This is the main temple called the "Angkor Wat" although the original name from Sanskrit is “Vrah Visnuloka “. Sometimes the name Angkor Wat is mistakenly referred to the whole complex of temples the archaeological park of Angkor. The temple was built in 12th century.

Many temples are surrounded by a wall and a moat that protected the the temple and people living in the vicinity of the temple. Usually for each temple complex there are 4 gates to the area like this one in the picture.

Many of the ruins are at different stages of collapse. However these places are still holy for the Buddhist and Hindu devotees who at some location still perform their ceremonies and prayers.

Monks give blessings to those who want to receive them.

Some parts of the temples serve as exhibition halls displaying artifacts. Here statues deprived of heads as in the past tomb raiders beheaded them. It was much easier to smuggle a head than the whole figure and the financial reward was not much lower.

Absaras – Hindu heavenly goddesses usually very attractive female dancers that could have divine or worldly origin. They enhance many walls of Hindu or Buddhist temples. In the temple Angkor Wat alone, there are 3000 images of them.

In Angkor temples there are thousands of bas-reliefs depicting women but some of them have received special attention and are revered by worshipers. To this little chamber shrine leads a labyrinth that is hard to find. The bas-relief shows the Khmer queen called Indradevi the wife Jayavarman the founder of Angkor.

In this little chamber there is a shrine with Khmer queen Indra Devi, big enough to contain just a few people. It is hard to come by as a narrow winding passage leads to the chamber.

Some deities stand in more prominent places like this Buddha statue in one of the most popular temple called the Bayon.

These faces are the most iconic and recognizable elements of the Angkor temples. It is not entirely certain whose countenance they represent but it is believed they depict some Buddhist bodhisattvas.

At the top of Bayon temple, these enigmatic faces portray a bodhisattvas people who renounced their mundane lives, did good deeds and became enlightened to enter nirvana.

Why there is a creature resembling stegosaurus in the 12 century Angkor, it may remain a mystery, especially that its fossil has never been found in that region in the contemporary discoveries. It could be just pure coincidence of artist's imagination.

This type of dust bin made of truck tire is popular in many second world countries but in Cambodia particularly common.

A street in Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia.

A garage in Phnom Penh. A team of school girls cleaning a motorbike.

Phnom Penh.

Due to its troubled past, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, stayed behind its neighbors, but in recent years it is trying to catching up with the other Asian tigers.

Phnom Penh.

An interior of a Cambodian Buddhist temple.

Begging monks in front of food stalls collecting alms. Buddhist monks are mendicant orders in Cambodia. Giving alms is a long tradition and good karma.

Begging monks in front of jewelery shop.

In S.E. Asia many caves have some religious significance.

This bamboo bridge under construction to an island on the Mekong river is rebuilt every November right after seasonal high water subsides. Once the monsoon returns it destroys the bridge.

Bodies of fish drying in the sun. It attracts carrion flies that get stuck on the sticky paper sheets.

Fishermen sorting their catch.

Census of farmers.

Farmers who can not write give fingerprints on required documents.

In South East Asia elephants are used as workforce.

In Cambodia, locals like to go for a picnic in the bosom of nature in specially designated areas with a lot food stalls and concrete or plastic wildlife figures.

Waterfalls, swimming pools with phoney animals surrounded by nature attract locals in their leisure.

The common cruiser (Vindula erota).

These chimneys sticking out from a forest floor usually serve as entrances to nests built by some insects like wasp.

Mangrove forest.

My first and only full day in the forest of Cambodia resulted in finding and confiscating a loop snare.

This tree in a forest, most likely was to be felled but the lumberjack discovered it has a hollow inside, therefore not good for planks.