Cambodia - Temples of Angkor

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The next morning we boarded the plane to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Customs was a breeze. Along with our passports, we handed the official twenty dollars and the required extra photos, received our visas and only a half-hour later climbed into a taxi and we’re heading off to our Guest House. I’d been in touch with them earlier and two rooms were a waiting for us on this inner city, dirt road next to a house of prostitution. I must admit a little seedy, but a colorful choice of accommodations still the same. The hotel itself was clean and I kind of liked the way it looked in the photos.

It had A/C, but oddly no handle on the toilet. Once we agreed to take the room, someone appeared with the toilet handle and installed it. It was the first time I’d ever seen this procedure. They must loose a lot of those things. Elizabeth had the bird perch on the top floor, one of only 2 rooms. It was a simple, but a quaint and quiet room with a great view. We were on the 3rd floor facing the construction next door. There was no view and was a little noisy. Not my idea of luxury at all, but at $15.00 per night I couldn’t complain.

Siem Reap itself is a boomtown these days and an important part of the Cambodian economy. Everywhere modern hotels are going up in the center of town, some rooms costing $200.00 per night. I noticed those places were walled-in and security was pretty tight. I was still happy with my budget accommodation. At least at this juncture. We made arrangements at the front desk for a pedicab to pick us up in front the following morning. The cost was only $10.00 per day. He would also act as our guide to the temples, which are spread out over a vast area.

We hiked into town and began the search for a restaurant on a near-by street that looked like it belonged in the French Quarter of New Orleans and not in Cambodia at all. Later we returned to the Guest House restaurant for a beer that night. The restaurant bar was playing two features in continuous rotation: one DVD was, “The Killing Fields”, the other was a National Geographic special about Angkor and its rise to prominence. That presentation was very interesting and filled in a lot of pertinent information that we wouldn’t find at the Angkor sites. English signs are a kind of a rarity. We watched both with interest, but made the mistake of talking during “The Killing Fields”. A very serious female patron kept trying to tell us to shut-up and acted indignant when we tried to talk at normal levels, even when we whispered. Couldn’t she just rent it at home? It’s pretty easy to find.

The next morning, our tuc tuc driver, Rathan met us at the hotel. He turned out to be an employee of the guest house. In confidence, he said he only received one dollar out of the 10 we paid his employer. That seemed kind of unfair! I was a little shocked, but not entirely surprised after seeing all the poverty in the back streets the night before. People were huddled in front of fires on the dirt street and it looked sort of like a war zone and not your normal neighborhood scene. I asked why he did it and he said, “he was very glad to get it. It helped him support his wife and children and also enabled him to practice his language skills with English speakers when they visited. His dream was to some day start his own business, learning English was the key to his success.”

It took about 30 minutes for the motorcycle, propelled pedicab to arrive at the gates of Angkor. We handed them the entry fee of forty dollars (ea) for a 3 day pass. It is cheaper than paying every day and would give us the option of staying a third day, if we wanted.

The first temple we headed to was the famous, “Bayon Temple”. Built in the 12th century by Jayavarman VII and thought to depict the king himself. The king’s head is on almost every monument. (note: others believe that the two hundred enigmatic faces are of Avalokitesharva (an important Buddhist deity.) The temple is dedicated to the many gods of the Khmers in a time of transition between Hinduism and Buddhism. While Jayavarman continued to tolerate the worship of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu, he made Mahayana Buddhism the official religion of Angkor. He was also known as a prolific builder. He was responsible for building the temples of Prah Kahn, dedicated to his father, and Ta Prohm, which is dedicated to his mother, as well as, many roads and bridges.

