Cambodia Marvels

Here's the FLICKR link to over 90 pictures from our recent trip to Cambodia.  If you don't want any commentary, skip the following and head on over to some incredible scenery:
For those who want a little background, here's what I know.  Cambodia is a very friendly, very warm country that is recovering from perhaps the most heinous genocide of history; over 1/3 of its population was massacred in 4 short years in the 70s by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot.  We visited a school that was used as a torture prison, and it was difficult to take the tour and see the photographs of both the victims and the soldiers in charge of the torturing. We opted not to take the trip out of town to see where they buried everyone, the field that was immortalized in the film "The Killing Fields".
We focused on the beautiful ruins of the Khmer civilization, and most of the ruins you see in the pictures are from the 11th-13th centuries, I believe.  I've never been one for nitpicking about which century something happened in, so that may be off a bit.

We first visited Banteay Srei, about 35 KM north of Siem Reap.  This is sometimes called the most perfect of the ruins, and it is quite dramatic as it is build of rose-pink sandstone and is the most elaborately decorated of all the Angkor monuments.  We saw several scenes from the Ramayana that reminded of us our roots in India, and I also became captivated by the Apsara dancers and figures, which you will see a lot of in the photos as well.
We next visited Angkor Thom which is really 3 places, and
includes the spectacular Bayon with its dozens of eroded towers carved with giant sized images of the half smiling face of the bodhisattva Lokesvara (Buddhist).

The other big stand out at Siem Reap in a city of archeology stand outs is Angkor Thom, which features the half-jungle half-temple look with huge roots of the Kapok trees draping various ruins, reminiscent of Tikal in Guatemala.

The heat reminded us of life in Trivandrum, and we learned early on to get out of the mid-day sun and lay low, preferably at either a massage place or a place that served cool drinks, or both. We had numerous massages of various styles and decided the best massage is the one you have just gotten or are about to get.  I focused on every tropical fruit I could get my hands on, and specifically the unparalleled taste of Passion fruit, which was in season and which I counted 4 occurrences of ingesting before noon one day, in four different forms.  All were winners.
There was lots more to see but we ran out of time, and were exhausted anyway.  But it was divine to get away from the cold and get to know our neighbors in Cambodia a little better.