Vietnam, Cambodia, et. al.

It took about 30 minutes to ride the seven kilometers from the Lotus Lodge to Angkor Wat on munchin-sized bikes. The ticket options were for one, three or seven days and as expected the lines for single day tickets were the longest.  We got the week long pass for less than the cost of a lift ticket at Keystone and it is a good thing we did!

We spent the morning exploring what we thought was the bulk of the site only to discover we had seen only Angkor Wat.  True, it is more than a square kilometer in size with three impressive towers, several courtyards, zillions of carvings and countless nooks and crannies.  But it is dwarfed by the as yet unseen Angkor Thom, the walled city.  And there are many smaller but no less impressive sites to see.  We will be busy indeed.

I am not going to try to record the history of the place.  As one book says, much has been written but little is known. Most of the work was done in the 12^th Century under King Suryavarman II.  It has been at various times both Hindu and Buddhist.  We voted for Angkor Wat, sight unseen, as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.  Now we know our vote and its selection were justified.