In 1177 the Chams sacked Angkor in a surprise attack. Inside on the walls of the temple is a stone mural depicting the Khmer army marching off to combat the Chams of Vietnam, a tribe who had temporarily occupied Angkor until Jayavarman VII drove them out in 1181. The Chams were known for acts of piracy up and down the coastline of Southeast Asia. I had visited some of their ruins, the Cham Towers, while in Vietnam a few years ago and was fascinated seeing evidence of these battles with their neighbors up the coast. (http://www.salemstate.edu/imc/vietnam/chams.html)

Nearby in Angkor Thom’s Royal Square, we came upon the famous Elephant Terrace featuring elephants and their mahouts hunting, and an assortment of acrobats and wrestlers. The wall of the terrace, with its magnificent bas-reliefs, was left riddled by the Khmer Rouge with bullet holes. Adjacent to that is the Leper King Terrace with an image of the guardian of Hell, a statue of the king with leprosy, as well as, garudas (mythical man-bird figures). Like the Elephant Terrace, it was also built by Jayavarman VII and later added to in the time of Jayavarman VIII.

At noon after a quick snack, we visited Angkor Wat itself, perhaps the most famous Hindu temple in the world. It was built during the reign of Suryavarman II in the first half of the 12th century, as both the capital and State temple dedicated to Vishnu. Lucky for us, no one was entering or leaving and we were able to squeeze several enigmatic shots without the usual Japanese invasion of tour buses which always arrive with about 200 picture snapping junkies in one mass throng. Quick, “Let’s get it now!” There was only one, lone Frenchman who simply refused to get out of the shot. I think he knew what I was trying to do. Drat!

Once inside we decided to scale the steep, narrow steps to the second tier of the temple. Luckily there was a metal rope to hold onto as I climbed to the top. It reminded me of Chichen Itza in Mexico. You don’t realize how high you have climbed until you reach the top, turn around and then you wonder why you did it. How does one get down again? …… Oh my! I decided to make the best of it with Elizabeth and proceeded to take many pictures, anything to help me avoid the reality of my inevitable return trip to the bottom. Up on top, several monks were greeting the tourists and faithful. A monk in brilliant, orange robes struck up a conversation with me. I was hoping for some spiritual advice. No luck, my monk was there for my money. It was a good cause, however. I happily made a donation to the local orphanage and school and welcomed the opportunity to make a connection with him and take his photo while hanging off a pillar. It was kind of dangerous, but I had to do it.

After visiting many temples that day, so many I lost track, we came upon a group of musicians playing traditional instruments under a tree. The men were land mine victims (many made cripples as children) from the millions of land mines still littering the countryside. Years after the Khmer Rouge left them, the land mines designed to maim people, are still causing untold grief for the Cambodians. Dana made a $10.00 donation into their bowl. Unexpectedly, they rose to their feet, somehow? As we walked away, they proceeded to applaud Dana for his donation. I was amazed by this act (some of them were missing legs and feet.) I in turn, clapped for them. It was a memorable moment, one I’ll never forget.

At the end of the day, we visited Ta Prohm, which was also built in the late 12th century by Khmer King Jayavarman VII. Being a gardener, this was probably my favorite place. The giant trees were very spiritual in the way they have grown down into and have actually become part of the temples. Thankfully, they had made the wise decision to leave them in a natural state, rather than try to amputate the trees. As a result, the temple emanates feelings of tranquility and serenity. I really liked the green patina growing over the walls of stone. As we took time for a photo, many artists were also painting and drawing the mystical scene.

On the second day we prepared to leave for another full day of temple viewing. Some of the temples are way out of field. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of prepaying our Hotel for the tuc tuc driver/guide. There was mysteriously no record of our payment on the giant ledger they used to keep records of these things. I backed up what Dana was saying to the manager and he insisted that we were mistaken. The manager was a little on the nasty side. Elizabeth strolled by and said she also witnessed the transaction. It was starting to get a little heated with no side giving in. All of a sudden, a group of subordinate help appeared behind the manager with folded arms, a show of strength no doubt. It was clear we were not going to win this dispute. At this point, it had become more the principle of the thing for Dana. We loved our tuc tuc driver and wouldn’t replace him for the world. We certainly didn’t want him to loose face over this. Dana insisted on paying the tuc tuc driver directly for the tour that day, he would then square away the bill with our guest house. A word of advice: don’t pay for anything in advance in Asia. As they say, “memory is convenient.” Apparently, it wasn’t convenient for them to remember. The rest of the day was luckily uneventful, as we saw many temples with similar motifs as on day one.

