Angkor Experience

---

Right from the start of our planning of this trip, we had known one thing: at some point or another, our itinerary would include a visit to the Temples at Angkor. They play such a huge role in the tourism industry of South East Asia and especially Cambodia, visiting them is a bit like seeing the Eiffel Tower when visiting France. In Cambodia, everywhere you turn there are references to Angkor, it seems to be a sure sell if you market your product as Angkor. Even the national beer is named after the temples and its logo is an image of Angkor Wat. After spending a week seeing Phnom Penh and the southern coast, we finally headed for Siem Reap, the base for seeing Angkor.

Upon arrival, we were in a state of minor bewilderment; Siem Reap has been made into such a tourist location that it felt a little bit like a circus. As soon as we exited our bus we were descended upon by the hordes of Tuk Tuk drivers wanting our business. I have since suggested to Ashlee that we should make our selves rich by recording and selling a CD of 'sounds of SE Asia on the tourist trail'. One of those CDs people put on to relax (you know, like the waterfall noises ect.) except that this one would be for helping tourist return to the hassle free lifestyle back home. It would go a bit like: sir you need tuk tuk, cheap cheap, tuk tuk, where you go sir, tuk tuk, the sound of a rooster, sir you buy from me, you want fruit salad, maybe later, you remember my friut, tuk tuk, one dollar, hello tuk tuk, if you buy, you buy from me, tuk tuk. As it was, we hadn't properly prepared ourselves by reading the guide book (we can blame that on our novels that we spent the whole bus ride reading, oh and the karaoke videos playing on the bus) and so we fell victim to getting in the most hassle free tuk tuk around. It turned out to be a good choice since our driver was great and drove us from guest house to guest house until we found one with room and that was to our liking, a hard task in November which is peak season. After settling in, and having some ice cream (always a calming activity) we were picked up by our driver and were taken out to the temples for sun set. He suggested that we see the sun set from a hill top temple near Angkor Wat. We, along with what seemed like the rest of the tourists in Cambodia made the short hike up and were treated with a fantastic sun set over the surrounding forest. It was crowded but still a lovely intro to the temples at Angkor.

Contrary to popular belief, or at least our pre-departure belief, Angkor is actually a whole area of temples, the most famous being Angkor Wat. These temples were constructed over a few centuries by various rulers during the Angkor period (~9th -13th century AD).

The next morning we set off for our first full day of temple exploration. We had told our guide that we wanted to spend our first day seeing the temples slowly by bicycle to give us a chance to ease into the experience. We agreed for him to come and drive us for our second day. However, when we tried to rent bicycles from our guest house, the young man, David, working the desk convinced us that we didnt want bicycles since it was so hot and that we should let him drive us, amazingly he was also a tuk tuk driver. We told him what we were hoping to see that day but he told us that he could provide a better itinerary for us. We decided to let him lead since we had lots of time to see the temples and we would see it all at one point or another. That day we found out that David worked the night shift at the guest house every day and then drove as a tuk tuk driver during the day. The result was an incredibly tired, un-talkative, guide who we had to keep waking up after we had seen each temple.

We visited many temple complexes that morning, including Ta Prohm, the "tomb-raider" temple as it is now famously named. If one has watched the Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie one would recognize a scene where fighting occurs in a jungle temple ground; Ta Prohm is the place. This temple always makes the must see list of Angkor Temples since it has been taken over by the Jungle; giant trees grow in , on , and around the temple ruins. They rather look like large long-necked dinosaurs taking a ramble through the ruins. The ones that are on top of the ruins itself are amazing as they are the only thing holding the temple together at many points. These ones seemed to be like giant sea monsters with their tentacle arms wrapping around the columns and blocks, ready to engulf them in their bodies. Once we got away from the Asian tour groups visiting one very interesting tree (the one shown in all the tour brochures), we were free to visit the temple on our own with quiet all around us. We even managed to get a photo almost like the one everyone else was after, except our tree looked slightly different and so was a far inferior shot. We discussed whether Ta Prohm is amazing because of the trees or if the trees are amazing because of Ta Prohm. The final verdict is both.

After Ta Prohm, we stopped for lunch (sightseeing is very exhausting!) and then headed to Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom was the capitol city during the later part of the Angkor era, so includes many temples and other brick structures. It is a little disappointing because only religious structures were allowed to be made in laterite and sandstone, while all living structures were made of wood. Therefore, one really doesn't see how the average Khmer lived, although I guess it wasn't really very different than how the village-people live today.

The most famous and most prominent sight in Angkor Thom, and my favourite temple in Angkor is the Bayon. The Bayon was built by Jayavarman the VII, the main builder during the Angkor period, rather the Donald Trump of the day (as Lonely Planet puts it). The Bayon is mainly comprised of 54 stone faces that look at all angles and levels, with different expressions on their faces. It doesn't matter where one stands, there will always be a face looking at you. The exact use of the Bayon isn't known, and many scholars still debate if the faces are supposed to be of Buddha or of Jayavarman himself. Needless to say it is a very interesting site and once again has many beautiful bas-reliefs, this time depicting various battles between the Khmer and Cham armies.

