I was able to spend a few nights here and I woke up each day at the early hour of 4:30 am in order to see the sun rise and explore the temples before the masses arrived. The temples cover hundreds of square kilometers and were built mostly from the tenth to thirteenth century. Many have intricate carvings and include both, Hindu and Buddhist, depictions. Despite being a history major, ruins are not my thing. Nevertheless I enjoyed my time exploring the temples. God forbid I say that I was not overwhelmed by Angkor Wat, maybe I am just not knowledgeable or cultural enough, but, as the sun rose and eager photographers waited to recapture the image seen in our guide books, the dark silhouette transitioned to the real thing, and blue tarp hung around the center, due to restoration work, which is constant. Angkor Wat is just one of the hundreds of temples. Through the rest of that day and half of the next I explored about seven different temples. Some temples were small and ornate, while others, massive. Some had trees growing out of the stones and others stood, free of moss and weeds. It is believed that Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city.