Angkor Wat

The main temple at Angkor is Angkor Wat. It's certainly the biggest and apparently the largest religious building in the world.

It's impossible to capture the site on one picture, as there are so many outer and inner layers, as well as upper floors to the various parts.

It seems a tad unnerving to worship a headless statue, but apparently it is common, as few intact ones remain.

Structurally, the building has suffered over the years. Although this was an active Wat and thus not consumed by the jungle, the sandstone is porous and soft.

Thousands of wall carvings can be found all around the temple. The numbers are expressed in kilometres, not in individual carvings.

No doubt the steepest set of steps I ever climbed. Going up was hair-raising. Techniques for coming down were fiercely debated by trapped tourists at the top, wearily looking down at the smoothly rounded and sandy steps. An American woman started complaining about the lack of a handrail. I hummed "This is not America", by David Bowie, on the way down.

Even from the side, the place is as big as it looks. This is the south gate.

A Wat outside the complex is centered in the living quarters of the monks who used to occupy Angkor Wat, before being relocated to make way for the tourist dollars.