"Angkor Wat at Sunrise, Cambodia" ©2001
photo Elroy Christenson
Flying from Vietnam to Cambodia was not without its tensions but the
arrival at Angkor Wat for an afternoon sunset and an early sunrise made
it worth every moment. The monument was constructed in the early 12th
century. Angkor Wat was built as a temple and monument to promote the
power of the king, Suryavarman II, as the hindu god, Vishnu. The city
that supported it may have had a population of one million making it
one of the largest cities in Asia at the time. The wealth also brought
numerous invasions in particular from the Cham of the south, now
Vietnam. It was adopted after years of being abandoned as a Buddhist
shrine and still contains a Buddhist monastery on the grounds. It
remains one of the largest religious sites in the world and still is an
important symbol of Khmer culture. In fact the profile of Angkor Wat is
on the new Cambodian flag.
