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29/06/2009 - 31/06/2009
The Temples at Angkor
I always find it increasingly difficult to blog about things that have struck me and left me in absolute awe. I feel like every word I use, does not do justice to the overwhelming magnificence of it.
Such are the Temples at Angkor.
Spanning a radius over 50 kms, some of the temples at Angkor where built as early as 610.
It is almost impossible to take in every single detail and every temple on the grounds of the complex. One would have to have endless time and be a real enthusiast in order to avoid suffering from temple overload.
We spent three days in the area, rising early, so as to avoid the excessive heat. Our tuk tuk driver for the three days, Hum, ended up getting on our nerves wanting constantly to change our plans for the day and drag us to some place or another that was not part of the complex. Andy and I patiently explained to him, on more than 10 occasions, that we were here for the temples of Angkor, that this was the sole reason we had come to Siem Reap and that
that is exactly where we planned to spend our entire three days that we had paid 80 dollars entrance fee for! After Andy made it clear that if he didn’t want our business we would be happy to find another driver, he finally gave it up and remained quite happy for the rest of the time.
A tuk tuk is definitely the best way to see the temples. One feels more a part of the whole scene when the wind is blowing in one’s hair and there are no windows separating the world from us. For quite long distances at a time (15-20kms) we would drive through jungle villages on our way from one temple to another. Those where our favorite times. School kids riding their bikes home, women knee-high in rice fields, wooden houses on stilts, cows, birds, coconut trees. A magical journey through a land still so pure and unaffected. Cambodians are a smiling folk, proud of their heritage and quick to wish you good luck. I have grown very fond of them, I feel welcomed in their country, they are genuinely hospitable. It is a pleasure watching them in their daily routines, talking with them, as
they are a people that has suffered a lot but like the phoenix have risen and have been born again. Courageous enough to put the past behind them, with all its open wounds, where it is expected that these people should be angry, vengeful, one finds instead hope, a whole nation in motion of rebuilding, educating and becoming the future they know they deserve.
I am struck by the innumerable NGO’s here. Cambodia has worked and is working together and marketing itself as a destination for responsible tourists. There are hundreds of eateries around the cities that are one hundred percent non profit, thus supporting various orphans’ homes, women empowerment groups and making it crystal clear that self sustainability is what they want. And so it should be. These people are more capable than many and they have the will and I believe that they should be supported. So often in the Subcontinent one gets the feeling of hopelessness, where is it all leading? Are we creating dependency? Is change happening? How long will it take?
In Cambodia, the future is bright. The evidence is there.
But for now, the country is still not where it should
be at. 20 years after the Khmer Rouge was ousted, people are still in grave poverty.
It is not uncommon to be surrounded by tens of children as young as five, trying to sell you one thing or another. The youngest child that I came across in a Temple at Angkor, couldn’t even speak properly, he was still such a baby when he said “only one dalla..”
I found the whole experience very trying and initially bought everything that came my way. I realized soon enough that this was wrong. I was not encouraging begging but I was encouraging their mothers, sending their children out for an entire day into moss covered damp temples to sell things instead of being out in the sun, breathing air, playing, getting an education, as should it should be for children. I see change in Cambodia and I am certain that it is only a matter of time when the temples will be child free.
The History of Angkor begins in the 9th century when the young king Jayavarman II declared himself the supreme sovereign and established his capital first near the present day Roluos and a little later in the Kulen
Mountains. Up to that point Khmer history had been that of small independent states. It took a conqueror to establish the beginnings of one of South East Asia’s most powerful empires.
The Temples are dedicated mainly to the Hindu god Shiva, but some are clearly Buddhist Mahayana (‘greater vehicle’) Temples. In modern day Cambodia the religion most practiced is the Theravada (lesser vehicle) Buddhism, ‘the sayings of the elders’ following the pure precepts of the Buddha.
Mahayana Buddhism made it’s appearance at Angkor during the 12th century with the accession of Jayavarman the VII but on the Khorat Plateau it was established much earlier. After the 7th century, Tantric thought began to infiltrate both Buddhism and Hinduism. Tantra is ‘the doctrine and ritual of the left hand’ in which the female force or ‘shakti’ plays a dominant role in the universe. This esoteric belief involved many magical and mystical rituals and female divinities played a big part. One of the characteristics of Mahayana Buddhism is the number of ‘bodhisattvas’ (Buddhas-to-be). These where beings that voluntarily halted the progress on the path to Buddha hood, stopping just before reaching Enlightenment in order to be able to assist mankind.
