The Temple That Was Never Lost

Travel Onion · 2:02

In northern Cambodia stands what's often called the largest religious building on Earth — and despite the stories, it was never lost. Angkor Wat was built in the early 1100s as a Hindu temple to Vishnu: its five towers stand for the peaks of Mount Meru, and its moat, nearly 200 metres wide, for the ocean. Unusually, it faces west, and around the March and September equinoxes the sun comes up directly over the central tower. Over the centuries it became a Buddhist temple, and it still is one — the monks never left. So when a French explorer wrote about it in the 1860s, he wasn't finding a lost temple; he was visiting a working one. What the forest did hide was the city around it: in 2012, lasers fired from a helicopter revealed streets, canals and reservoirs across hundreds of square kilometres. Nearby, at Ta Prohm, the trees were left to grow over the stones. Save this one for the trip you actually take. Follow for more places worth the trip. 📍 PLAN YOUR VISIT — ANGKOR WAT ✈️ Getting there: fly to Siem Reap; the temples are a short tuk-tuk ride north of town 📅 Best time: November to March, when it's dry and cooler 🎯 Don't miss: sunrise at the west gate · Ta Prohm · the stone faces of the Bayon · the bas-relief galleries