We took a detour from Phnom Penh and spent several days in the city of Siem Reap, the jumping off point for touring the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat, the previous center of the Khmer Kingdom.  Angkor Wat is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Below are Braxton’s impressions:

Angkor Wat is a series of beautiful temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  They were built by the Khmer people as early as the 9th century.  The buildings are crumbling and in some places the jungle is breaking up the rock.  It was amazing how much art they had in there.  A lot of the art was a style known as bas relief.  Bas relief is a carving in stone that often tells a story.  They had it on almost all of the walls and sometimes it went all the way around the perimeter of the temple.  Lots of the temples were bringing Hindu beliefs and Buddhist beliefs together.  They often had stories of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiva (the Destroyer) in the bas reliefs.  All three are Hindu gods.  Vishnu is often found holding a mace, a sphere, a conch shell, and a disc (he has four arms).  Vishnu is also usually found riding on a Garuda.  A Garuda is a mythical part bird, part snake, and part human creature.

Angkor Wat is one of the most beautiful places ever.  It is also considered to be the eighth wonder of the world.  It is most beautiful when you see it at sunrise like we did.  I hope you will be fortunate enough to go there some day.