Siem Reap - Day 2

The day began a little later than usual as Andrew & I decided to catch the sunset at Angkor. We visited many temples, some of which no more interesting than anything else ancient, but were worth checking out in any case. The temples worth noting were Ta Som, Neak Pean, Banteay Kdei and Preah Khan. The nice thing was that the temples were not very busy because they are the lesser known temples. We often found ourselves by ourselves at several of the 10 or so that we visited that day.

Since I've gotten a little tired of describing temples over and over again, (and I'm sure they all sound the same by now) I just figured you would like to see the highlights of the day.

Prasat Kravan

Sras Srang

Pre Rup

The only view of another temple in the whole area, with the exception of Angkor Wat, which can be seen from Phnom Bakeng.

East Mebon

Almost identical to Pre Rup.

Ta Som

Basically, a smaller, less crowded version of Ta Prohm. Sadly, Cedric decided to start travelling solo from this point forward. I hope he saw some incredible things.

Neak Pean

This was one of my favourite sites, consisting of five "pools". It was a great place to sit and relax for awhile.

Preah Khan

Baksei Chamkrong

A Bite to Eat before Sunset

Mmmmm... Stinkfish Curry.

Phnom Bakheng

We went to see the sunset over the Cambodian countryside here. So did hundreds of others. It was pretty crowded, but definitely worth the journey up the mountain and deal with the throngs of people.

The Crown Jewel - Angkor Wat

To finish off our first day at Angkor, we visited the world famous Angkor Wat (I know... you're thinking, "That was only one day?"). Keep in mind, it is not within the central Angkor temples, although it is the central focus of the Angkor area, both now and in the ancient past. It is surrounded by an enormous moat, and is as impressive in person as it is in the pictures.

Unlike most other temples, the main (and really the only) entrance is from the west. It was built by Suryavarman II, who unified Cambodia under Khmer rule over 1000 years ago. It is widely acknowledged to be one of the most magnificent buildings constructed in human history. It, along several others was built by Buddhists as a shrine to Vishnu (a Hindu god), a royal mausoleum, and a physical representation of the Hindu cosmos.

Despite its grand and dominating size, as well as its breathtaking detail, it is, without question, one of the biggest disappointments in a person's life. Allow me to paint a picture for you...

You spend thousands of dollars to make a journey to one of the greatest creations in human history. You spend all day, visiting the surrounding (yet still individually impressive) temples, building up the anticipations. As temple after temple goes by, you find it becomes a bit of an effort to enjoy each temple for its own particular beauty and awe-inspiring nature. You get more and more excited as you get closer to seeing the single attraction you most want to see. You arrive at the temple. You start to walk walk across the large causeway leading to the outer wall. You (with a little difficulty) find the way past the outer wall - not the door you expected, but rather a smaller one to the left or the right. The opportunity to get the greatest photograph of your life is just moments away. You pass through the threshold and lay your eyes upon....

Two giant green tarpaulines covering a large section of each of the two front towers. Also, you couldn't go up to the towers.

At least my new camera lets me take "classic" style pictures, so I could disguise the tarps a little bit.

Driving by Angkor Wat

Ta Prohm

This is one of the best, and while most people don't know it, the most famous of the Angkor temples. Most people know this temple from the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, when Angelina Jolie plucks a flower from the roots of a tree at a "remote" Cambodian temple before falling into... some film studio. This temple is still (mostly) overgrown by the surrounding jungle. Although it has still been cut back, it gives you the feeling of discovering it for yourself.

It is one of the most recent temples, having been built in the 12th Century. Both the centre of the royal city of Rajavihara and a Buddhist temple and monastery, it was one of the largest monuments of the Khmer civilization. The temple is absolutely enormous. Most people approach from the west, although the traditional entrance is from the east (like pretty much every other temple). It is an absolute maze of ruins and is easy to become lost within its walls.

One can do nothing but be awestruck by its beauty and enormity. The overgrowing trees give it the sense that centuries have, in fact, passed by and the Khmer dynasty is a thing of the distant past. I, personally, have never felt so in touch with a piece of ancient history the way I did at Ta Prohm,

Thommanon and Ta Keo

After visiting the central Angkor area, we made our way into the first of the surrounding temples. First up was Thommanon, a small temple with a a pair of gopuras surrounded by a small wall. It is believed to have been dedicated to Vishnu. This was an oddity that seemed to recur with regularity - Buddhist temples dedicated to Hindu gods. It is adorned by dozens of devatas (engraved women) that are nearly life-sized. The detail is exquisite and nearly perfectly preserved.

Next up was Ta Keo. If we thought the stairs were bad elsewhere, this one took the cake. From the outside they are barely noticeable, but once you start the climb, you realize just how many there are, and how steep they are. There are several series of steps leading to another level. The next set only becomes visible once you have completed the previous set. Ta Keo was built over a 35 year span from the late 10th Century, and construction stopped just into the 11th century. It is the first temple mountain to have been built entirely of sandstone blocks. The temple was never completed. Some believe it was struck by lightning. It is impressive in its size even in its unfinished state (about 40-50 metres tall). At the top I tried to take a picture toward the lower terrace, whaer a Buddhist monk happened to be standing. As I lined up the picture, he bagan to call out at me, and I thought he was telling me not to take his picture (or so a local man beside me said). The man called back to him, and the monk said it would be fine. He turned out to have lived in California for 10 years, and we had quite a pleasant conversation.

Angkor Thom

As misleading as it may be so far, all of the preceding posts have dealt with temples and sites within the ancient Khmer city of Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom, much like most middle age cities, is surrounded by a large brick wall. It is perfectly square, and contains four gates, each leading to one of the cardinal directions, north, east, south and west. As in most cases, the Khmers built the most impressive entrace facing East, as it seems that it was most common, or possibly mandatory to approach from that direction. The East Gate, has a lengthy (by ancient standards) causeway crossing the surrounding moat. It is adorned with dozens of large, stone men holding a cobra. It is rather impressive even in excess of 1000 years later. The North Gate is more commonly known as Victory Gate, in celebration of the Khmer victory over the ancient Thai people.

Victory Gate