Having finished virtual Mt Everest, I needed another challenge. And what could be more different when compared to climbing a frozen mountain than trekking in the tropical heat of Cambodia?
The postcard tells me:
The medieval city of Angkor once served as the capital of the Khmer Empire, the indigenous people of Cambodia. Only 3mi (5km) east of Siem Reap Airport, it is very closely located and easily accessible. A thriving ancient megacity, at its peak it housed up to one million residents and contained several hundred temples with over 70 of them found inside the core of the city. The temples were built over a period of 300 years, first dedicated to Hinduism and later to Buddhism. …
I had a chance to visit Angkor Wat in real life. When I went on my cruise in Dec 2019, there was an overland excursion– an extremely pricy overland excursion – that I could have taken. In addition to the cost factor it meant getting off the ship in one country, overnighting on land for two nights, at some point crossing over to Cambodia to visit Angkor Wat, then giving basically the length of Cambodia to meet the ship again.
Being on the excursion through the ship meant I would not have to worry about missing the ship but it did mean missing one of the ship ports (a new country, for me) to have basically an hour or two on site. It seemed like if I wanted to see Angkor Wat, it might make more sense to just plan a trip there.
I did visit Cambodia though. It was beautiful, but also as hot and humid as any place I’ve been. Quite the change from Everest, even virtually.
It’s also not a long challenge – but this is a nice one to jump into the map and see images of the sites!
aka gringita 