That last night, we ventured into what I call the French Quarter and chose one of the restaurants balconies surveying the street. Once again we came upon a small group of land mine victims trying to raise money to help others with their music. It was nice to see them not resorting to begging, a practice all to common to other cripples in Southeast Asia.

The next morning, we decided to leave Cambodia for Thailand via taxicab heading for Poipet, for what is typically known as a border run. In this case, we weren’t renewing our visa. I thought it would be a great experience to do the 3-4 hour drive, and see more of the countryside. Boy, was I in for a treat! The road resembled more a bombed out highway. All along the way, we dodged on-coming traffic and crossed bridges that were just barely standing; sometimes only a few boards were laid across to make it the other side. Thank god it wasn’t the rainy season, I can’t imagine the condition of the road then. On route, we stopped for petro, their idea of a gas station was interesting, to say the least (see photo). As we continued on, we dodged more traffic, mostly old trucks and motorcycles, and almost tipped the car over in a ditch.

The border crossing was like out of an old spy movie. After completing our paperwork and having our passports stamped, we crossed a neutral zone over to the Thai side. In the movie, the prisoners would have crossed by us on the other side. It was kind of fun!

From there we grabbed a tuc tuc to the train station, which was about 10 minutes away. Every day at 1:30 an old train leaves for Bangkok from Aranyaprathet on the Thai side. The cost of the train is only 50 cents. Amazing! We were early so we had lunch at a nearby outdoor, restaurant that was really both cheap and really good. Our journey was actually a lot of fun. It was interesting to see the scenery turn immediately green at the Thailand border. Cambodia was very dry and the soil was clay like. At every stop, farmers would climb aboard to try and sell their produce. The train itself was like out of the Old West, it had no glass windows and the passengers are exposed to the open air. Unfortunately, they were burning some of the fields. The grass was so close to this train, that the embers came in the open windows and scorched my shirt. I was shocked, but also laughing at the same time. Where in the U.S. could you have an experience like this one? The seats are hard wooden seats, no soft seats. I kind of liked it. It was a kind of window into the past.

Our train arrived in Bangkok at sunset. Many, poorer people live on the outskirts of the great city. Their ramshackle houses are lit up inside with amber colored light, as our train rolls slowly into town. We are wondering if we should spend the night, or try to travel the sleeper train at night for our next adventure on Ko Phangan? It would certainly be harder to find a guest house this time of night.


To be continued: next, Ko Phangan in Thailand

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Photos

Streets of Siem Reap
Here I am heading to the market in the dusty streets of Siem Reap

Tuc Tuc Driver and Guide
This is the guy who took us to all the temples of Angkor. Aw kun (thank you), Rathan!

Bayon Temple
Built in the 12th century by Jayavarman VII and thought by some to depict the king himself. The king’s head is on almost every monument.

Khmers at War with the Chams.
Inside Bayon Temple is a stone mural depicting the Khmer army marching off to fight the Chams of Vietnam in 1181.

Elephant Terrace
The Elephant Terrace overlooking Angkor Thom's Royal Square was used for royal receptions.

Angkor Wat
Here I am alone in front of Angkor Wat. "Quick take that photo!"

Buddhist Monk
Monk on top of Angkor Wat seeking donations for the local orphanage and school.

Land Mine Victims
Musicians raise money for thousands of fellow victims of land mines left by the Khmer Rouge.

Ta Prohm
Built in the late 12th century by Khmer King Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm has a spiritual quality that any artist would admire.

Cambodian Gas Station
Picking up some petro for the 4 hour border run to Poipet.

Train from Aranyaprathet
Here I am in the old western, styled train, with its open air windows, heading to Bangkok from the Cambodian border. I loved it!