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Published: December 12th 2009
GOODBYE KO PHA NGAN!!
Luckily, despite the storm, the ferries were still able to run so, on Wed 4 Nov at 6am we caught a bus to the ferry port at Ko Pha Ngan, a two and a half hour ferry back to Surat Thani, and a coach to the airport (11-12.30pm) before hopping on our 1.30pm flight back to Bangkok (nothing like cutting it fine!!) We spent one night back at SamSen Sam before yet another 6am morning wake up so we could grab the local bus to the border and on into Cambodia where we intended exploring the world renowned temples of Angkor.
HELLO CAMBODIA!
We arrived quite late at Siem Reap on the night of Thursday 5 Nov but immediately booked a tuk-tuk for the following day. Our driver, Chantha, informed us we would need to be picked up at 4.40am the next morning, Friday 6 Nov. Yes, 4.40am!!! This is what time we needed to leave the hostel in order to make it to the magnificent temple of ANGKOR WAT and watch the sunrise behind it!
Angkor Wat was built in the twelfth century and is said to represent the height of Khymer architecture and
Ta Prohm
Temple shrouded in jungleartistry. We couldn't see this as we entered, however, it was pitch black!! We found a spot next to the moat (well thats what somebody told us the murky, sloshing we could hear but not see in front of us was) and as the sun rose behind Angkor Wat, directly before us, we saw the reflection of the temple appearing in the moat at the same time. It was a magnificent experience, the sunrise gradually illuminating the skyline and witnessing the stunning, grandeur of the temple slowly revealing itself. Absolutely magical!!
We did not stay to explore the grounds of Angkor Wat once the sun had risen as that where most tourists head first, so to beat the crowds we jumped in our tuk-tuk and headed East to the jungle ravaged temple of Ta Prohm.
TA PROHM - meaning 'the ancestor Brahma' (not the beer!)
Ta Prohm was originally a monastic complex and is one of the largest sites at Angkor. (There are over a hundred temples in a 300sq km area around Siem Reap) It comprised of a series of long, low buildings standing on one level connected with passages and concentric galleries framing the main sanctuary.
What made it extra special, however, was the fact that this was the only temple to have been left untouched by archaeologists, consequently, it is still in the original state as when it was discovered in the 19th century. Rather than having been cleared the temple is still shrouded in jungle. This was our favourite temple - just spell binding!! Trunks of fig, banyan, silk cotton and kapok trees twisted between the stone pillars of the temple. Trees spread their gigantic roots over, under and between the stones, probing walls and terraces apart. Their branches and leaves intertwined to form a roof above the structures. It was magical and yet eerie at the same time. A sort of heavenly atmosphere enveloped the place and made it feel like quite a spiritual experience, made even better by the fact that we were the only people there.
We entered via the East entrance past what our tuk-tuk driver and guide called a 'gopura' (similar to a gargoyle) in the outer enclosure wall of the temple. We following a large sandstone path through to the inner enclosure wall. The temple was fascinating, because although originally built utilising symmetrical repetitive planning (all squares
and rectangles - the typical hallmark of Khmer architecture), due to the poor condition of the temple and invasion of the jungle, rather than being perfect squares and rectangles, the layout and design of the walls and buildings were now much more haphazard. Many areas were impassible and others only now accessible by narrow covered passages. In my estimation it is probably the temples disarray which made it more appealing and captivating than many of the other perfectly shaped temples we visited. From hidden passages and obstructed reliefs, to the fallen stones we had to clamber over - visiting Ta Prohm allowed us to experience perfect harmony between a man-made structure and nature!
Wandering round we found ourselves in what our driver/guide, Chantha, informed us was the 'Hall of Dancer's' - a sizable structure distinguished by large square pillars with magnificent carved lintels depicting dancing apsaras (celestial dancers), enclosed with high walls and connected to a series of richly decorated galleries and shrines. Images of female divinities stood in various niches which had become entwined with the roots from trees. Stone doorways and windows naturally merged with the huge trees and their surrounding roots. Bas reliefs (carvings) adorned a
huge majority of the walls and portrayed Buddhist scenes. From the central sanctuary, you walked through to a terrace which had once contained stone sculptures, although now all that was left were miscellaneous stone pieces scattered around the area. A walkway flanked by a serpent balustrade lead us out to the west gate. Initially, I was reluctant to admit that this was my favourite temple as it was the temple which they used in the film very cheesy, extremely poor film; 'Tomb Raider' with Angelina Jolie (and yes all the Cambodians were very amused by my name!). However, the director or whoever picked the location for the set picked the most gorgeous and impressive temple in the whole of Angkor!