The Khmer architecture revolves around their temples. They where destined for the immortal gods, as a home, a palace of the god, rather than a shrine and thus had to be built to perfection. The durability of the materials used, brick, laterite and sandstone, have ensured these structure survive to this day.
On our way to the first Temple we made a stop at the Cambodia Landmine Museum which is located inside the Angkor Complex. Founded by a former child soldier of the Khmer Rouge, the landmine museum is home to a vast collection of de-activated landmines, all manufactured in countries such as the USA, Russia, Germany and Vietnam. These landmines where de-activated by Akira, the man behind the museum, who as a child soldier was responsible for planting them in fields around the country and who to this day actively works on clearing fields of the Cambodian countryside from landmines. His wife and children reside at the museum, which gives visitors a real insight into the scale of this issue in Cambodia. As usual, the USA is to blame. Their carpet bombings of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, in a bid to bomb the Vietcong out of hiding,
greatly affected the safety of all Cambodians to this day.
With heavy hearts our day had begun. We were on our way to see some temples now.
The first temple we entered on Day 1 was Banteay Srei…
A little more than 20kms north of Angkor, almost at the foot of the Kulen Mountains, sits the remarkable small temple of Banteay Srei.
The name, relatively modern, means “Citadel of Women” or “Citadel of Beauty” and refers, presumably to it’s size and decoration. The temples actual name taken from the central ling in the temple is “Great Lord of the Threefold world”.
This was not a royal temple. It was built by the guru of the king, when he was granted this land on the upper banks of the Siem Reap River by the king. As usual a small settlement surrounded the temple
Discovered by the French in 1914 it achieved an early notoriety when Andre Malraux who was Minister of Culture under the de Gaulle administration, removed four Apsaras (celestial dancers enjoying special importance in temple decoration) in 1923. He was caught almost immediately and the pieces recovered.
The restoration of the temple was the first
notable use at Angkor of the anastylosis technique, adopted from the Dutch work in the West Indies.
… and on we went to the next temple for the day, the most unusual temple of all: Kbal Spean. We had a bit of a trek through a forest and up a small hill until we reached the stunning site.
Above a waterfall, images of the gods have been carved directly into the river bed along a 150 m stretch that was discovered only in 1968.
Among these are rows of many stubby lingas, which give it its name ‘River of a thousand lingas’.
There are several images carved into the rockface. The Vishnu Reclining tableau represents the long sleep of the god, supported by the naga (snake) Ananta as he floats on the endless Ocean of Milk. Vishnu dreams the cosmos into being and a lotus blossoms from his navel, opening to reveal Brahma, while his dutiful wife Laxmi massages his legs. A concept my husband found particularly to his liking and recommended we implement in our home. Shiva is also represented. Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the operator) and Shiva (the destroyer) comprise the Hindu trinity.
Ever
since the first Khmer ruler, Jayavarman II, proclaimed himself emperor of the world in 802, these hills have been regarded as having deep historical and religious significance.
We ended our first day at Pre Rup temple, to witness the sunset through the menacing clouds.
The same evening we went to a “dine for a cause” restaurant in Siem Reap. Such a brilliant concept! The meal at the Funky Munky was nothing to write home about, I believe there are other “dine for a cause” places that do it so much better. The street scenes where interesting though. As we sat on the corner of Pub Street’s pavement we observed the very obvious sexual advances of three ladyboys on any man that would walk past. It was quite amusing.
Day 2 Angkor Temple Complex
This day ended up becoming an endless struggle to get our Hum to take us where we wanted. We had agreed on a fair amount for the day and had even given him a slight tip the day before so all we wanted was for him to provide us with the service we had paid him for.
The “Grand Tour” and the
“Small Tour” are pretty much the standards at Angkor. The “Grand Tour” was what we where doing on day 2. We started of at Preah Khan, followed by Ta Som, Neak Pean and East Mebon. Preah Khan was considered to have been a Buddhist university as well as a city. It was built in 1191 and the architectural style is Bayon.
We spent a few hours wandering the long stone corridors and trying to capture the play of light with our lenses. An old Buddhist nun was standing in the middle of the temple by the stupa, encouraging people to light incense sticks and wishing them good luck. I instantly had a bond with that old lady. Her smile was one of the loveliest I have felt. She and I communicated with intensity never before known to me, yet words were not uttered. Only the second time around when we entered the same hall by accident, she smiled at me and said something in Khmer, all the time pointing to her chin. I assumed she was saying that I am a happy person.
