Angkor

I treated my family to a holiday trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. For the folks, Cambodia was an eye opener. For all, Angkor was an impressive sight to behold.

It wasn't Angkor Wat itself that struck us, but the enormity of the entire Angkor compounds. Old structures and temples always amaze me, especially when I try to envision how people had to build all this by true craftsmanship, and brutal manpower. No cranes to do the heavy lifting. No machines to do the carving. Just tons of humans slaving over the construction, likely at a mortal cost to many.

Honestly, after a few days, all the wats started looking alike. Our going to the major two first probably made the rest feel anticlimatic. A side benefit of going to the smaller ones, though, was the smaller size and lesser tourists made the site feel much more intimate and less overwhelming.