Next stop was a temple named: BANLEAY KDEI or 'the citadel of the cells'. It consisted of a central courtyard and sanctuary with a tower, a surrounding square gallery enclosing another gallery with four towers one on each corner and two large passageways connecting the galleries, all of which formed the shape of a cruciform when looking over the entire area from above. In addition to this a moat enclosed the entire temple. Impressive but nowhere near on the
scale of Ta Prohm.
NEAK PEAN - 'the coiled serpents'. This was one of the smaller temple sites in Angkor. The temple itself was set in a large square man made pond (70m square) bordered by steps and surrounded by four smaller square ponds. There was a small circular island in the centre with the bodies of two serpents encircling the base of the island, their tails entwining on the west side, their heads just far enough apart to allow passage on the east. The island housed a huge stone carving of a blooming lotus flower on top of a platform. Rather oddly, or so I thought, there was a stone figure of a horse swimming towards the east of the island. When I inquired about this seemingly misplaced stone statue, Chantha told us of a myth in which the horse was actually a god who had transformed himself into a horse to rescue shipwrecked merchant! Paul, not really being into all that mythology stuff, seemed rather less interested - ha ha!
PREAH KHAN - 'the scared sword', our second favourite temple and another partial ruin set deep in a jungle. Similar to Ta Prohm, the jungle had
taken its toll on the structure. Many magnificent trees had assumed a major responsibility for the destruction and/or support of the structures. However, unlike Ta Promh, the temple site had undergone major restoration so felt a far less authentic and no where near as magical.
Preah Khan was subdivided by four concentric enclosure walls. The outer wall was encircled by a large moat and enclosed by a large tract of jungle. The second enclosure contained a dense concentration of temples and shrines. Once again, the co-existence of the temple (an archaeological masterpiece) in an unplanned natural setting has given Preah Khan a special character in addition to the original splendor it must have possessed. A wide stone paved causeway over the moat led to the east Gate of the temple. The causeway was lined with divinities and demons carrying the great 'naga' or snake and a row of stone lanterns. Disappointingly, images of Buddha, which had previously been carved into the niches of the lanterns had all been vandalised or destroyed. When I asked Chantha about this, he said it occurred in the fourteen century when religious people attempted to transform the Buddhist complex into Hindu temples. The same
North Gate Angkor Thom
Top right - heads pointing N,S,E & W fate had occurred to a great majority of the Buddha's throughout the whole of Angkor.
Our penultimate stop was ANGKOR THOM - 'Great City'. An immense city covering the largest area in Angkor and enclosed by first a 100m wide moat and then an 8m high and 4km long perimeter defensive wall and home to a copious amount of temples and ruins. We entered through the North gate along a stone causeway which crossed the moat. The causeway was lined with 54 god images on the left and 54 demons on the right. The gateway itself was crowned with four large heads, facing North, South, East and West.
We visited a multitude of sites at Angkor Thom - Tep Pranam, Phineanakas, the Terrace of the leaping tiger, the Terrace of the leper king (after the statute of a naked figure discovered there) and Prasat Suor Prat. The most spectacular sights included:
The Terrace of the Elephants - a 300m long wall with carvings of hunting and fighting elephants and where the corners of the wall were framed by three-headed elephants gathering lotus flowers with their trunks (the elephants trunks formed columns) - very impressive!
Baphuon -
A lone temple perched on a mountain top and
Bayon - A pyramid shape temple with 54 towers, each of the towers rising successively to the highest central tower which unusually for Khymer art was circular. The square outer walls were full of ornate carvings making galleries of bas-reliefs. The carvings depicted fighting between Muslims and Buddhists, on one wall the fighting was on land then on the opposite wall the fighting was over water in boats, the other two walls displayed traditional market scenes. Walking towards the summit of the temple there were eight towers, each with faces on four sides. Chantha took some exceptionally funny photos of us, nose to nose with the faces on the towers - what a good deal we got with him, tuk tuk driver, tour guide and professional photographer!!!
