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Published: December 23rd 2008
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Yesterday we asked our tuk-tuk driver to pick us up at 7:30 am, so we were forced to have a relatively early start to the day. Purists would insist on seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise, but traveling with a teenager you have to make some modification.
As we headed through the town in the open air tuk-tuk, I realized that we forgot to bring our small penguin mascot with us, which we are trying to take pictures of around the world (ie. In front of the Sydney Opera House, the Seattle space needle etc). I guess we will have to photoshop him into Angkor Wat.
The drive to Angkor Wat is relatively polished and lined with fancy hotels. Compared to what we have seen of Cambodia so far, it is a bit like having one tidy room in your house for guests while everything else is a mess.
At the entrance gates, we paid our fee and had our photos taken on a web cam and then printed onto our passes. We weren't sure exactly how this complex works as there are many separate sites, but it appears you are asked to produce the pass at each site that
you go to.
After passing through some control gates, there is a very long entrance road set with trees on either side. At the end of this road were turned and headed along the side of a large moat to toward Angkor Wat, the first of many temples in this area.
At the entrance to Angkor Wat there are hordes of souvenir sellers, food vendors, guides and tuk-tuks. Our driver, Gau, told us he would wait for us here. This was a bit surprising as I was under the impression he was going to come in with us and give some explanations.
At the gates of Angkor Wat, they checked our passes and we preceded along a long walkway leading up to the first temple in the distance. Tourists from around the world were mixed in with Buddhist monks in yellow robes. At the entrance to the first temple there is a giant Buddha statue. Numerous Buddhists were stopping to light incense here.
As we walked though this building we caught the first glimpses of the main temple in the distance. This Wat is relatively intact, with the exception of the roofs of the building. We
walked up the long pathway toward this main building, briefly exploring some smaller temples on the way. Some people were with guides and I sort of regretted that we were touring it solo as it were, but I am not sure if Joshua and Benjamin would have stood for length explanations as they preferred to run ahead and explore.
We passed a large pond filled with waterlilies before reaching the main building. The carvings here were incredible depicting battle scenes with elephants, rhinos, and horses. The Wat is a series of connecting rooms which you step through in succession before arriving at an interior courtyard. We were going camera happy snappy shots of everything while Joshua ran slocum style weaving in and out of the pillars on the long passages. In the growing jungle heat, the insides of these passes were cool and shaded.
This being one of the smaller wats, by about 9:30 we had explored it and were ready to move on. On the fringes of the wat were hoards of adults and kids all selling things, so we ended up taking the less shaded route back up the main walkway. We stopped to take a
photo of ourselves with a group clad in traditional Cambodian costumes.
Back in the tuk-tuk, we passed by some lone monkeys at the side of the road as we moved to the next site, the Bayon Temple of Angkor Thom. Outside the temple were elephants that you could ride around the temple for $10. Joshua wanted to go but Benjamin did not and as it was early in the day we decided to wait until later.
The Bayon Temple of Angkor Thom is quite a different style that Angkor Wat, and is a series of concentric walls leading to a final inner temple. Tour guides were explaining some of the reliefs on the exterior walls to visitors, so we listened in on a few. The walls are almost like stone versions of the Bayou Tapestry and depict battles between the Khymer and the Chinese.
On the outside of this temple our huge columns with Buddha faces on all four sides. Once you work your way though the concentric walls, you reach a seated Buddha statue in the dimly lit middle. The statue has been hung with a saffron robe incense is burning around it.
After exiting
this main temple complex, we walked several hundred meters in the head past as series of walkways and smaller temples, each with fantastically carved panels. The fringes of this site, like the last, were lined with persistent flute and postcard sellers, many of them small children. We have been told not to buy from them as it just encourages there parents to keep them out of school, but sometimes it is hard.
We found our driver, Ga, and the breeze as we drove off was a welcome relief in the heat. After a short break for the washrooms and some cold drinks, we were off to the Ta Prohm Temple.
The Ta Prohm Temple is fascinating in that it has been left in it's fallen down state with the jungle growing out of it. Everywhere huge tree emerge from the overgrown stones. It feels as I imaging it must have when these temples were rediscovered in the jungle some hundred years ago.
On the walkway after the temple we passed by a musical group made up of victims of land mines reminding us of some of this countries more recent history. At the exit to this site,
Evy was pursued for some time by very persistent kids trying to sell her flutes and postcards. The conversation went something like this: “You want to buy “, “no”, “yes”, “no”, “yes”, “no”, “yes”.
Ga dropped us off at a roadside open air restaurant which turned out to have some western dishes on the menu. After lunch we headed off to the next temple, Banteay Kdei.
In the heat, insects were buzzing louder than a fire alarm as we entered this temple. This temple was more linear in nature, with a long series of arches leading in. Some of the higher pillars seemed in danger of crumbling and were wrapped in frames with ropes around them. We passed through chamber after chamber and the place had a very “Indiana Jones “ feel to it if you pardon the reference.
As were were all tired and hot, we planned to have an elephant ride before heading home. It turns out the elephants aren't out during the hottest part of the day, so we had to miss this. We asked Ga to stop if we saw monkeys on the way back. He didn't seem to think we would, as
they sleep in the trees during this part of day, but we ended up seeing people stopped by the edge of the jungle, and went to have a look.
There turned out to be a whole troop of monkeys in the trees with many babies and younger ones. The long zoom on the new camera came in very handy. As much as the ruins had been fascinating, I think for Joshua and Benjamin the monkeys were probably the highlight of the day and they laughed at the small ones doing what they dubbed “the suicide leap” as they pulled off seemingly impossible moves from tree to tree.
Hot and tired, we headed back to our hotel for a swim and to rehydrate before heading back into town. On the way back to the hotel, we passed a couple of Cambodian boys, swimming in the garbage choked river and playing on a waterlogged mattress was floating in the mix.
After finding Gau again and getting a photo with our penguin on the tuk-tuk, we headed into town and bought our bus tickets, souvenirs, and used the INTERNET at a cybercafe before having Indian food for dinner (Benjamin's choice).
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