When the Khmers finally fell to the Thai in 1431, the city of Angkor was abandoned. For the next four and a half centuries, the capital of the once thriving Khmer empire would lay dormant and uninhabited. Engulfed by the jungle and known only through rumors and folk tales as the "lost city of a Cambodian empire," Angkor would not be seen by Westerners until the late nineteenth century.

Today, the jungled ruins of Angkor are an archeological goldmine and a burgeoning tourist destination. This “lost city” has also recently been discovered by Hollywood. The exotic, remote location has provided backdrop to several recent films, including Tomb Raider. Angkor was even the inspiration for Colonel Kurtz’s upriver jungle outpost in Apocalypse Now.

There are over 1,000 temples in Angkor, but Angkor Wat (the “capital temple”) is its flagship. This photogenic temple has become the signature landmark of Angkor, and deservedly so. Angkor Wat is well over three times taller than the Aztec pyramids at Teotihuacán. It’s five elaborately layered, unmortared stone towers rise over 200 feet; from its elevated perch, the center tower alone is as tall as Notre Dame Cathedral.

With such intoxicating grandeur, Angkor Wat kicks off my list at #1. Sporting my best Indiana Jones outfit, I’ll someday soon head up the river deep into the jungle, and discover with my own eyes the mysterious ruins of the great Khmer civilization.