This temple complex is THE big name tourist attraction of Cambodia.
My first and strongest impression of Angkor Wat is how crowded it is. Most of my pictures have many more tourists in it than this.
The towers in the background are the central building that most people head straight for as soon as they are inside the gate. This smaller building is one of the “libraries” and an island of solitude.
The other impression of Angkor Wat is that it is an immense building. The walls are thick, the ceilings tall, and the statues bigger than life.
The corridor surrounding the central building is covered with reliefs like these. They show more contrast and depth in an oblique side view like this.
All these pictures of reliefs still need a good bit of additional contrast in post-processing.
Apparently a lot of relics have been looted, vandalized or both. Many of the heads have been lopped off and taken away by art thieves based in Thailand, according to Ciochon and James writing in New Scientist magazine in 1989. Why is it “art theft” when unknown people do it, but something more respectable when Her Royal Majesty’s Navy does it?
Many statues are decorated. This is one of the more elaborate setups.
Cambodians are not a big people. Yet many buildings at Angkor Wat have vertiginous steps, coming…
… or going. No telling how grippy the stones are in the rain.
Some tourists prefer exit by defenestration.
Close up view of ceiling stonework.
Exterior reliefs. Many sites at Angkor have been “adopted” by foreign archeological organizations. There are signs marking restoration work by Germans, Indians and others. We don’t know who restored this part.
The main tower at Angkor Wat. The dark weathered stones and the bright hazy sky need some photographic assistance.
A solitary tourist for scale.