The 7th Wonder of the World

You are in Siem Reap, the city of temples, home of one of the most astonishing and enduring architectural achievement, Angkor Wat…You’re gonna either watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat or watch the sunset or getting lost in Angkor Wat temples and chased by monkeys, kidding, well this is another story for sure haha…

Now I am going to take you inside Angkor Wat, for more pictures follow us on our instagram account, the purpose of the pictures is to make you move from your coach to save money, plan your trip and finally come here to see this ancient temple with your own eyes because…

It’s better to see it with your own eyes than hearing about it thousand times..

As we watched the sun rising above Angkor Wat, it is time to go inside to explore more and learn more about this myterious sanctuary…As we are getting closer to Angkor Wat, we’ll dive into the history of Angkor Wat…

After the sunrise, more and more people start to visit Angkor Wat.

The temples of Angkor is built by the Khmer Civilization between 802 and 1220 AD.

More than 100 stone temples you see today are the remains of a grand religious kingdom.

From here, the Khmer kings ruled a wide area from Vietnam to China.

Are you ready to discover Angkor Wat?

I love to explore all ancient places that are protected by Unesco…We are literally climbing the stairs of one of the most important archeological sites in South East Asia…

Look at the crowd coming from the entrance, I’m glad that I arrived Angkor Wat early in the morning…

As I climbed the stairs, I could see the hallways both on the right and left…

But what did Angkor Wat stand for in the ancient years?

Angkor Wat was built by Suryavaram II, honors the Hindu god Vishnu and is a symbolic representation of Hindu cosmology.

It is accepted geographically and astronomically that Angkor Wat was architectually was seen as the mirror of the heaven in order to strike a balance between the earth and stars. I was just amazed when I learnt this…

The central tower in Angkor War represents Mt Meru, with its surrounding smaller peaks, the lower courtyards represent continents and the moat represents oceans.

As being a travel blogger, taking pictures is far beyond passion for me, I take like 132189753pictures when I travel, by the way daily hahaha…so everytime I pack my bag I have more cables, photography equipments than clothes haha, I love that! Here is me taking pictures with my selfie-stick.

While walking on these old pavements, stones, climbing the stairs…close your eyes and imagine how it would be to live back in then…how many lovers, how many ideas, how many tears , inventions passed through these steps…

The stairs are steep and you need to be careful not to fall over but…

but…the view at the top is so worth it…

Watching the view, tourists motions, birds and vibrations in the air will give you a lot of clues about this place…Take your time, don’t be in rush while exploring Angkor Wat…

While exploring, I feel alive like I’ve never been before…This is what makes me alive and learn more about myself and the local culture…It is strangely beautiful to be able to connect with myself and the culutre in a deep level at the same time.

Did you known that Angkor Wat was also called “The city lost in the jungle” or ” The mystic city of gods”?

Angkor Wat was abandoned in 1432 due to being sacked by Thais.

Wandering Buddhist monks invented stories about these mysteries sanctuaries, saying that they had been built by the gods in the ancient time.

These rumors spread so fast that they turn into legends among communities and pilgrims from distant places of Asia sought out the mystical city.

Angkor Wat is huge, so huge that you always have these feeling of you’re missing a part of it and that’s why keep getting lost not to miss anything and record most of what you’ve seen…

The French explorer, Henri Mouhot, took these legends serious and went on a mission in 1860 to discover what was being told in those legends..The Angkor Wat…

In 1908 the mystic city was funded heavily and an extensice restoration project started. The restoration still continues to this day.

Some archaeologists see the temples as tombs of the Khmer Kings but they designed and constructed the temples to serve both gods and the life in earth.

I found myself in a hallway where all the struggles, wars and fights were depicted on the walls of Angkor Wat… I was going through the stories of 7th Wonder of the World…wauw

How was Angkor Wat built?

According to inscriptions , there were 300,000 workers and 6000 elephants working for the construction of Angkor Wat.

When it comes to logistics, carrying all the sandstones to build Angkor Wat from the holy mountain of Phnom Kulen to Siem Reap river is just mind-blowing.

On the otherside of the hallway, here is what welcomes you..

Angkor, is not Angkor Wat. Angkor is the name of the city which means “Capital City”, “Holy City” or “City of Temples”. Angkor Wat is the biggest temple in the city.

Time to climb up again…

I like to look at things with a different angle haha, here I am jumping off the fences, it was great to separate myself from the crowd at some point at least for a short limited of time till the secuity guide came and picked me up hahaha.

But did you know what I’ve seen different than the others? Here we go…

Angkor Wat is spread on a 200 hectares, a rectangle of 1.5km East to West and 1.3km North to East. Literally one of the biggest religious monuments in South East Asia…

This is the opposite side of Angkor Wat…I saw the less travelled side road down there and I put it in my mind to go and take some pictures there but I will tell you what happened on that road in the next article haha, it was hilarious, I am telling you but I wouldn’t do it again, well uhmm kind of haha

Angkor Wat consists of 7 structures, the Causeway, Moat, Outer Wall, Avenue, Central Complex, Upper Level and Towers. Look we’re flying hahaha..When it comes to the towers of Angkor Wat…Rising 31m above the third layer and 55m above the ground is the central tower.

I look absolutely tiny haha..

The Statue of Vishnu

When it comes to statues, the best known one is under the Southern tower, there is a 3.25 meter tall statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, accepted as the represantation of “the king of the ancestor and spirits”, and the supreme God of Vaishnavite tradition in Hinduism.

When Angkor Wat became a Buddhist temple, the head of Vishnu was replaced with the head of Buddha. Vishnu’s eight arms are seen holding a mace, a spear, a disc, a conch and various items. There are offerings both from young people preparing to get married and from pilgrims giving thanks for their good fortune.

Other statues of Buddha placed in Angkor Wat along with its rich artwork.

The detailed art work in Angkor Wat

As we mentioned the art work, here are the beautifully carved ones…

Angkor Wat is famous for its heavenly nymphs, apsaras, carved into the walls. Did you know that they have 37 different hairstyles for the heavenly nymphs? I counted 30 of it while exploring haha.