Originally we had wanted to see Angkor Wat first thing in the morning but David convinced us otherwise, he said we would be better off seeing it in the afternoon when the light was better. However, by the time we were to finally get there, we were much too exhausted to see it, we also noticed that once again, all the crowds were there. We decided to postpone our visit. An impending storm made our decision final. However, the storm itself coming over Angkor Wat was a thrilling sight. We decided to visit the temple grounds itself the next morning.

The next morning, we met our original guide, but he told us that he had been hired the previous day by some other tourists who wanted him to take them again that day. He introduced us to his brother, Rethie, and we agreed to go with him. Being quiet but not shy, friendly with a warm smile, and hassle-free, we took a liking to Rethie right away. In addition, he was happy to go along with whatever itinerary we wanted, resulting in us being able to avoid the crowds, even if the lighting wasn't always perfect. By 9am we were at Angkor Wat and seemed to have beat the crowds. Angkor Wat itself is said to be the world's largest religious building so as you can imagine, it makes for a pretty incredible sight. The temple is surrounded by a huge moated stone wall and has a long 300m causeway leading from the front gate to the temple itself.
The highlight of seeing Angkor Wat, besides the overall magesty of it, was the intricate bas reliefs engraved into the outer wall of the temple. These images depicted various stories from Hindu mythology as well as battles of the Angkor armies. The entire Angkor area is very interesting because most of it was constructed before Buddhist belief really took a strong-hold in the region, so the majority of temples are Hindu themed. Needless to say we learned a lot about Hindu mythology.

That afternoon we went to Pre Rup, a pyramidal temple, to visit the sunset. Pre Rup holds one of our fondest memories, as from the top of the temple you can look over the country-side and see that the Khmer's still farm and cattle graze right alongside these amazing religious structures. The sunset that evening was beautiful, the sun illuminating everything it touched in beautiful shades of gold. It was lovely to bask in the warm rays of the sun. At the top of the temple, we met a little boy named Chai who was selling postcards. He sat down beside us and talked to us while we relaxed in the sun. He told us that like many of the children selling souvenirs, he went to school in the morning and then spent the afternoons selling at the temples to pay for his schooling and to help the family. It really doesn't seem like much of a life for these kids but at least they are learning English which will be invaluable in the future with tourism looking to only expand in the future.

After Pre-Rup we decided to make a mad-dash over to Angkor Wat to see if we could still see the sunset there. Unfortunately, we missed the main part of the set (as we were at Pre Rup) but were able to see the clouds over Angkor Wat lit up by the final rays of the sun. It was a spectacular sight and my favourite memory of Angkor Wat. Most of the tourists had left by that time, so there was just a handful of us watching the sky change in solitude.

On our third day we asked Rethie to take us to Banteay Srei and Kabal Spean, Angkor sites about an hour to an hour and a half outside of Siem Reap. The last part of the road was just a dirt/dust road which coated us in red dust and left us feeling a bit like we had been in a blender. Kabal Spean is known for its river carvings, apparently a thousand lingas (phallic symbols of fertility) are carved into the stream bed. It is quite an odd sight but it was a little disappointing after all we had endured to get there. The lingas really only looked like circles carved into the rock.

Banteay Srei however was just phenomenal. We meant to go there first thing, but upon driving up to the sight saw hordes of tourists (the most we would ever see at Angkor), so decided to see it later in the afternoon when the majority of tourist buses would be gone. Our plan worked, and were able to see the sight in comparative comfort and ease although the blistering mid day heat made us have to retire to the comfort of a cold drink earlier than we had planned. Banteay Srei is a fascinating site as it is though to have been commissioned by a Brahma (a Hindu religious tutor) and not by the King, as all the other temples were. It is alternatively called "The Temple of Women" as it is carved out of pink stone and the engravings were the most detailed and beautiful we had seen yet. Some say the temple must have been carved by women as men wouldn't be able to create such detail; who knows the true story, but whoever carved it definitely had an eye for style.

On our final day in Siem Reap we visited the Rolous Group, the first religious temples in the area. They were very interesting as we could see how temple architecture had changed from when the Rolous Group was created to Angkor Wat, the last temple created in Angkor. Our favourite temple in the group was the Bakon, an impressive 4 leveled structure symbolizing a mountain, and giving fantastic views from the top. Once again, we sat and watched the sunset from the top (one of our favourite activities it seems) then headed back to town for dinner and said good-bye to Rethie. We left the next day for Thailand, our final country in our trip.

---

Photos

Ta Prohm
Tomb Raider Temple

Bas-Reliefs at The Bayon
This one shows the King on his war elephant

Rethie, our tireless driver
We could always find him easily because of his bright green tuk tuk.

Nature Run Riot
Notice the little girl walking through the gate. She and her siblings spend their days at the temple selling souvenirs to tourists.

Intricate carvings at Banteay Srei
Ashlee's favourite temple

Comments

[Eva Radford]

Hi Ashlee and Patrick! Thanks so much for your journey blog. I'm enjoying it, particularly since you write so well about these exotic and wild places. I love your photos of Ankor Wat and of the kids and Rethie, the tireless driver. Everyone seems to work all the time just to make a go of life. Safe journey. Tuk tuk! Eva