PHNOM BAKHENG
This temple was perched on top of a huge hill overlooking the other sites at Angkor, we had been informed that the view from the top was fantastic and you were able to see the layout of Angkor Wat from above. We ascended a flight of wide stone steps, nearly vertically to a large rectangular temple at the top. The
temple was a just a small rectangular building but the views from the summit were spectacular and gave a good panaromara of the entire area, although overgrown trees slightly obscured the view of Angkor Wat. (Nobody mentioned that before we climbed up there ... typical!)
CAMBODIAN PICNIC
We returned to Chantha, our tuk tuk and the last stop of the day Angkor Wat ... or so we thought! We were about two thirds of the way to Angkor Wat, travelling down the main road leading to the temple when Chantha pulled over at one side of the road, near some street stalls selling food. He jumped out, much to our perplexment, grabbed a slice of bamboo off one of the ladies and passed it to Paul, without so much as speaking a word! Paul thought it was a telescope so held it up to his eye, all the ladies on the street stalls and Chantha burst out laughing! So Chantha, took it back, started peeling the side of the bamboo, similar to peeling a banana and inside was what appeared to be sweet, sticky rice with small black bits in it - he told us to try it.
I didn't really want to try it, but not wanting to offend the now gathered crowd of locals around us, I grabbed some rice in my fingers and placed it into my mouth - Mmmmm! Shockingly, it was absolutely gorgeous! It turns out it is like a desert over here in Cambodia. Sweet sticky rice with small black beans! Chantha, obviously knowing he was on a roll, strolled over to the next lady who was selling what appeared to be snails cooking in a large wok. I nearly heaved! Fighting the nausea back I tried to focus on the fact that the last food stuff was quite tasty and considering I would never normally try anything like that, I decided to give it a go. Chantha showed us how to use a cocktail stick to lever the slippery little suckers out of the shells, then you had to dip them into this Chilli sauce which was in a small plastic bag before eating. Well, good job the Chilli was so hot it burnt our tastebuds as after that the snail things didn't seem too bad either - ha ha! He moved to the next stall - at this point I
was trying to make excuses to leave saying we had to make it to Angkor Wat but Chantha told us not to worry we had tons of time ... great!!! The next thing we had to try looked like a yellow/white root of some sort (a cross between ginger and a parsnip), we were told it was a vegetable named sacro and to peel the outer layer then eat. It was ok but probably the item with the least taste to it. Next thing I know, Chantha has purchased a small bag of each of the food stuffs we had tried, pulled a blanket out from the seat of his tuk tuk and had made his way over to the edge of the moat surrounding Angkor Wat. The three of us sat there and had a picnic, overlooking Angkor Wat - a most unexpected but enjoyable detour!! It was lovely and I have to say I would have never thought to stop at the food stalls by the side of the road and even if we did stop, I know for a fact I would not have picked nor tried the food which we did today. Chantha our driver turned
out to be so much more than just a driver, he was an excellent tour guide, explaining the history, culture and features of the temples, a professional photographer and now a food critic who gave us a great insight into how the Cambodian people live and the type of foods which they eat and how they cook them.
Picnic over we headed to our last stop of the mammoth day - ANGKOR WAT. The most photographed temple in Angkor. A series of elevated towers, covered galleries, chambers, porches and courtyards on different levels, linked by stairs. The third level supports five towers, one in the middle and one in each corner. The towers are made of graduated layers rising one above the other to a point - imitating a lotus bud. All five towers are only visible from certain angles not on the main approach. It was spectacular and a grand size, however, much of Angkor Wat had been totally rebuild, let alone merely restored and the jungle surrounding it long since removed so for us it did not encapsulate the magic and authentic feel as Ta Prohm had done.
It was now 5.40pm. We had been exploring
temples since 4.40am and were all templed out. We waited at Angkor Wat to observe the sunset at 6pm but it was not nearly as sensational as the magnificent sunrise. We headed back and said our goodbyes and thanks to Chantha (14hr hard working day) all he requested was $15 US Dollars. Thats only around US$1 an hour! We obviously gave him more than this but can you imagine a place where 66p an hour is classified as a good wage?? Cambodia is one of the worlds poorest countries and visiting countries like this really humble you and make you appreciate what we have back home, all the more!!!
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non-member comment
Hello!
If you like Ta Prohm you will definitely like Beng Melea! It beats the living hell out of Ta Prohm in terms of atmosphere and Size! This temple is the size of Angkor Wat and most of it had already collapse and left untouched! Hardly anybody goes there! You should check it out!