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Published: February 11th 2006
Little girl at Angkor Thom
This little girl was standing around waiting while the bride and groom were getting photos taken at a Cambodian wedding at the Temples.We wasted no time in heading for the Temples of Angkor, the day after we flew into Siem Reap. We stayed at Earthwalkers, a cool place run by Norwegians.
We bought a 3 day ticket (not cheap at $40 each, but I'm sure the money's needed) and we hired a tuk tuk (a fancy 2-person bogey pulled by a motorbike) and driver for the day.
'Angkor' literally means 'Capital City' or 'Holy City'. 'Khmer' refers to the dominant ethnic group in modern and ancient Cambodia. The term 'Angkor' has come to refer to the capital city of the Khmer Empire that existed in this area of Cambodia between the 9th and 12th centuries AD, as well as to the empire itself. There are loads of temples covering a vast area. The main temple is Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world. The Age of Angkor was a time when the capital area contained more than a million people, when Khmer kings constructed vast waterworks and grand temples, and when Angkor's military, economic and cultural dominance held sway over the area of modern Cambodia, and much of Thailand, Vietnam and Laos.
The accumulated effect is easily as
Mother and daughter at the Bayon Temple
Bayon Temple was built in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII. It was a Buddhist temple. On the walls are many carvings including real-life scenes from the historical sea battle between the Khmer and the Cham people. The Cham invaded in 1177AD. impressive as the Taj Mahal, although possibly no one building is quite as breathtaking.
The day we hired a tuk tuk and driver we visited one of the outlying temples, Banteay Srey, 38kms from Siem Reap, a long and fascinating drive, passing villages and rural land. We walked around the temple, different from the others because of its small dimensions (hence its name 'Citadel of the women'), then had something to eat and drink in a nearby cafe before heading off for another long drive to another temple. When we arrived at the next temple I realised with horror that my camera was missing, I must have left it at the first temple or someone had pinched it! It was the only camera I had (apart from my plastic panoramic camera I got free about 12 years ago!) and my heart sank like the Titanic depicted in the Oscar-winning film (although it was boring!).
We sped back in our tuk tuk at 15mph to the first temple, we enquired at the site office, we hunted all round the temple, we revisited the cafe and we sat and debated where on earth it could be with the cafe owner
and her friendly family and our driver. By now I was feeling like a little lost child in a busy shopping mall about to cry! We decided to drive slowly (that is, less than 15mph) back along the road in case it had fallen over the side. So we got back in to our tuk tuk and my heel hit something which moved, it was my long lost camera! Did I feel stupid?
On the Sunday evening at our little hotel we were treated to a performance from the local children's hospital. The children have been trained in the increasingly rare art of Cambodian cultural dance. The kids were great and Denise wanted to take one of the little boys (with a tooth missing in the middle of his large smile!) home with her!
Siem Reap itself is burgeoning with 5 star hotels and more are being built everyday. According to our tuk tuk driver many of them are owned by corrupt Government ministers!
We had a great meal one night at a local restaurant, Madame Butterfly, which is beautifully and tastefully decorated in a wood and traditional Khmer finish and set in a tropical garden. Another
Tree at Ta Prohm
This monastic complex was built by King Jayavarman VII in the mid 12th - early 13th century AD. It was dedicated to his mother. It controlled over 3000 villages, thousands of support staff and vast stores of jewels and gold. night we tried a Korean restaurant, which was the exact opposite! When we entered it was a vast empty hall that looked like a school dining room after all the kids had gone home! None of the staff spoke English and all I could remember of Korean was 'Thank you', so we hoped for the best and ordered something. Dish after strange dish was served to us, much of which we couldn't eat! We hastily ate what we could and I triumphantly said my thank you and we left!
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ben
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