Project: Cambodia Trip - Tale of the Angkor Temples

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Angkor Wat, Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Ta Keo, Angkor Thom, Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of *gasps for air*... the Leper King, Phimeanakas, Baphuon, and Bayon Temple. *phew* Today was all about temples, temples, temples, and then walking, walking, walking. My boots & booty got dirty and my body was pouring sweat the whole day, but everything was worth it. 😊

I woke up today at 4:45 AM, which is insanely early, to see the sunrise in Angkor Wat. At first, I was kinda disappointed when I saw the Angkor Wat. The beauty of the structure is blocked by green scaffolding, so I really can't see the temple as it is. But, after staring at it for a few minutes, it doesn't look bad at all despite the scaffolding; well, I mean, its either that or a pink scaffolding. As the sun rised, the sky's color became a mix of blue and orange behind Angkor Wat. The moment was just beautiful, and my pictures don't even do justice to what I saw earlier. Honestly, I hate waking up early because I have work, school, etc, but if I have the chance to do something like this again, I will do it in a heartbeat.

When the sunrise was done, my tour guide from yesterday, Nuon Sochetra, told me alot of information about Angkor Wat as we walked around it. I even asked him aboutthe "lollipop trees" .. mhm, lollipop.., which turns out to be palms trees. Inside the temple, there were alot of carvings & every carving has its own story. I found the apsara carvings pretty cool, and Nuon also told me the process on how the Khmers make the carvings; they drew a pattern while the clay is soft, and when it hardens, they start to carve the pattern. Now, as my tour guide promised, he gave me "The Amazing Race 13 - Leg 5" tour, and he showed me the Echo Chamber, the Roadblock challenge. The echo wasn't really loud, but you can feel it. Apparently, it was easy to find, since duh, of course he knew, so I guess if the teams haven't asked the locals about the chamber, they will definitely get lost. We exited at the back of the temple, and he told me that the teams also went here instead to the front, since there were also alot of tourists that day, and there were only a few tourists at the back, which was true. After that, we walked all the way down to the moat & went to Baentay Kdei and Sra Srang.

Sra Srang is a moat surrounding the temple complex, while Banteay Kdei is just another temple. The temple is actually a temple dedicated to King Jayavarman VII's teacher. Wow, teacher's pet much? Either way, the temple was strangely quiet, but I felt really uncomfortable since there were alot of annoying people forcing tourists to buy things from them. I was one of their targets, but I got out from those easily by just ignoring them. Still, it was really a bit heartbreaking, and that really didn't make my day in Banteay Kdei. On the bright side, it was my first time to have breakfast in a very unusal place to have breakfast, lol.

Moving on, we made our way to Ta Prohm, one of the most popular temples in Angkor dedicated to King Jayavarman VII's mother, and its known for as the setting in "Tomb Raider" and the giant trees around... and on the temples. Honestly, this is my most favorite temple out of all the temples I've visited in Angkor. Going inside Ta Prohm took me into a different world, and the trees devouring the architectures were just an unbelievable sight. Mystical, weird, beautiful... there's alot of words to describe Ta Prohm. So, I went all Lara... Lana Croft around the temple, which was really weird while my tour guide snapped photos of me, LOL. Aside from the huge trees surrounding the temples, I've also seen other unusual things at the temple. One of the things I saw is an Aspara carving's face surrounded by tree roots; it looked like the carving was hiding inside the roots. The other one was... it was definitely weird & mind-boggling. It's a carving that I found in a corner. Yeah.. I will tell you about that later, promise!

Moving on was the last on my temple tour, Angkor Thom. Before we went there, we passed by Ta Keo, and I decided to look around for a bit. Yep, only a bit, since some annoying tourists were so scared to climb the narrow steps, thus blocking the narrow ways. Wanna be on top? Don't think so.

