Angkor ruins of Siem Reap, Cambodia

During my second trip to Cambodia, I had the rare opportunity to visit the Angkor Archaeological Park near Siem Reap with a UNESCO-trained guide and a driver all to myself for three days.

South gate of Angkor Thom, the largest complex at Angkor, and the last capital of the Khmer empire — The south gate of Angkor Thom, the largest complex at Angkor, and the last capital of the Khmer empire

The Bayon temple at the center of Angkor Thom has 37 surviving towers, each with 4 smiling Buddha (or Jayavarman VII) faces

Buddha and/or Jayavarman VII faces in the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom — Smiling Buddha/Jayavarman VII faces

Close up of a smiling Buddha and/or Jayavarman VII face in the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom — Close up of a smiling face (for an interesting story regarding this photograph, see: My photo smiling back at me)

View of Angkor Wat temple complex reflected in its 190 meter wide moat — The famous Angkor Wat temple complex reflected in its 190 meter wide moat

Angkor Wat reflected in a pool of water — Angkor Wat and a reflecting pool

While Angkor Wat and the Bayon continue to be restored, Ta Prohm remains in a state of photogenic reclamation by the jungle — While Angkor Wat and the Bayon continue to be restored, Ta Prohm remains in a state of “photogenic reclamation” by the jungle

Spung tree growing on the roof of Ta Prohm — Incredible spung tree growing on the roof of Ta Prohm

The knuckles of the spung roots securing the tree to the roof of Ta Prohm — The “knuckles” of the spung roots secure the tree to the temple

The spung roots growing on Ta Prohm seem amazingly adaptive and organic — The spung roots seem amazingly adaptive and organic

Dead spung tree with a strangler fig (or banyan) tree growing around it at Ta Prohm — Dead spung with a strangler fig (or banyan) growing around it

Justin posing in between the giant spung tree roots at Ta Prohm — Posing between the giant spung roots to provide a sense of scale

Update, Feb 18, 2011: After returning to Angkor 8 years later (see: Return to Angkor, An afternoon with Angkor Wat, and The trees of Ta Prohm) I revisited this post and decided to improve the captions and correct the name of the trees growing on Ta Prohm (spung, though apparently there’s some debate). I also added the ability to enlarge the photos.

Note: These photos originally appeared in my photo galleries.

5 Comments

DTRAIN

Feb 15, 2009 7:53am

Wow that looks like a really fun place to go. I like how the tree roots wrap around the buildings over hundreds of years!

rumdoul

Jul 19, 2010 9:00am

love the pictures!! thanks for sharing.

justin

Feb 18, 2011 8:13pm

I just went back through the captions in this old post to correct a few factual errors (specifically the name of the trees growing on Ta Prohm) and embellish with additional detail and links where appropriate. I also took the additional (and somewhat labor-intensive) step of adding the ability to enlarge the photos (a feature that used to exist in the original photo gallery version of this post). I feel like this improved treatment better honors the grandeur of Angkor.

Webb

Feb 18, 2011 11:58pm

thought I recognized some of these photos!!

Feb 19, 2011 12:17am

Webb, nice! Where are those hanging? Btw, I’m in back Siem Reap right now, as I type this. Updates coming soon!

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