Angkor Wat and a silk farm

Well unfortunately my sunrise over Angkor Wat was a complete wash-out, literally.  It was pouring rain!  We still got up at 4:30 am and went out anyway, in the hopes that skies would clear, but to no avail unfortunately.

So after standing in the rain for an hour + and just watching the skies slowly lighten, without any sunlight, we decided to change around our agenda for the day and rather than stay at Angkor Wat then and explore the temple we would come back come later in the day in the hopes that the weather might change.  And that was probably the best decision we've made yet this trip.

Angkor Wat as the supreme masterpiece of Khmer architecture.  It was built between 1113 and 1150 and is surrounded by a moat 190 m wide and forms a giant rectangle 1.5 km by 1.3 km.  Surrounding the outside of the central temple complex is an 800 m long series of bas-reliefs.
The central tower rises 31 m above the third level - giving the whole complex its unity.

The sandstone blocks from which Angkor Wat was built were quarried more then 50 kms away and floated down the Siem Reap River on bamboo rafts.  It apparently took 30 000 men and 40 000 elephants to build Angkor Wat.

It's easy to see why Angkor Wat is the heart and soul of Cambodia and a source of fierce national pride.

Before you get to the actual temple you have to pass through a gate that is, in and of itself, incredibly impressive.

Clearing the grass at Angkor Wat is still done by hand:

I hope you enjoy this selection of pictures of Angkor Wat:

This is the staircase the visitors to Angkor Wat climb up and down now:

And this is the temple's original staircase:

And just so you all know I was actually there:

At one point while I was walking around the temple I was joined by a few visitors:

These are the bas-relief carvings I was talking about:

This afternoon we went to visit a silk farm.  Very, very interesting - and after really seeing the process involved in producing the silk products I more fully appreciate the costs!

It takes 47 days for a "just born" silk worm to grow then become a cocoon.

Here they are in the last 15 days or so, growing their cocoons:

After the mature cocoons have been harvested:

And then starts the process of creating the silk thread, dying it and weaving it:

The end of the day was free time back in Siem Reap and I just spent some down time wandering around the markets.  As I was walking around the town I saw this - on the front lawn of the National Museum (as one will):