This book has been compiled from photographs captured during two major trips to Cambodia in November, 2007 for the Angkor Photography Festival, and in February, 2013 on a visit with my wife. During these visits I visited many of the temple complexes in the Angkor area and some of the more remote temples further afield. It is only when you put all the images and information together about these incredible temples and monuments you realise just how extensive and sophisticated that the Khmer civilisation was back in the 9th to 15th centuries.
Siem Reap in Cambodia is the gateway to the millennium old temple ruins of the Khmer city of Angkor. The Angkor Archaeological Park comprises dozens of temple ruins including Bayon, Banteay Srei, Pre Rup, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm and the legendary Angkor Wat. Further away from these main temple complexes are many other unique and fascinating temples which were all important during the height of the Khmer Kingdom. These temples include Beng Mealea, Koh Ker and Preah Vihear in the far north on the border between Cambodia and Thailand.
The artistic and archaeological significance and visual impact of these temples place them in a class with other wonders of the world such as the Pyramids, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.
In the Angkor region we are left today with an incredibly rich legacy of temple complexes, some restored but many still hidden and overgrown by trees and creepers. These mystical tumbledown temples of Angkor can only hint at the level of sophistication and complexity of the Khmer Kingdom and the wondrous Lost Cities of the Angkor Empire.
