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Angkor Thom Monks, Cambodia, 1968

"Ghostlike faces surround two saffron-robed Buddhist monks in a window of the extravagantly carved Bayon, central temple of Angkor Thom. Here, in northwestern Cambodia, rise the splendid temples of the Khmer kings, ancient rulers of Southeast Asia. Not only does the architectural grandeur speak of a brilliant civilization; complex canals, reservoirs, and ponds—some still in use—reveal a remarkable system of irrigation, forerunner of the Mekong Project."

—From "The Mekong: River of Terror and Hope," December 1968, National Geographic magazine

Photograph by Wilbur E. Garrett