Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat was a bucket list trip for me. I can remember reading about while sitting in a cubicle at Anheuser-Busch back in the early 2000’s. It is a very popular destination with a lot of crowding. Guides we talked to described what sounded like an exponential increase in visitors since the site opened. Apparently every year the increase in visitors has made it harder to get around and made more of the site off limits. The airport in Siem Reap was planning to add a bigger runway the year after we visited, so I can only imagine that crowds will increase.

If you want to see itilluminated at sunrise (like in the picture on this page) you have to get up early and be ready to guard your space. It gets crowded and photographers compete for the best spots.

The really amazing thing that doesn’t show up in pictures is the massive engineering projects that had to be undertaken to make this place possible. The stone was quarried over 20 miles away and moved through a network of man-made canals to get it to the site. The moat around the temple is about a mile long in each direction. Without the moat and stabilization it provides the temple would have sunk into the earth. The resevoir the city planners built for the city covered over 6 square miles. The effort the builders went to was phenomenal with the technology they had available.

Learn more about Angkor Wat here.