Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom Tour

A Angkor Wat & Angkor Thom Tour 

Angkor Wat is located in the northwest corner (check the map) of Cambodia with plenty of jungle around.

Today Angkor is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world if not the most actually it only can be matched by the pyramids of Egypt and the Temple City of Myanmar (Burma) in Bagan plus Borobudur in Indonesia.

 
The Khmer and Myanmar monuments combine two styles which are Hindu and Buddhist Style and the old Cambodians have been building the shrine over several decades until they forgot it. Cambodia is a fascinating country not only because of the temples.


Angkor Wat

This was the Khmer Kings City where the old technological achievement a long time ago culminated in the ability to "harness" the water via a wide network of channels integrated with the rivers to create an agricultural prosperity.

This was based on a clever water management and this comes down finally to the facts how the king was able to rule the country because at that time the people got rid of incompetent rulers quickly, unfortunately, this is totally forgotten today.

The land around had not much water except during the monsoon season but when the dark clouds disappeared over the South China Sea severe drought came every year. To overcome this problem they built "barays" or water storage ponds. To manage this situation it was closely connected with the abilities the ruler has, does he deliver or not?

It was known as a sacred town since every king commanded something celestial at that time, today this is an assembly of temple ruins in various conditions and the access to it is via Siem Reap. Visitors to Angkor should also make a boat trip.

The area around (there are many more temples, monuments, and palaces) including the beautiful scenic barays which were the water storage for this part of the Khmer State until hundreds of years ago, it's worth a visit. Cambodia has plenty of water but not for the whole year because of the seasonal monsoon weather.

That is the reason why the old Khmer Kings had the ponds and channels constructed. It's an amazing architecture because there were no much scientific data available at the time. When touring Angkor plan a trip with the boat into your itinerary it's a unique experience, just book it in the hotel or one of the travel agents at the old market there plenty of them around pub street which is also open at night.

The location is between Angkor Wat & Thom mostly a huge pile of ruins where some groups from all around the world try their luck to restore walls and more.

Around the Takeo Temple Mountain


The Takeo Temple Mountain is one of the larger structures and there is a lot to do indeed. But there are always amateurs as an Indian crew some time ago who used a wrong solution to clean a bas-relief they destroyed it instead.

The monumental Takeo Temple Mountain was one of the first giant constructions entirely made from sandstone, a massive temple which was not even half finished.

One of the main reason why so many unfinished monuments are around was the very long building period. Some rulers started something but died after some decade and next one didn't like it and abandoned the construction, after a while the jungle took it back.

Modeled after Mount Meru the abode of the Hindu Gods, inscriptions tell: "The mountain with Golden Peaks" they started the work in 974 AD and work ended around 1000 but the monument was not finished. The road from Angkor Wat to "Angkor Thom" runs in front it is a welcome place for tourists to climb up the terraces. Another climb is up the steep staircase which crosses the three tiers in a single way.

New discoveries of urban & temple complexes in 2016.


With an advanced Laser - Radar Sysyem > LIDAR Archaeologists have discovered huge medieval settlement remains near the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. The findings were reveal by laser remote sensing which is called "lidar" and brought up knowledge about complex urban structures such elaborate water management systems and roads With this advanced lidar systems, it is possible to recognize the structures under the dense jungle vegetation, before they used the radar with a certain wavelength but they couldn’t penetrate the mighty vegetation.

One of the discoveries is that many of the previously known channel systems are far more complex than previously thought. The nature of the water supply was regarded as the invention which made Angkor flourishing between the 9th and 13th centuries.
The now and then already known by excavation urban structures extend much further than previously thought: partly to 50 square kilometers.

Mountain Phnom Kulen northeast of Angkor Wat was far been known only a small part of the settlement Mahendraparvata. According to the new data it was as big as Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. The settlement around Sambor Prei Kuk was much more extensive, have been complex built and inhabited denser.

Until now scientists thought the area around Preah Khan was sparsely populated, but with the new laser measurements there unearthed complex and far-reaching urban structures. For hundreds of thousands of inhabitants in south direction, there is no evidence. It's likely that the decline had occurred gradually as for drought or because of the collapse of the water supply.

angkor wat tour with the elephant

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