Admiral Kirk's least favourite Khmer temple. Right, that's the rubbish pun title over with. Come on, I know it's another Cambodian temple, but at least it's one of the nice overgrown ones and not another of those pyramid ones. You know you've visited too many temples in too brief a time when the prospect of clambering over a 1,000-year-old pyramid loses its appeal.
Preah Khan was the last temple I visited on my Cambodia trip, and is probably the one I'd least mind getting trapped within forever as some sort of malevolent spirit, doomed to haunt its crumbling passageways for eternity, or until someone builds a car park over it. The fact that I managed to muster some enthusiasm after feeling seriously templed out must mean it's something special.
Preah Khan,
Angkor Archaeological Park
This doesn't bode well - either some Lovecraftian colossus stampeded through here, or a man with a tractor
If I was the guy in the foreground, I wouldn't know whether to feel fortunate or insulted that vandals didn't want my head (even just half)
Precarious column
Garuda, looking like something from Masters of the Universe
First enclosure, not looking too shabby
Second enclosure. If you have a keen eye, it's possible to spot the approximate point at which their renovation budget expired
This was probably a moat. I'm still pretty clueless, but if I'm not in a position to make educated guesses by now, this has all been futile
Main temple
Pleasing peek through crack #1
Pleasing peek through crack #2
Ridiculously tiny doorway.
If you've seen This is Spinal Tap, you can guess the administrative error that happened here
You really are spoiling that carved effigy of a lady
Third gopura
Even the experts don't know what this building was for. Which means it was probably some arcane sanctuary operated by ancient astronauts and devoted to His Infernal Black Majesty
Or maybe just a granary
Lovely mess
The glacially slow tree invasion claims another victim
A particularly doc-off root
Hall of Dancers flanked by tree hair
Didn't I see this in Mr Happy?
Didn't I see this in Stargate?
Killing Fields Memorial,
Siem Reap
Here's a little bonus for you. Though admittedly I didn't do much but admire the dead stuff, you can find out who it all belonged to and pay your respects at Wat Thmei.
It's like the most morbid and yet strangely satisfying jigsaw ever. I'd love to have a go.
I mean, R.I.P.
I mean, R.I.P.
