By Chloe.

Visiting the utterly magnificent religious complex of Angkor Wat is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit, and although we had a three-day pass, I could easily have spent weeks exploring the quieter and further flung temples of the site.

The 12th century Angkor Wat temple sits at the center of the site and is the largest religious structure in the world. The whole Angkor complex covers a staggering 1,000 square kilometers and is considered the largest pre-industrial city in the world.

The sheer scale, the beauty and intricacy of the carvings, and the amazing state of preservation of many of the temples make Angkor one of the most outstanding historical sites I’ve ever visited.

Rather than rant on about how wonderful it is, I’ll let the photos do the talking…

Angkor Wat
We visited Angkor Wat on two separate occasions, once for the famous sunrise shot (which must accompany any respectable tourist visiting the temples), and another mid-afternoon. It truly is an astounding site.

 

Angkor Thom Bayon is another of the most well-known temples  – the amazing carved faces make it easy to see why!

 

Angkor Ta Prohm may have been made famous by Tomb Raider, but it’s hard to describe the beauty of such a place reclaimed by nature.

Lady Temple was a much quieter temple with some truly stunning intricate carvings slightly off the beaten tourist track.

The final temple we visited was just described as a Farmer’s temple, so we don’t actually know the name, but it was the most magical of all the ruins we visited. We rocked up 40 minutes before it closed, and we were completely alone on the site, not a single other tourist – it was magical!

All our love, the Backbackduo x