The site was discovered by archeologists in the late 19th century, became a cause celebre in the 1920s and then was lost again during the Khmer Rouge years of the 1970s/80s.
Now it is firmly back on the map as one of the leading contenders for the new 7 wonders of the world.
The site of the lost city covers about a 1000 sq.km in Northern Cambodia. It is made up of many stone temples scattered over the area with the most famous being Angkor Wat which is the largest and one of the most intact. Wat means temple and Angkor Wat is one huge temple in the jungle. Apparently this is the largest religious structure in the world.
The closest thing would be Macchu Picchu or a medieval walled town. There are lakes and parkland within its walls. The central temple is palatial, made of limestone and sandstone with multiple beehive spires. The whole thing represents the universe. Bas relief pictures around the whole thing show religious imagery (mainly indian folklore) with lots of topless dancing girls. Ooh la la.
To get the best of the experience our strategy (we had to have a strategy - you know us too well) was to visit over multiple days working our way up from the smaller temples scattered in the periphery to the major temples on the last day. We also planned days off in between so we didn't get too templed out.
All the temples have very distinct characteristics (some on mini-mountains, some in the middle of lakes, some with towers, some small, some large, some square, some long and thin, some restored, some totally ruined and left to rot with trees growing over them).
We expected the environment to be very jungly but its more like a wood or forest with some exotic plants, monkeys and elephants. Although the birds sounds exotic, they are small, black and white and unremarkable looking. By late afternoon the cicadas started up, a unforgettable sound, like loud slightly discordant jangling bells ringing the same high pitched not constantly, filling the air. The trees have been cleared from many of the sites but some have been left as they were "found". One pop-culture reference is that this was used as a set for Tomb Raider and the local town has many references to Angelina Jolie who stayed there while filming and adopted a baby from the local orphanage.
As the Angkor sites are so scattered we decided the best course of action was to hire a driver and tuk-tuk (a small carriage pulled by motorbike). This sounds very modern day EM Forster but its the best way unless you want to go by tour-bus or ride a bike in the sun. We also roughed it by buying chocolate croissants in the local bakery the night before so we could get an early start in the cooler weather.
Its probably best to let the pictures tell the story.
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:)
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