Here I am saying hi to my buddy in the
Bangkok airport. We seem to go through Bangkok a lot and the
Colonel is always there to greet me.
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Angkor Wat is the specific name for the
largest religious structure in the world and the generic name for a
complex of dozens (hundreds?) of temples over several acres. Here
is a gate to a temple with statues of gods and demons that have been
restored by the French.
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Of the many temples, we try to pick a few
clearly interesting ones. That puts us and our guide in the lousy
position of grading the temples and deciding which are worth seeing.
I hate that. But the guides have it down and know just where
to take the tourists.
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There aren't that many tourists in the
temples since we're not here in the high season, but there are a little
more Cambodian tourists than usual because of the national holiday.
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Angkor Wat itself is buzzing with tourists
and monks when we get there.
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Our guide tells us that this little pool is
where a scene from Tomb Raider was shot. This is where they set up
a fake floating village where Lara arrives by boat.
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Many of the temples have little reminders of
the war that ravaged Cambodia: bullet holes, gates widened by tanks,
towers toppled to make room for artillery bunkers. But mostly,
Buddha images removed to sell and finance the war.
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Here Julie helps some monks practice their
English on their holiday.
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The restoration work on the temples has
cleared most of the jungle that grew up over them in the past 1000
years. But a few temples were left as they were found. Here
is an example of what a tree can do given enough time.
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