We saw that same lady, the following day at Ta Prohm. She remembered us and
insisted on wrapping a red piece of wool around our wrists for good luck.
I can’t remember much of Ta Som, the most striking feature of this temple where the unruly roots of trees hugging the building, a sight we would later see extensively at the famous Ta Prohm.
Neak Pean however, was very interesting architecturally as it featured the temple in the middle of a round pool with four adjacent square pools, each facing a different direction. We were both excited at the possibility of our favorite element, water, featuring as part of a temple but sadly when we arrived, we realized that the pools had been drained and so the whole thing had an air of melancholia about it.
We continued on to East Meabon where we spent a lot of time playing around with our cameras, striking poses and enjoying the whole ambience of this magnificent temple.
We soon realized that it was only lunch time and we where still energetic so we asked Hum to take us to the less visited Roluos Group. He hesitated, at first making up all kinds of far fetched excuses, such as the temples not existing anymore, although my
guide book featured them and the copy was published in 2009. We did end up going and the temples were standing just fine. I was upset with him for blatantly lying to us, but I soon forgot my anger in the lovely Lolei.
One of the best experiences I have had was at Lolei. As soon as we entered this temple complex, I felt it was different. There was not much architectural wonder in comparison to everything else we had seen so far, but the place had a fantastic energy about it. Unlike most temples at Angkor, this one is functional and the adjacent monastery is home to many monks of all ages.
A few minutes after our arrival, a young monk, in orange robes, came over to us and started talking. He was a friendly young man and was eager to show us his school. We where thrilled, an opportunity to see the monks living area and to visit their school!
We first visited the classroom adjacent to the sleeping quarters. Four young monks were studying at the time but as soon as they saw us, joyfully started quizzing us about our countries. They asked me
to take their picture and I look at it with much joy now as their smiling faces stare back at me.
On an elevated platform not far from the classroom an older monk was talking to a few younger monks. Our host explained that this man was interpreting dreams. “Sometimes when I wake up at night form a bad dream” the young monk told us “I come to see him and he explains the dream to me and we talk until I no longer feel afraid”. How cool is that?
We followed our monk to the English School. Well, it wasn’t really a school, it was more like a parking lot. Underneath the main living quarters, a few wooden benched had been placed and a white board had been hung. A young monk was introduced to us as the teacher. He radiated self confidence and kindness and he spoke fluent English. He invited us to stay for a while, which we did, Andy teaching our host a valuable lesson on punctuation and myself taking photographs and inquiring about the school.
A few young girls attend the English class too, apart from the monks that are the main
students. The teacher explained that their books were finished and they needed the next set but couldn’t afford it. We happily helped out with a small contribution but really would love to see more people visit Lolei and the small school there. The monks are so appreciative of the time they can practice their English and they are a real pleasure to spend time with.
We moved through the rest of the Roluos Group before heading back to Siem Reap for the day.
That evening we decided we would go to hear ‘Beatocello’ live at the Kantha Bopha Hospital. Dr. Beat Richner, a Swiss-German physician has set up three children’s hospitals around Cambodia in a remarkable fashion. Dr. Beat Richner, founder and current director of the three hospitals had worked in Phnom Penh as a medical practitioner before the Khmer Rouge took over.
Every Saturday, the good Doctor plays his cello at the Hospital’s theatre, where everyday 100 nurses and doctors are being trained. His program consists of an interesting mix of Bach’s works for Cello and an update on the activities of all three hospitals.
All the services at the Kantha Bopha Hospitals are free as
95% of families in Cambodia are too poor to pay such fees. If it were not for the Kantha Bopha hospitals, each month 2800 children would die. HIV is rampant in Cambodia. Kantha Bopha has opened a maternity ward in 2001, featuring effective measures to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission.
The highly qualified Cambodian nurses and doctors, enjoy a good salary, encouraging them to build a corruption free Cambodia. The whole project is reliant 100% on donations as the government is in no position to absorb such costs.
