Cambodia

When we flew into Siem Reap Cambodia, the city closest to Angkor wat, we met a friend we had made in Ireland, Michael. It was great to see a new old friend in this old part of the world. The first thing we did was buy a 3 day pass to see the temples, as that was the minimum that guidebooks or people we’d met had recommended. I thought it would be a bit of overkill because, we have been to the largest temples and cathedrals in Europe and who’d want to spend 3 days wandering around even a big temple here in Cambodia? But I had completely underestimated the size and scale of these ancient monuments. Angkor wat may be the main temple location, however this area is filled with a series of over 500 temples and cities. In the 12th century, when this area was the capital of Cambodia, it was home to over 1 million people (compare that to London which at the time had a population of about 18000).