Ta Prohm, Cambodia

From the ninth to the fifteenth century, the Angkor Empire was the greatest civilization in Southeast Asia, reaching from the coast of Vietnam to Myanmar, (now Burma); from southern Laos down to the Malay Peninsula.

At the heart of this great kingdom ruled by god-kings arose the magnificent towers of Angkor Wat and the nearby capital city of Angkor Thom.   The rulers of Angkor were great builders and engineers.  They fed their people with a sophisticated irrigation system that made the Cambodian plains green year-round and built a network of roads connecting the capital to all the major outlying cities.

To this day, beautiful temples are overgrown with fig and giant banyan trees, giving a haunting yet exotic atmosphere.   The magnificent roots of the trees have merged over the centuries with the temple´s huge stone blocks, emphasizing a "forgotten city" feeling.

Preah Kahn is a Buddist temple, built by Jayavarman VII at the end of the eleventh century, possibly in 1186 for his mother.   The temple is just as it was when rediscovered, with the roots of the banyan trees spread over its roofs and galleries and heaps of fallen stone.