Before entering Angkor Thom, Mr. Sochetra told me that long ago, it is actually a city with a population of 1 million. We entered through the West gate, and we went first to the Terrace of the Elephants, and of the Leper King. The statue of the Leper King has no fingers, nor toes, since Mr. Sochetra said that the Leper King was suffering from a skin disease known as Leper.. uh.. Leper... leprosy(!), which caused him to loose his fingers and toes. His statue is above its own terrace, and the carvings on the terrace shows the citizen's impression of hell. Creepy.

We walked along the whole Angkor Thom complex, and also saw some huge temples, like Phimeanakas (it took me a little while to pronounce it right), and Baphuon, although that was closed. After that, we went to Bayon Temple, the final temple in today's tour. Bayon Temple is also the pitstop in The Amazing Race 13 - Leg 5, and Mr. Sochetra even showed me the EXACT location of where the pitstop mat is placed. Seriously, is it me, or God gave me the best tour guide in Siem Reap? When entering Bayon Temple, Mr. Sochetra told me that the temple represents the citizens of Angkor Thom, and on each tower, there are four faces on each side. Bayon Temple also became one of my favorite temples, but too much tourists, when unlike in Ta Prohm, the nature is serene. I spent alot of time there, and Mr. Sochetra asked me to pose in profile to see me & one of the Bayon faces nose-to-nose. That was a nice illusion; the hand thing is getting old anyways.

After the long day of temple touring, it was time for dinner. I really have no idea about Khmer dishes, since I only ate sandwiches everytime I order at the restaurant; the only one I know is Amok Fish. The waitress actually wanted me to try their Amok dish, since that was their best selling Khmer dish. The Amok Fish usually consists of nuts, different peppers, spicy sauce, and the fish. I was actually very pleased by the dish, and I'm glad I got my first taste of Khmer dish.

To finish off the night, I went to the Night Market in downtown Siem Reap to do a little shopping. When I boarded the shuttle van, I met a married couple from England. It was really fun talking to them about how our day got along. They also guided me a little bit around the market, and just as I expected, it's a tourist trap. On the bright side, that part of the town is really lively, and that area may look like a dangerous place, but its really not. After going around the market for about an hour, I boarded the shuttle van to the hotel, and this time, I met an Australian woman from Perth. We also had a nice chat too; we talked about alot of things, like our favorite temples, future travels, and alot more interesting travel stuff.

And so... that's Day 2! Tomorrow, I will get in touch with the lighter side of Cambodian life. That's it for... oh crap, I forgot something, didn't I? Well, as I promised, I will tell you the carving that I saw in Ta Prohm.

If you look at the last picture in this entry, you'll see a carving that looks like a dinosaur; specifically, a stegosaurus. I found the figure in a website before going to Cambodia, and I wanted to see it for myself. I saw it in a corner in Ta Prohm, and Mr. Sochetra actually knows the carving also. The carving is also one of a kind & there's no other carving like it around the temple. From that carving, alot of questions have been raised, but the most common question for that is: Did dinosaurs still exist after their time?

Mr. Sochetra's believed that it's impossible that dinosaurs existed that time, but he wasn't also sure why the Khmers make that specific carving. He also told me that even researchers can't tell if dinosaurs really did exist that time. My theory is that it could only be a fossil that the people found during the Angkor civilization. But that's a rather confusing theory, because; ONE: Where did the fossil go? Did the Khmers bury it under Ta Prohm?; and TWO: Why make a carving dedicated to the fossil (since fossils weren't that of a big deal yet during those times)? Hmm... maybe its just an animal that was extinct a long time ago.

Hoax or no hoax, tourists and researchers have alot of opinions by this carving, thinking about different and interesting theories about this. Either way, these kind of mysteries just adds to the excitement of traveling, don'tcha think?

- Joko

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Photos

Echo Chamber
Roadblock in The Amazing Race 13 - Leg 5

Comments

[Eric]

I enjoyed your post. My blog is looking for travel photos, stories, accommodation reviews, and food reviews. If you have the time and have some to share, email us at [e-mail] or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric