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Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage Sight just outside of Siem Reap, had been on my “must-see” list since I caught a glimpse of it on the Discovery channel as a child. Having mainly seen images of Angkor Wat, the most well-known and well-preserved temple in the ancient city, I really had no idea of Angkor’s scale until I visited.
The ancient temple complex was primarily constructed from the 9th-15th centuries, when it was the capital of the Khmer empire. The religious history of Angkor is both fascinating and complex. When construction began, the ruling the Khmer kingdom was Hindu, with the majority of the temples dedicated to Hindu gods. Angkor Wat, constructed in the early 12th century, was dedicated to Vishnu. Later, the ruling monarch converted to Mahayana Buddhism, constructing the great Bayon temple with images of Buddha.
The empire went through another Hindu revival, before finally settling permanently on Theravada Buddhism. During these religious shifts, many of the temples were altered and re-altered to reflect the religious flavor of the leadership.
Today, Angkor is one of the largest tourist magnets in Asia, with many of the temples still stunningly well preserved. However, many claim the historic temples
are in grave danger from the large number of tourists. Not only have there been many cases of theft and vandalism, but there are no guidelines when it comes to visiting the ancient structures. As fun as it is to scramble over the ruins, this wear and tear could seriously damage the temples over time (for photos of me climbing on the temples, see below!).
With the amount of tourists that visit Angkor I would have expected to constantly be sandwiched between enthusiastic spectators. However, the size of Angkor is so large it was actually possible to escape the crowd altogether.
The most popular temples seemed to be Bayon, Angkor Wat, and Ta Kao (filmed in “Tomb Raider”), and for good reason. However, leaving the beaten path it is possible to escape the tourist throngs altogether. We enjoyed exploring several small, quiet temples that allowed us to feel for a few moments that we had stumbled into “Indiana Jones”, and lived out our childhood fantasies of exploration-never mind that hundreds of camera-hungry tourists lurked just beyond the trees.
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Quiet Halls
