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Published: January 27th 2008
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Ta Prohm Temple
Enormous trees reclaim the city from man. Tuesday. January 8, 2008. Day 15.
Encased in time. Nature sits on the edges of our civilizations waiting for a chance to claim her territory again. We begin our day at Ta Prohm Temple where enormous fig trees rise from the ruins and giant roots embrace the temple walls. This is an exciting place. The footstep of man not so much disappearing as being augmented by nature's touch.
Wat I've been waiting for. As it was yesterday, it is hot today, humidity and temperature lingering in the 90s. A rather unpleasant combination--hot temps and high humidity. And at least an air-conditioned hotel awaits my return. The ancient peoples who worshipped in these temples and most of the people in Cambodia today know no such luxury.
But the heat seems insignificant as I look out for the first time on Angkor Wat. Here finally is the temple I've seen so many times before--in history books, nature magazines, TV travel shows. This is the largest, the best preserved, and the best known of the temples that make up the Ankgor Wat site. So important is this temple to the Cambodians that the image of Ankgor Wat, with its distinctive lotus-bud shaped towers, appears
on the Cambodian flag and on its money and just the suggestion that it was not built by Khmer hands can cause riots. In fact, it is the largest temple in the world and has been in use, first by Hindu worshippers and then by Buddhists, since it was built in the early 12th century. It is everything I'd hoped and more. Majestic. Colorful. Delicate.
Inside the temple walls graceful bas reliefs tell, amongst other myths, the Hindu story of the Ocean of Milk where under Vishnu's command a giant snake was used to rotate a mountain and churn the sea to release treasures which had been lost. Thousands of devastas, minor female gods, are depicted everywhere in Angkor Wat. Elegant posts, looking as if they’d been turned on a lathe, adorn the windows.
There is evidence of preservation attempts everywhere. Green tarps cover some of the ruins. Stairs are roped off to protect them from damage. Signs ask visitors not to sit on the balustrades, but exhausted tourists plop down anyway. Fingers touch, feet trod, lungs spew out moisture and bacteria. Like all ancient sites everywhere, Angkor Wat, ironically, is endangered because it is so important, so unique.
Reflections
of the temple on the moat tell the final story. Did ancient people linger on the water's edge and marvel at the sight as I am now? Some surely did.
The largest city in the world. At the end of the 12th century Angkor Thom, according to our tour guide, was the largest city in the world with a population of 1,000,000 people living within its gates. At the time it was the capitol city of the Khmer empire and as anyone who has trekked through it can attest, it is big. The centerpiece of the city is the Bayon temple which is distinguished by hundreds of huge disembodied heads that our tour guide says depict the ancient king looking out over his country. Unlike the other temples in Angkor Wat, this temple was actually built as a Buddhist temple. We wander thru the city past the more ancient, and originally Hindu, Baphuon temple, the Terrace of the Elephants where a child proceeds to wiggle right into my picture, not afraid of the camera those Cambodians, and the Terrace of the Leper King, so called because of a discolored statue that was found there. The Terrace of the Elephants was
a large platform where the king could review his troops. Like Angkor Thom, nature has encroached on the city since it was abandoned sometime before the 1600s. Huge trees sit atop ancient ruins, poking up into the sky, creating a leafy canopy which shades the ruins below. Most of the city has collapsed under the weight of years. But there is enough here to give the sense of what a truly remarkable place it must have been.
The Grand Tour. At the end of the evening after dinner, I venture out with a fellow tour member, John, who is traveling alone. We commandeer a tuk tuk whose driver agrees to take us on a night tour of Siem Reap for the grand total of $11 (a roundtrip into town goes for $6). We drive past the river, foul mud-brown in the daytime it’s lovely under the cover of night, and stop to stroll thru the small night market, and then drive to a block of restaurants where westerners congregate. We round a corner and discover a small studio which features the photography of a Burmese tour guide. His work is visually stunning. Marvelous play of light and subject. Check it
out at www.nyanwinphotos.blogspot.com. Worth a peek I think. When I complement him, he insists that he’s in Burma (now called Myanmar) conducting tours so often that he has tons of opportunities to get just the photo he wants. Still he makes the most of his opportunities. We make a final stop at a new five-star hotel and get out and wander around. The pool is magnificent, but this hotel charges more in a week than my whole trip has cost. The tour lasts an hour and a half. Worth every minute. Thanks, John, for letting me tag along.
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Vickie Davis
non-member comment
Awesome job and great pix!!!
Hey Susan, Thanks for sharing all the great pictures and nicely written events!!! You did a fantastic job and I appreciate all your effort!!! Vickie Davis