and spent the day cruising in and between the temples.
A brief history: The structures were built over the course of a few centuries, starting around 800 AD. This golden age of the Khmer (main ethnicity of Cambodia) Empire coincided with the adaptation of the Hindu belief system, and the sculpture, architecture and reliefs feature Hindu beliefs. The scale of these ruins alone is astounding, but what is even more amazing is how detailed all the surfaces are. They iconography continues as far as the eye can see.
Tha Prohm, where nature has reclaimed great amounts of the structures. In some cases now, the trees are structurally integral to the temples.
A misguided attempt to find the large artificial reservoir that has served the community for over a millennium. This portion of the bike ride did turn into an insightful and comic adventure, with several "guides" who biked along side me and chit-chatted, great glimpses into rural Cambodian life, and basking in the excitement generated by a white man biking through their hood (in the form of endless "HELLO!")
The real highlight came at Bayon, a part of the Angkor Thom complex, when the skies parted and an afternoon downpour trapped several tourists in the ruins. The mood added to the ruins, and it was fun and memorable to wander around endless hallways and corners while trying to avoid the rain.
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