Angkor Wat (literally “capital city templeâ€) is a towering collection of awe-inspiring ruins located just outside of Siem Reap in Cambodia. Designated as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1992, Angkor Wat sees countless visitors every day and for good reason.
The ruins themselves consist of stone bas reliefs and ornately carved towers and sculptures depicting the asparas (female divinities) and the varied stories of the gods. The ruins date as far back as the ninth century and were the stage for countless battles and raids until they were eventually abandoned in the fifteenth century. Today, the ruins are covered in moss, and overrun with vegetation, giving the site an incredibly ancient, mythic quality. The stone pillars are intertwined with the giant roots of trees, and in some places it’s hard to tell that a civilization ever could have thrived in this wild environment.
This past month, one of our own Realtravelers, Shaun’s Dakine, stopped in Angkor Wat while visiting Siem Reap and spent the day enjoying the rich cultural history of the temple, and at one point, even found himself the star of a cultural show,
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