Angkor Wat: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Before coming to Southeast Asia, I'd never heard the word Angkor independent from Wat. In Western schools, we all study about the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. In rare cases, we even learn a bit about the Persians, Mongolians, and Ottomans, but almost certainly never about the Khmers. The Angkorian empire (Khmer Kingdom) reigned for over 6 centuries and, at its peak, spanned the length of the Southeast Asian peninsula from Burma to Vietnam before it fell at the hands of the Thais. What is left for us to marvel at is the otherworldly architecture of temples and ruins of a long forgotten civilization.
What are now being called ‘The Temples of Angkor’ stretch for well over 100km in the area just north of Siem Reap. The name may be a bit of a misnomer since ancient buildings from the Angkor time period can be seen in other parts of Cambodia as well, but this is certainly the best preserved cloister of wats in such a close proximity.
The centerpiece of ‘The Temples of Angkor’ is, of course, Angkor Wat. No matter how you quantify its dimensions, Angkor Wat is the largest religious structure in the world. Its moat measures 1.5 km x 1.3 km, giving the complex a square area of almost 2 km. This makes the inner enclosure simply vast and awe-inspiring. Keeping in mind the scale of Angkor Wat, think about this: the sandstone that was needed for its completion was actually quarried 50km upstream and floated, block by block, down the Siem Reap river. These aren't legos, they're massive, heavy rocks that had to be moved and assembled entirely with 12th century technology. This is just one of many temples in the vicinity.
Exploring Angkor is an amazing experience that gives visitors a chance to get a glimpse into a culture that remains a mystery even to archaeologists. After climbing around apocalyptic Bang Mealea and watching nature take its revenge on the jungle temple of Ta Prohm, its easy to see why movie bigwigs chose the area for the filming of Tomb Raider.