Day 160. Siem Reap, Cambodia. Tomb Raiders.

The temples of Angkor were built between the 9th and 14th Centuries when the Khmer civilisation was at the peak of its powers. Unparallelled in Southeast Asia they're right up there with the Pyramids, Taj Mahal and Great Wall of Byker.

A few Stat's:

* Altogether, there are more than 100 temples ranging in size from modest to absolute monster.

* The largest, Angkor Wat, has a moat 130 metres wider than that surrounding the Tower of London.

* It's also the biggest religious structure ever built.

* In it's heyday, 1000 years ago, the conurbation surrounding Angkor Thom was home to over a million people. London would have had a population of 50,000 at the time.

* The largest slabs of stone used during construction weighed over 3 tonnes and were quarried and transported from a site over 40 miles from the temples.

* The temples were originally intended for Hindu worship. All the Buddhist imagery on show today was added 400 years later.

They're great. Initially we thought traipsing around so many might become repetitious, but each temple has its own unique characteristics (I was going to say foibles, but Wend says only people have them).

So if it's the epic scale that makes an impression when you visit Angkor Wat, then it might be the intricate carvings that take the eye at the much smaller Banteay Srei. And if the sun rises spectacularly over Angkor Thom, you can guarantee it'll set no less brilliantly over Ta Som.

There are temples thick with atmosphere like Ta Phrom that have been almost entirely devoured by the jungle, other grander examples were built with huge ornamental water features. Some are guarded by limestone elephant sentinels while others are festooned with gargantuan faces of Hindu deities - faces that become increasingly hypnotic as the late afternoon light fades.

It's all very Tomb Raider. Yet no matter how hard I begged this morning, the missus refused to wear a pair of Lara Croft hotpants. Funny that.