Pictures: More Temples at Angkor Park

This is it... no more pictures of the trip after this.

Spean Thma.... or what's left of it

Ta Keo

Detail of Preah Khan, a very long, expansive temple

Linga at Preah Khan

Another silkwood tree growing over Preah Khan

Pictures: Angkor Wat Part 2

Another view from inside the walls... you can see just how long that causeway is

A family of monkeys came out of the surrounding jungle and were fed by some of the tourists and shopkeepers (stalls lined the outside of all of the temples - you couldn't get away from it)

Inside detail of Angkor Wat... and no, there aren't any railings to prevent you from falling

One of four walls filled with bas-reliefs - supposedly the most extensive and most beautiful in all of Angkor Park

Detail of Angkor Wat

Pictures: Angkor Wat Part 1

If you don't know what Angkor Wat is, I did some work and looked up some history for you:

Regarded as the supreme masterpiece of Khmer architecture, [Angkor Wat] is a huge pyramid temple built by Suryavarman II between 1113 and 1150. It is surrounded by a moat 570 feet wide and about four miles long. The mass of bas-relief carving is of the highest quality and the most beautifully executed in Angkor. It is also the largest religious monument in the world.

You can also check out Wikipedia's Angkor Wat entry.

View of the main temple as we walked down the long entraceway over the moat

While most of the windows had columns blocking them, we found one that didn't and took pictures from high up on Angkor Wat of the surrounding walls and temples in the complex. I know it looks hazy and damp, but it was actually at least 90 degrees out and probably 90% humidity. Since it was monsoon season, we saw very little blue sky in Cambodia (usually just in the mornings).

The stairway leading to the "beehive" towers. It was so steep that we had to climb it like a ladder.

This is me after we climbed that staircase - once I caught my breath - at the top of Angkor Wat

View of the temple from inside the walls. That isn't the moat in front, but rather a huge puddle - the result of the monsoon rains.

Pictures: Ta Prohm in Angkor Park

I know you're already templed out, but this place really was the highlight of the whole trip. This is Ta Prohm. If you saw the movie "Tomb Raider," it may look familiar to you: this is where they filmed some of the temple scenes with Angelina Jolie.

Detail of Ta Prohm

Giant silkwood tree growing over the ruins of Ta Prohm. There was a line to get your picture taken next to/in the tree. That line was comprised entirely of Japanese tourists. Note, I just took a picture of one of the tourists rather than wait.

Another silkwood tree growing out from the ruins.

This was one of the most awesome things I've ever seen... it doesn't even look real

Another favorite picture of a tree growing over the ruins

Pictures: More Angkor Park Temples

Royal Palace in Angkor Park

Detail from Terrace of the Elephants

Terrace of the Elephants

I have no idea what temple this is, but it was pretty cool

Pictures: Bayon and South Gate in Angkor Park

Bayon

Detail of Bayon... what is amazing about this picture is that there are no tourists in it!

Detail of the South Gate

South Gate... almost every single person in this picture was in my tour group.

Detail of Bayon

Pictures: Pre Rup in Angkor Park

Pre Rup - those stairs are steep.

Me at the top of Pre Rup

View of Angkor Wat from the top of Pre Rup

Pre Rup

Pictures: Royal Palace and National Museum in Phnom Penh

Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

Ramayana scene at the Royal Palace

Me at the Royal Palace

Cambodian National Museum

Pictures: Tuol Sleng Prison and Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields)

Graves at Cheoung Ek (The Killing Fields)

Skulls recovered from the graves in the Killing Fields

Tuol Sleng Prison - formerly a local high school. 200,000 people were imprisoned and either died here or were taken to the Killing Fields to be slaughtered.

A prison cell at Tuol Sleng for a "more important" prisoner. A picture of the dead body the Vietnamese soldiers found in this room is hanging on the wall.

Memorial at the Killing Fields. It houses the skulls and clothing of the recovered bodies of the dead.

Pictures: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I love my pictures from Cambodia so much that I will probably post them a bit differently than I did the ones from Vietnam. These are pictures of areas in Phnom Penh.

Tonle Sap River

Street in Phnom Penh, not too far from my hotel

Street in Phnom Penh

Riverside... this area had more tourists than anywhere else in Phnom Penh

Central Market in Phnom Penh. Huge; you are looking at less than a quarter of it

Pictures: Saigon

If you've been waiting for more pictures, blame Blogger. I've been trying to upload these for weeks, but for some reason, I can't upload anything from my home computer anymore.

Street in Saigon

The Opera House and a fountain in Saigon

Shops/homes in Saigon - outside my hotel window

Traffic in Saigon - much scarier than Hanoi!

Uncle Ho in front of Saigon's Town Hall