Siem Reap - Angkor Wat

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We had a pleasant train ride from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet, which lies on the border with Cambodia. We had our passports stamped promptly enough on the Thai side and were on our way to Cambodia, walking across one of the more interesting border crossings we’ve ever experienced. We’d read plenty of warnings concerning this crossing – some even declaring that it is a frightening and unfortunate introduction to Cambodia - but I believe that I would have enjoyed a weekend in this bizarre “nowhere” land.



When we exited the Thai customs building, we were greeted by a busy sidewalk and a dusty road full of motorbikes, rickshaws transferring goods, and, perhaps less obvious, hotel casinos of the kind one might find in some dark back alley in Old Vegas. We dawdled a few minutes to observe the events of the area unfold in this “sin city” between two countries prior to heading to the Cambodian customs building, which we could glimpse a couple hundred yards ahead of us, located just before a bridge in the shape of Angkor Wat bearing a “Welcome” sign. I watched Asian men dressed in suits exit the casinos - including one counting a wad of cash - with pretty, classily dressed women in high heels holding their arms. As we walked by one of these casinos, like a curious voyeur, I peeked inside: it seemed normal enough, with men in dress shirts sitting in chairs on which their suit jackets were draped, playing various card games; a roulette table had a nice-looking Asian couple standing in front of it; security guards portentously glared at me through the door.



“Can we stay?” I asked Klaudia pleadingly.



“Where are we?” she asked in reply.



“I have no idea - in some nether region between Cambodia and Thailand.”



Which country this place belonged to, if any, neither of us could say, but we figured it was something similar to a riverboat casino that avoids gambling laws by simply floating in the water, except that this place, since on land, was more like a duty free gambling zone. Klaudia, despite finding the place interesting, wasn’t undergoing the same devilish urges to stay as I was, so we moved on to Cambodian customs. They stamped our passports without any bribing fees – although I think that a lone traveler a few individuals in front of us paid a couple dollars in “stamp fees” – and we were escorted to a legitimate free bus that took us to another bus station, from where we finally took a tourist van to Siem Reap, arriving some time in the early evening.



Unless you’re hoping for less touristy places, Siem Reap’s a nice little town with restaurants serving food that was, in both my and Klaudia’s opinion, some of the best we’d eaten all across Asia. Moreover, the beer was about 50 cents in every restaurant (which was cheaper than the price of beer in the stores) or even free in some places if you ate dinner there - and you cannot go wrong with free beer, no matter where you are. We checked into a guesthouse with hanging Chinese lamps at the entrance – always a good sign! – and walked into a room with three beds and an exorbitant amount of space around which we could have done laps with street bikes. We set out for dinner shortly after. On the way, we quickly stopped at an ATM and discovered that all of them dispense only dollars and that we’d be paying for everything with a mix of dollars and, generally for smaller purchases or as small change, Cambodian riels - this explained the curious reaction a bank teller in Thailand had undergone when we exchanged our leftover Thai bahts for riels. We enjoyed a dinner of grilled frog and Cambodian soup - which is generally an Asian hot pot soup, wherein you toss in your ingredients while the soup boils - and strolled the town after dinner. I’ll agree that the lure of the town basically ends with the food, but that was sufficient for us because the point of being there at all is to visit Cambodia’s national symbol, Angkor Wat.



We divided our visit of the temple complex, which spans over an amazing 400 sq kilometers, into two full days: day one would consist of some of the smaller temples at the outskirts of the temple complex, while day two would be devoted to the main temple. We contemplated renting bikes when we learned that, probably because of a combination of poor driving skills on tourists’ part and job creation on the city government’s part, tourists are not legally allowed to ride motorbikes in Siem Reap and its vicinities. In any case, we finally settled on a tuk-tuk tour when the rain began to pour down.



The construction of Angkor Wat, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu, began in the 12^th century by the Khmer Empire, which ruled over most of Southeast Asia into the 15^th century. The empire had built a series of temples in what is now known as the Khmer architectural style, but Angkor Wat is their paramount construction, and one of the main reasons Klaudia was in Asia in the first place (I like the Himalayas). Some historians also believe that the temple was a main reason for France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate. If this is true, too bad for Cambodia; but, as far as a national symbol, Angkor Wat is undeniably a sight to behold.



We visited what our tuk-tuk driver called the “Big Circle” – whether this is an official description or not, or just a locals’ colloquialism, I cannot say, but it included several temples in the complex, the largest of which was Preah Khan. I admit that Klaudia and I are prone to slow visits, attempting to savor a site’s atmosphere and inspect every nook and cranny, especially when we’re reveling in a place; and it was certainly no different in this temple, evidence by a very long visit.



Preah Khan is a structure made up of numerous galleries and temples connected by long corridors and doorways. Completed in the late 12^th century, the flat, yet complicated temple complex includes several galleries and halls whose uses are still unknown, adding an element of mystery to our visit. Restoration efforts have not yet begun in earnest, so much of the temple is crumbling amidst jungle overgrowth, permeating the grounds with an ancient, eerie allure, as if we were on the cusp of discovering hidden treasures. As we walked the temple’s shadowy corridors, we would come upon the wide roots of tall, magnificent trees grappling the stone structures like the tentacles of a giant squid.



Our driver was waiting at the other end of the temple for us once our visit concluded. We took in several other smaller temples, ending with Ta Prohm, which is one of the most visited temple complexes in the Angkor region – and with good reason. The temple was completed in the early 13^th century in the Bayon style and functioned as a monastery and university. Again, jungle growth has been allowed to freely reign in parts of the ruins, the roots scaling the walls and structures, leading to large tree canopies. It is probably this distinctive feature of the temple that led it to be filmed in a Tomb Raider movie.



Admittedly, we didn’t catch the sunrise on Angkor Wat the next day, but it was pouring rain anyway, giving us an opportunigy to sleep in. Once we’d awaken, however, we headed on another tuk-tuk tour of the “Small Circle”. I don’t think that there is much that I can say about Angkor Wat that hasn’t already been stated - whether poetically or factually - other than the temple should probably be on the bucket list of every person: it is on the same, or perhaps on even a grander scale of the Taj Mahal as one of the most intriguing, beautiful and wondrous architectural achievements in the history of humankind. We crossed the wide moat over the bridge just as the rain began to dump down on us as if from a bucket and quickly proceeded inside the first corridor. We walked this corridor around the temple in its entirety, viewing the intricate bas-reliefs along the wall, before finally proceeding into the main central structure. Initially a Hindu temple, with various theories posited by various scholars as to the point of its existence, Angkor gradually moved to becoming a Buddhist monument in the late 13^th century and remains a site of Buddhist pilgrimages to this day. It is, without argument, a new artistic scope, a type I’d never laid eyes on, that has played a unique role in the evolution of Cambodia itself. A person, especially one engrossed in history, can spend days walking its various corridors, stairs and galleries. From a distance, as the rain had ceased and the sun slowly began to show itself from behind sporadic, white clouds, the grandeur of Angkor Wat revealed itself, the minerals of its sandstone blocks reflecting, sometimes flickering, the sunlight amid the tan shades. Drenched, we happily walked in the sunlight, occasionally splashing in the puddles as the proportionate towers of the temple rose high above us.



We visited several other temples along the Small Circle. The next highlight was the Bayon Temple, which features approximately 200 enormous stone-carved faces, believed by most scholars to be the face of King Jayavarman VII infused, so to speak, with the serenely smiling face of the Buddha. It was built as an expansion of Angkor Thom in the 12^th century and is located in the exact center of the entire royal complex.

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