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Published: February 29th 2012
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Hey Everyone!
So Angkor Wat, where to even begin besides confirming that this UNESCO World Heritage Site certainly deserves the recognition! We decided to split our time at the site into two days, both with a guide. We’re really glad we had our guide, Tokla, to teach us and show us everything we could ever want to know about the temples.
Our first day was spent going to the outer, less famous, and somewhat smaller temples. We decided to do it this way so as to avoid what I’ve dubbed ‘Grand Palace Syndrome’. We saw the Grand Palace Wat inBangkokwhen we first arrived and every other wat after just failed to compare.
Our day started a t8am and it was already hot and it would only get hotter. We both melted all day. I don’t remember ever being that hot for such an extended period of time. Our first stop was at the smallest and simplest temple we’d see but at the time we were greatly impressed – this proves that Grand Palace Syndrome is easily avoided. The hindu (some of the temples are Hindu and some Buddhist and some have been altered from one to the other)
temple named Prasat Kravan was built in 921 AD out of red brick to honour the god Vishnu. We were impressed at just how well the buildings and bas relief’s have stood up to the elements.
The rest of our day consisted of stops at:
Banteay Kdei: 12
th century and one of the many temples to have built as a Buddhist temple and later altered to become a Hindu temple
Sras Srang: 11-12
th century man-made royal pool measuring 300x700m
Pre Rup: 961 AD, Hindu. A large and impressive temples with numerous towers, also one of the hottest as there were no trees within the complex and thus little shade.
East Mebon: built by same king as Pre Rup 9 years later
Prasat Ta: Grandfathertemple, built as a Buddhist temple and altered to become Hindu
Neak Rean: 12
th century, a series of magical pools and a temple, people believed that water from the pools had healing properties
Prean Khan: called the ‘sacred sword’
Our second day only included three temples: Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, and Bayon – the three most famous temples at Angkor. I guarantee you’ve seen these temples in pictures,
on Discovery Channel, and in the instance of Ta Prohm in Tomb Raider. The all deserve their respective fame and for different reasons. I can’t really say which one I found the most impressive or which one would be my favourite – they are all very different and very beautiful.
I could give you loads of info about who built them etc. etc. but I’ll just give you the highlights/why I liked each one.
Angkor Wat: It was really amazing to actually walk around and experience such a famous structure. I’ve watched Discovery Channel specials on this place and I got to actually touch it, very neat. It’s also a huge temple complex! The scale is incredible and so is the detail. There are corridors covered with bas relief’s depicting scenes from famous Hindu epics.
Ta Prohm: Tomb Raider temple. I loved this place because it is overgrown by Spung trees and it is also in ruins in places. This gives it an authentic atmosphere as it has basically been left ‘as is’ since it’s discovery. All the other temples have been restored and have had trees and vegetation removed. At Ta Prohm you can start to
appreciate what the first explorers saw when they re-discovered these temples, and it was gorgeous and eerie.
Bayon: Thetemple ofBuddha faces. Bayon has 37 towers each with 4 faces of a smiling Buddha carved into them. However all total there are ~ 200 Buddha faces throughout the whole temple. The Buddha faces have been altered to become Hindu features by the addition of third eye. I simply loved all the faces and towers at this temple – they combined to give it a really unique and special feel.
Well that’s my quick (ish) run down of Angkor Wat, really nothing I can say or show you even comes close to what it is like to actually see it and I highly recommend it as a destination to everyone!
I’ll do another quick blog in the next few days about what we saw in Phnom Penh regarding the genocide that occurred there and to finish up our time in Cambodia as we are off to Thailand and beaches tomorrow!
Hope everything is well back home!
Rae
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