The Temples of Angkor.

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Well Tash and i have just completed a three day exploration of the temples of Angkor. We are exhausted but its worth the physical pain. each day we were 8-9 hours out in the field. we hired a tuc-tuc driver for the three days and he ferried us in between temples so that saved some of our energy.

i wont bore you with a detailed description of each temple we visited just our five favourites. The first two would be on anybody's list, the giant two. Angkor Wat and the Bayon. Angkor wat is the largest religious complex anywhere in the world and after you walk around it for a couple of hours you feel like its the largest too. early on the first day we arrived at 5.30am to witness the sunrise. unfortunately cloud cover obscured our view, but we did get to see great pink and purple clouds. However, what was even more amazing was standing there and watching one of the great wonders of the world materialise out of the morning gloom. Angkor Wat is the masterpiece of the Angkor temples with huge towers rising above the rest of the temple. inside you get lost wandering around the large corridors until finally you come to the inner enclosure and there are the towers rising above you. the steep steps are beyond belief and i am sure in europe you would not be allowed to climb them for H&S reasons. but this is cambodia, there is a little sign to the left 'climb at your own risk' and thats it - up we went. its not going up thats the problem its coming down. the view from the top is great. on the outside wall of the temple are large engravings depicting scenes from buddhism and history. its difficult to put into words Angkor wat suffice to say you have to go there to understand.
next was Bayon perhaps the strangest of all the temples. its most striking feature is the large buddhist faces that stare at you from every angle. the moss covered stone seemed to add character and a sense of age to the temple. Bayon is the most interesting to walk around and explore.
then ta Prohm set amidst the jungle - its half in ruin and it seems as though the jungle is recaiming the stone back into the earth. huge trees hold up the walls and the rest of the temple has already fallen. but its an interesting visual image.
Ta Keo this temple was interesting due to its sheer boldness and representation of strengh. it has very few engravings but the steepest steps in angkor (get your rock climbing gear out).
Banteay Srei was the complete opposite to the last two small and elegant. practically all of the surfaces of this temple were covered in intricate engravings.

what is the most staggering aspect of these temples is the sheer size of each and every project. even the smallest temple required enormous resources both material and in manpower. all the materials had to be carried 75KM from the mountains by elephants. most temples were constructed from a really strong stone called lacerite, it seemed similar to granite by texture and appearance. then most were covered in sandstone so that the decoration could be applied.

On the last day we were lucky enough to spent half an hour or so talking to a novice buddhist monk. he approached us in the gardens of angkor wat and opened the discussion. we spoke about his time as a monk, the buddhist beliefs and angkor wat and its meaning. it was fantastic to get a cambodian point of view first hand - and from such a genuine person.

At Siem Reap we also went to see the floating village - it took a couple of hours by boat there and back. unfortunately the boats are moored up in this little shallow stream next to a village. and the stench coming from the water was almost unbearable it was literally raw sewage and people were swimming and fishing in it!!!! so the first ten minutes or so of this trip was up sewage creek. but the rest of the trip was nice we stopped at a fish farm and had drinks and had a look at the crocodiles. The village is complete with shops, schools and a clinic all floating out in the lake.
on our last evening in Cambodia just to complete the trip we had a power cut for a couple of hours and walked around the town by candlelight. a very different perspective than the bright lights of the pubs and restaurants.
All in all a very enjoyble time in Cambodia.

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