A side view of Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Without a doubt the most spectacular building I saw in Asia. It's enormous, with many smaller temples inside of it and completely decorated from top to bottom. It was of course abandoned during the Khmer Rouge days but it's now being restored.
These are views from the inside. As you can see the inside is filled with a number of temples. the picture aboves shows a temple which has been built with steps to access it. This is because it was more important than the temple from the photo below which was at ground-level. All of the buildings and walls inside had very elaborate carvings and decorations.
These carving were found on the top and on the side of doorways (respectively). You could spend hours looking at a single wall and just observe and notice how all of these carvings fitted together. I was told that they depicted mainly religious scenes, which is no surprise.
I present to you Naga, the seven headed snake. This snake is found everywhere in Cambodia. Apparently it represents the seven races in the Naga society. In Cambodia we fins different types of Naga. Odd-headed Naga represent the Male Energy, Infinity, Timelessness and Immortality. Even-headed Naga are said to represent the Female Energy, Physicality, Mortality, Temporality, and Earth.
Angkor Wat is now used by Buddhists. It's a very interesting mixture to see the ancient Khmer religion, which has more in common with Hinduism, with the Buddhist religion. You will walk around these old ruins and suddently a young Buddhist monk will appear out of nowhere. You can sometimes hear the ''om mani padme hum'' prayer within its walls. It's without a doubt a magical place.
He is not exactly from Angkor Wat but from one of the villages just outside. We adventured ourselves with our very old city bikes into the dirt tracks and found this little child working in the fields with his mother.
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