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Angkor Wat 1
sunrise, early 12th centuryDay 14 Monday January 26, 2009
Our third and final day of touring the temples was reserved for two that were a little out of the way and the Big Kahuna, Angkor Wat. Every one wants to see the sunrise at Cambodia’s most recognizable landmark and we were no exception. So at 5:20 in the morning we boarded our tuk-tuk and braved the chilly air along with hundreds of others all after the same thing: a really cool picture of the sun rising behind Angkor Wat. It was still dark when we arrived and in absence of light it’s hard to grasp the scale of the place. When you think of Angkor Wat all you imagine is that towered building with a lily pond in front of it. But that’s at the center. To get there one must first walk down a long bridge over the moat, go up some wonky stairs, through a gatehouse, down more wonky stairs, down another long bridge/road, past some secondary temple buildings, then up more wonky stairs, THEN you’re at the Angkor Wat that is in all the photos. And we did it, folks, in the darkest hour (just before dawn, sing it with
me!). Like an idiot, I forgot my tripod, so I knew I needed to stake out a good spot where I could set my camera down. Unfortunately, there were about a dozen other people fighting for the same spots. The sunrise was pretty, but less than spectacular.
I was glad when there was enough light to start exploring. The place was huge and I couldn’t wait to see what was inside. We began with the exterior gallery. We followed behind an English couple who had hired a tour guide and listened in for a while. As luck would have it, the most famous and most beautiful portion of the gallery was closed due to renovation. No matter. There was still the inner structure with the pyramids and more rooms to crawl around in. We entered the courtyard but somehow got turned around and couldn’t find an entrance to the central building. We finally found a rather dangerous looking staircase. Two women were sitting at the top. We decided to give it a go as we hadn’t seen another entry point. The climb was hairy. The ‘stairs’ were little more than toeholds in some spots and with my heavy bag
and camera there was a moment where I thought I might fall. But we all managed to scramble to the top. As we all shook off our ‘oogies’ one woman turned to us, and in a thick German accent, said “I don’t sink you are suppozed to cliiimb dere. Dere waz a guard herr tellink people not to come up dis way.” Wow, you know what would have been REALLY helpful? If she had said that BEFORE we almost killed ourselves! Geez.
After dodging bat guano and other things classified as ‘stuff I don’t want to walk through’ we finally came to a rather impressive hall where a large shrine to Buddha resides. The walls still retained some of their red paint and the carvings were beautiful. We were stymied once again as we tried to enter the innermost structure (you know, where all the really cool stuff is). It was closed for renovation. *sigh* So we went back outside, strolled around the grounds a little before finding Rak and going for breakfast. Angkor Wat: It’s on the flag, it’s on the money, its visage is everywhere, and for good reason. It is visually stunning. No other temple compound
is larger or more beautiful. But, honestly, I had way more fun poking around the Bayon at Angkor Thom. Angkor Wat is a mausoleum and as such, it was never ‘lived’ in (obviously). So there isn’t much to see once inside.
On the way to the restaurant, across the street from Angkor Wat, I was attacked by a hoard of souvenir selling children. (note to self, never wear bright pink shirt, it attracts the attention of the young ones) These were older children who were very good natured. Two of the girls were competing with one anther to sell me some bracelets. I told them I had to find my friends (we had become separated). While in the restaurant I could see them lying in wait for me. I pointed at them and shook my finger and they all smiled and laughed and waved. When I was done eating, they perched themselves at the exit. Finally, the two bracelet hawkers offered me a deal if I would buy five from one and five from another. Their cooperative nature was unexpected, as I had seen other children fighting over customers and, as you recall, had been called a bad woman
Angkor Wat 5
I'm totally getting my hair did like this the day before, so I gave in. One of them gave me a note that had a flower drawn on one side and on the other said “Hello! Very nice to meet you. Thank you for coming to see Angkor Wat. I wish you good luck with your job and all your family. I give you flower for souvenir. I hope you like my flower. I like your smile. I’m very happe to meet you. I hope to see you again. From Rak Smeg Good luck for you.” It was really sweet and I was so impressed by her written English considering she probably spends most of her time outside of school.
Our next visit for the day was Banteay Srei 26 kilometers away. Since I was the only one of us who doesn’t get motion sickness I had been assigned the most uncomfortable seat in the tuk-tuk, riding backwards on the narrow backless bench so that Kim and Cara could sit riding forwards. I didn’t complain…much. All the short trips hadn’t really been a problem. But this long trip to Banteay Srei tried the resilience of my poor back (I have a ruptured L4/L5 disc). I was excited
to see Banteay Srei. It was a small temple, but it had some of the most delicate and intact carvings of all the temples. We made a pit stop then as we approached the entrance we spotted an ominous thing: coach busses. Three or four of them. Rak warned us that with so many people there we might not be able to get any good pictures. He wasn’t kidding. Inside there was little room to move around. Most of the structures were roped off so you couldn’t get very close to the carvings. That restricted everyone to narrow passageways. We didn’t stay very long. The heat was nearly unbearable in the crowd. Rak suggest we return on our way back if we wanted to have another quick look after the bulk of the people had left.
So off we went to see the waterfall temple, Kbal Spean, another 14 kilometers away. This road was insanely bumpy and dusty and my back was screaming at me by the time we arrived. As I told myself to ‘walk it off’ I didn’t realize that’s exactly what I’d be doing because it was another 1500 meters up the mountain to the temple.
And this was no China hike with neat little stone stairs. This was a real hike. At times we were literally climbing on our hands and feet up boulders and over giant tree roots. But a waterfall temple sounded really cool so that motivated me to keep going even though my body was beat and the heat was cooking me alive. Then, finally, we made it! There it was!
The waterfall temple was a trickle streaming past a couple of carvings. Further down river there were several hundred circles carved into the river bed. As I looked on in disbelief that this is what we just climbed a mile up a mountain for I said aloud, “This is it??” Just then a middle aged Frenchman came huffing up next to me and muttered “C’est tout??” Okay, good, so it wasn’t just me who felt ripped off. If I had my guidebook at that time I would have known that the several hundred circles in the river were actually stylized lingas (male genitalia) and I would have had WAY more fun with the pictures I took. After we carefully made our way back
down the mountain we stopped for lunch, then went back to Banteay Srei for a couple more photos. Then we were all done for the day. We went back to our welcoming home away from home and collapsed.
So, all in all, my three day temple tour was a blast. Sure it was hot, and some of the temples were disappointing, but it was by far one of the coolest places I’ve ever visited and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back.
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