Of course, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom (and, perhaps to a lesser extent, Banteay Srei) are just the most famous of the many ruins scattered all around the Siem Reap area.
Hopefully, this page (and the others on Angkor at this site) will give you a flavor for what else can be easily seen in about a week—which is all that we had time for.
(Needless to say, buying a full week's pass is highly recommended instead of just a day or two; and a week is just about right, unless you're some Khmer expert/researcher who needs tons and tons of time.)
To begin our little tour of some of these other ruins, let's hop on our bikes (or motos, as they're called here in Cambodia), rev up the engines, and GO!
Here's Karen whizzing by on her moto, very ably driven by a nice guy named Naa. He and his partner, Kha, took us all around that week, and showed us some nice places we probably wouldn't have considered going to.
Our first stop: Baphuon, which is actually right by the famous ruins of Angkor Thom:
And now to East Mebon, where we came upon the entrance and were struck by the beauty of these doors.
The ruins at Neak Pean are striking, too, especially when the sun allows a reflection...
And now to nearby Preah Khan...
These first two pictures are pretty interesting. The first one, above, shows a whole lotta holes in the large stone slabs. This is believed to be so that thin sheets of bronze (no doubt beautifully decorated) could be attached to the stone, making the bronze a sort of early "wallpaper!"
And the other photo obviously shows, quite dramatically, how nature has done its thing over the centuries—the only mystery, perhaps, being that the ruins are in as good a shape as they are after all this time.
And, lastly at Preah Khan, here's another shot of a tree taking over, dwarfing not only the ruins by Karen as well!
Moving on to some other ruins now . . .
Here's a handsome carved door (and columns) at Preah Rup:
There are three sets of ruins about 10 km east of Siem Reap called The Roluos Group, comprising the sites of Preah Ko, Lolei and Bakong.
Quoting Lonely Planet:
"The monuments of Roluos, which served as the capital of Indravarman I (reigned 877-89) are among the earliest large, permanent temples built by the Khmers and mark the beginning of Khmer classical art..."
Here are some shots from there...
Here we are at Lolei, a fairly small but nice set of towers, complete with some great, ancient writing on the wall. (Yes, a close up of that writing is actually the background for this page.)
And now some shots from nearby Bakong . . .
Above here is a fine naga at Bakong...
... and below is one of the towers at Bakong, framed inside an old doorway:
And now, for the remaining five on this page, we'll let the pictures themselves do the talking!
Remember, you can always place your cursor on top of an image, and (hopefully!) you'll be able to read a short description or comment.
