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Waving goodby to the rest of the group, Mary Ellen and I continued on into Cambodia to visit Seim Reap and the Ankor Wat complexes, which date from the 1100's and earlier.
The Angkor Wat temple itself is the worlds largest religious monument depicting the Hindu universe, complete with the 5 peaks of Mount Meru. Approx 600 meters of narrative base relief carvings encircle the main temple area with nearly 2000 dancing Apsaras. And that was only the main temple. Smaller universities and temples from the same era would be a wonderful vacation or research destination. Together they are overwhelming.
It was mind boggling to walk through these huge religious complexes and imagine that 1000 years ago Preah Kan was a temple and university large enough to employ over 1000 teachers, or that an entire city flourished on the 22 acres enclosed within the Angkor Wat moat.
During our 3 weeks in Thailand and 5 days in Cambodia there was nothing I wished I could show my children more than the courage of the Cambodian people. Bus Boys labored to practice thier English in the hopes they would be ready for the next promotion to waiter. The Tuk Tuk Driver refused to leave us at the resturant, because he didn't want to strand us in town or loose the fair. The little girl selling post cards hoped to attracted sales by reciting all of the facts she knew about the United States, and the young girl who begged food for her sister pointed out the unnoticed dollar I had dropped on the ground.