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Published: November 23rd 2009
Ta Prohm
An Angelina Jolie momentThe Big Ones
Today was the trifecta of Angkor temples: Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and the iconic Angkor Wat. It goes without saying that because these three are on every visitor's A-list, crowds are inevitable. The tour buses disgorge pods of Japanese, Chinese, French, British, and every other nationality tourists, each one clutching their i-phone, digital point-and-shoot, or massive Nikon with enormous lens and tripod. At lesser-known temples one can wait a few minutes for the masses to pass to get a good photo, but at these big-three, one could have a birthday waiting for a break in the traffic. Our guide, Heng, did a great job of helping us avoid being part of the pack by taking us cross country from one site to another through the jungle, but those iconic photos that everyone wants - of the jungle-encroached temple everyone recognizes from “Lara Croft, Tombraider” starring Angelina Jolie, and of the causeway leading to Angkor Wat - are going to have to be taken with extraneous people in them.
Even though I know that the jungle is integral to the temples of Cambodia I somehow envisioned the temples as being on vast empty landscapes like the pyramids
of Egypt or those in Central Mexico. I was pleasantly surprised that they are, in fact, surrounded by jungle and, even though close to each other, they feel separate and distinct. And sites like Angkor Thom, which is really a city, includes several different sites within it.
Ta Prohm
We start with
Ta Prohm. It was one of the earliest temples re-discovered by the French. Already picturesquely entangled with invading trees, it was decided that the site would remain at one with the jungle, giving visitors both a feeling of being an explorer and also an appreciation of the amount of work needed to restore the structures. As much as possible only measures to stabilize the ruins have been carried out. This means that, as a tree grows, measures have to be taken to keep it from toppling and taking the wall, on which its roots have taken hold, with it.
Angkor Thom
Next was the mammoth
Angkor Thom, which I talked a little about in the last blog. Now filled again with jungle, it is hard to believe that it once was home to nearly a million people. One could spend days exploring the entire
Bayon
Faces from the Past. area and appreciating the bas-reliefs and statues that are part of it. A very memorable place is the
Bayon with its towers and enigmatic faces. Each tower has or had a face on each of the four facets and you get the feeling that you are being watched wherever you turn.
At
Baphuon we got to see how enormous the task of reconstructing destroyed sites is. Thousands of blocks lay in groupings by type and a French archaeology group has been working for 15 years so far and project another 6 or 7 more before they have substantially rebuilt it. It is a giant jig-saw puzzle in which nobody knows if all fhe pieces are in the box. Where there are missing parts, the workers have block-cutting machinery with which they can fabricate a replacement piece out of the same building material from what they have determined is the same quarry.
Angkor Wat - at last!
After a mid-day break, we ended our tour at the iconic
Angkor Wat. The most fascinating and time-consuming part of a visit to this monument is studying the bas-reliefs that line the gallery surrounding the core. In great detail it chronicles
the myths and history of the ancient peoples of Cambodia, much as the paintings of the Ramayana we viewed in the gallery of the Royal Palace in Bangkok. It is both literary and artistic and our guide was superb in spinning the yarns and in interpreting the carvings.
The interior of Angkor Wat has been largely restored and one can get a good idea of what life must have been like for the elite of Angkorian society and how glorious these structures must have been at their heyday. Only one of the artificial lakes (barays) that flanked Angkor Thom is filled with water today. When both were filled, the entire site stretched for miles. Each ruler built his own monument - some built several - as a tribute to his god, whether Buddha or Vishnu, and as a monument to himself. Angkor Wat is the only major structure that faces east (the others face west) and it is speculated that it was intended to be the final resting place for the king, as an east entrance gate is the one by which a body is carried in for its funeral ceremony.
The Future of Cambodia
Because of
ACODO
Dance Performance the evils of the past, there is much to do to help the Cambodian people achieve short and long-term goals. NGO's from many lands are trying to help; grass-root efforts in many countries are helping to collect goods and money to help in short- and long-term projects. Private donations are funding water wells so that rural villages can have clean drinking water. Others are providing shelter and food. We spent an evening at an orphanage where 53 children who are orphaned or whose families simply cannot provide for them properly, live, go to school and, eventually, will learn a trade. The children sleep in one room, which also serves as the auditorium for a dance program that they put on nightly for visitors in hopes of getting a donation. The dream is to build a farm to house the children and to teach them how to sustain themselves. The room that is their home contained a tile floor and a wooden stage. The girls and young boys sleep on the stage; the boys on straw mats on the floor. Volunteers teach English and help with other subjects in return for all the love they can handle. Even providing bare basics
for the children requires resources the orphanage does not have. Schools exist without proper supplies; children often drop out of school so that they can add to the family income by selling postcards, trinkets, bottled water, whatever they can. The people of Cambodia have lived with strife for centuries, but they continue to live with optimism. And always they smile.
Impressions of our Trip
In our 4 weeks in Southeast Asia we have been fascinated with the history of the area and we have been touched by the glimpse of current life. The people live a simpler, more basic life than we Americans could ever embrace, but they are unfailingly gracious, sweet, and beautiful. The western world is bringing some of what is good, but much of what is polluting to the area. While newly introduced electricity has improved many lives, it has also brought satellite TV, which acts as a substitute community, encouraging children to forgo their heritage, their native songs and crafts, and their socialization in return for package entertainment. We share the sentiments of others: if you want to experience the charm of Southeast Asia, do it soon. Just as macadam roads now cover the
dusty byways of yesteryear and motorcycles and cars have replaced the bicycle, so will western dress and western mores ultimately smother the asian way of life.
Our journey back to relive our memories of nearly 50 years ago served to reinforce the aphorism “you can’t go home again”. As much as we looked for what used to be, what we found was that, like ourselves, Southeast Asia has moved on. The monuments of Angkor are all that remained of an ancient civilization. A clock-tower and an old friend are all that remained of our memories of Nakhon Phanom.
I am infinitely appreciative that we were able to make this journey. I am so glad that we were able to catch a present glimpse before even more of this part of the world has changed. And I am happy that I was able to share some of our impressions with our friends and family. Thanks to those who have read our anecdotes, those who have kept the home fires burning, and to Global Basecamps and Buffalo Tours for putting the trip together for us. Probably our greatest help in determining our itinerary and influencing our choices were the contributors to
TripAdvisor.com and Travelblog.org, whose own experiences shaped our own. To those anonymous members, we are forever indebted.
Signing off until next time.
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Loren
non-member comment
Journey's End?
Sad to read your wrap up, as it means the end of your fantastic blog. I'm showing the family the album of pix from Angkor Wat, and we're just glad to see more than the iconic shot. Have a safe trip back.