Getting to Siem Reip, however, was another story. There are numerous transportation options... bus, pick up truck, or private taxi... that’s not the problem. We had chosen a private taxi for the 2 to 3 hour trip and had negotiated an agreeable rate. The problem is the road. It’s a virtually non-existent, dirt track with no lighting and huge potholes. Apparently, the road has improved dramatically over the last few years, but it’s still rough going and a bone-shaking trip the whole way. We were stopped at several "check-points" (ie., "bribe stops" for the taxi driver), encountered 3 damaged bridges, and suffered 2 punctures in the car’s tires.... but we, finally, did make it to Siem Riep.

The big draw card for travelers in Siem Riep, and indeed in all of Cambodia, is the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. The ancient Khmer civilization, at it’s height in the 1100s, built incredibly beautiful temples and royal palaces out of stone which are decorated with detailed bas reliefs and carvings. The most famous of which is the temple of Angkor Wat. We spent our whole first day exploring this most famous and best preserved temple. It is truly awesome. Your first glimpse of the main temple after passing over the moat and through the gate house takes your breath away simply for the sheer size and beauty of the place. We were also in for a surprise.... in our preparation for our trip, we’d seen numerous photos of the main temple and assumed that it had 3 spires. After all, that’s what you see in the photos. However, there are actually 5 spires, but you can only see 3 at any one time.

Many people will recognize the temple of Angkor Wat in photographs, but what is less commonly known is that it’s just one of many, many temples in the Angkor Wat complex. There are literally thousands of sites that could be explored stretching over 100s of square kilometers. Just as the ruins of the Roman civilization are greater than the Coliseum in Rome (For example: The Roman ruins at Pompei See: December 7, 2003 , The Roman ruins at Efes in Turkey. See: November 25, 2003 or The Roman ruins in Orange, France. See: August 7, 2003) the Khmer ancient civilization stretches over a massive area. Some of the temples are Buddhist while others are Hindu showing the evolution of religion in the Khmer society over time. One of our favorite temples was the Banyon which looks like a large pile of rubble from the outside, but climbing up to the third level of the temple huge smiling stone faces appear and stare in all directions. The religion purpose or intent of the temple is still unknown.

Another of our favorite temples was Ta Phrom – a temple built for the King’s mother. Unlike many of the temples of Angkor, Ta Phrom has been left to the jungle. The root systems of the massive jungle trees have destroyed many of the temples walls and bas reliefs, but have left a wonderful jungle covered temple which is great fun to explore!

Over the three days we spent in Angkor, we really enjoyed exploring and visiting the temples, but were probably most struck by the similarities of the numerous ancient civilizations that we’ve now had a chance to visit. The Ancient Romans, the Egyptians, the Kelts, and the Khmers, while distinctly different, all had very clear similarities. There is a definite emphasis on religion and the afterlife. All of these civilizations built major religious monuments that have lasted for millennia. Their carvings, mosaics, and bas reliefs tell stories of great battles and victories as well as the importance of day to day life. Somehow, we’d imagined that people who existed thousands of years ago lived distinctly differently from modern life... but that’s just not true. They valued the same things and their lifestyle wasn’t all that different how most people live now.