It takes around one week to visit some of the 298 temples that comprise Angkor Wat. If you wanted, you could easily spend an entire day exploring just 1 of the temples without getting bored. Here is Bakong, an Asian scene as exotic as they come.

Decades of warfare covered Laos with landmines. Angkor is certified safe, but don't go wandering off in the countryside. This signboard gives pictorial instructions to a largely illiterate populace about what to do if you discover a land mine.

Main temple of Angkor. The temple areas were spared destruction from the Civil War because, as a symbol, AW was so important to both sides. This temple is on their flag and money.

Abandoned in the 1400's, AW was "discovered" by Westerners around 100 years ago. During the interim, it was overrun by the jungle, allowing huge trees to take root and flourish.

AW is amazing on so many different levels. I was most impressed with the interplay of nature with the antiquities. Here a Silk Cotton tree overpowers a temple. It is so entwined with the stones that removal is impossible. Many temples are left completely unrestored.

These giant, cardinal-point facing faces are the signature motif of AW, like at this rear gate to Angkor Thom. Exploring the ruins by motorcycle is the only way to go. The entire AW area is interlaced by small trails like this one.

I was taking photos of this carved wall when this monk took a photo of me. Then I asked him if I could take one of him sitting on my bike. Voilà. 

More exploration of AW. If I tried to limit myself to a temple visit for a few minutes, more often then not I ended up staying there for half a day. 

On an excursion to a temple not even mentioned in the guidebooks, I had to negotiate this bridge made from bamboo and sticks. It was swaying side to side a good 12" and I thought for sure it was going to collapse.

Fabulous statuary like this is found all over. The artwork and architecture in Angkor flourished like nowhere else in the history of man. AW's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of many visited on A.M.A. tours.

The Ancient Royal Khmer Road as it snakes from Thailand across the endless paddy fields of Cambodia's interior. It is the worst road in the world that dares to call itself a road.