If anyone is planning to visit Siem Reap in the near or far future, there is no project I could recommend more. At the time we were in Cambodia, there was a Hemorrhagic Dengue Fever outbreak and Blood donations were required. We spent our first anniversary as a couple, donating 350ml of blood to the hospital, which I can only rave about. Their professionalism, friendly nature and high standards of hygiene, were remarkable. I can only recommend this type of donation and if I could do it again I would every day. However, there is a three month period between blood donations so we are both unable to do so. Kantha
Bopha even invited us to come back in a week to receive the results of the blood tests they where performing before deeming the blood suitable for it’s small patients. Please visit: http://www.beatocello.com
Day 3 Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom , Ta Prohm
We rose early for sunrise at Angkor Wat (‘the city which became a pagoda’). The day had finally come when we would see this world famous architectural masterpiece and we where both very excited.
Unfortunately Sunrise came and went and we did not enjoy the multitude of colors in the sky we had expected. The day was unclear and we hoped that it would not rain although the clouds were a welcoming shelter from the scorching sun. I would not advise anyone to visit South East Asia during their summer unless they absolutely have too. Like us.
We spent four hours wandering the magnificent structure, admiring the superb bas reliefs extracted from the Hindu epics and the famous Apsaras. Angkor Wat is the largest of all the Angkor Temples, stretching over an area of 200 hectares, surrounded by a moat and enclosed by a laterite wall. The centerpieces are the five towers representing the
heavenly peaks of Mt Meru, the tallest of which is the home of Vishnu. This large scale allowed for the Khmer to give full expression to religious symbolism. Angkor Wat represents a microcosm of the Hindu universe. The moat representing the mythical oceans surrounding the earth and the succession of concentric galleries represent the mountain ranges of Mount Meru.
Angkor Wat is the national symbol of Cambodia and a source of much Khmer pride. It was built between 1113 and 1150 by King Suryavarman II who defeated the Champa (modern day Vietnamese) and extended his empire to include Northern Thailand, Burma and the northern tips of Malaysia. He built it to serve as the holy capital city and later to serve as his funerary temple.
It was restored by Grosslier in 1960. It is the world’s largest religious monument, an architectural masterpiece in fine proportions and rich in detail, evident to this day. It contains 600m of narrative bas relief and nearly 2000 Apsaras. The highlight of the day was definitely Angkor Wat, followed closely by Ta Prohm.
Ta Prohm was the temple chosen by the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient (responsible for the conservation of the monuments) to
be left in its ‘natural state’, as an example of how most of Angkor looked on its discovery in the 19th century. This decision involved a significant amount of work to prevent further collapse of the temple and enough clearing of the vegetation to allow entry. It is partly overgrown and gently declining with a mystical, adventurous feel to it.
Ta Prohm is also the temple where Lara Croft’s cinematic adventures took place. The trees that have grown intertwined among the ruins are of two species. The larger one, with its thick silver-brown roots is the silk cotton tree and the smaller one with thinner, smoother roots is the strangler fig. Both trees come to life in a crevice where a bird has deposited a seed and then in a natural course, extend its roots down towards the earth. In doing this, the roots work their way between the masonry and as they grow thicker they gradually wedge open the blocks. Eventually the tree becomes a temporary support for the building, until it dies or is felled by a storm, forcing the entire building to collapse.
The power of nature is evident and majestic. The Indiana-Jones-like environ, provided
us with much fascination as we reluctantly returned to our tuk tuk to continue our temple-seeing for the day.
The last part of the day and of our three day adventure at the Angkor Complex, ended at Angkor Thom. Exhausted from three days of continuous viewing, scorching sun rays and impossible humidity, we were at the end of our absorbing capabilities.
We spent some time at the magnificent Bayon, the complex of face-towers, with its intricate bas reliefs narrating daily life in the king’s court and the bloody battle against the Chams. The Bayon was built to serve as King Jayavarman VII’s state temple, a symbolic centre of the universe and empire. Smiling in every direction are the four divine faces of Avalokiteshvara (the Buddha of Compassion, whose incarnation at present day is the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso).There were a total of 54 towers with 216 faces. Today only 37 are standing.
We walked over to the Bapuon, which is being currently restored, with funding by the French government and is estimated to be ready by September 2009.
The Elephant Terrace was our final stop for the day. We had been up since 4 am
and were exhausted.
Hum took us to our guest house and that evening we went for dinner to the Singing Tree café. Another dine-for-a-cause, we where both incredibly impressed by the place. The food was deliciously healthy and Andy was pumped to find that Cooper’s Beer was available! The clouds set in and in seconds a storm had formed followed by a power cut. It was time for bed.
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pengkheang
non-member comment
I Love Cambodia
We are Khmer, so we must take care of our richest temple. and absolute against Thailand which is a very jealous country that invaded Cambodian without shyness.