Angkor Wet

We were back at Angkor Wat (literally “city temple”) today for our cultural tour (yesterday we went for photography). It was hot again but not quite so humid.

One of the highlights of a visit is a climb to the top level, representing heaven. A thunderstorm erupted as we mounted the extremely long and steep staircase leading to the top. We began to wonder if this staircase to heaven might be more literal than symbolic.

The top has a walkway around a pool that has been dry for hundreds of years and various niches containing Buddha and Shiva statues. The following photo is a small one that caught our eye. It is a Buddha statue (as indicated by folded hands rather than crossed arms for Hinduism) that was probably damaged in centuries-old religious conflict or more recently during the Khmer Rouge era.