Big river

We rented a tuk tuk for the day for $12 to drive us to Angkor Wat. Turning a corner and driving along a wide river we got our first glimpse of the famous image of Angkor with the 3 spires rising into the sky. The feeling of approaching such a well preserved and important temple, that is at least 1,000 years old, made me wish I had been taught more of the history of this part of the world. A culture that was thriving artistically and spiritually while Europe wallowed in the dark ages. We enjoyed the walk across the bridge being guarded by ancient broken lion like creature and a sleeping dog. Neither the dog nor the lion stirred as we crossed over to Angkor Wat. When I climbed to the top of the central tower I was astonished as it turns out this ‘big river’ is in fact just a moat around Angkor Wat. The moat is 200 metres wide and certainly makes any of the moats we saw in Europe seem pretty insignificant. While I had been impressed with the moat in the Czech republic that had bears in it. This moat was impressive as well for it was said to have been populated with crocodiles. I am glad that the crocodiles are gone and only a sleepy dog and an ancient lion are all that are left guarding the place from unwanted visitors. The crossing of the amazing moat seemed the perfect way to approach this ornately detailed temple.