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Published: February 1st 2013
Angkor Wat Entry Sculptures
Lions and nagas flank the steps up to the causeway entrance to Angkor Wat Touring Angkor, Day Two (note: There are a number of photos (84) associated with this entry. Believe me when I say this is just a fraction of the photos taken that day – e.g. you’re getting off easy, and getting only the highlights. Some have commentary immediately below the image, which will give a bit of an explanation of what you are looking at).
In an attempt to avoid the crush of tourists seen yesterday, we set out for Angkor Wat proper at 7:30am. While we still found our first stop of the day full of tourists it was significantly fewer than the number we’d seen at the site the day before – should you make this journey I recommend you start your morning as early as possible so that you can enjoy the temple complex in relative peace.
Angkor Wat This was and is not only the grandest and most sublime of all the Khmer temples, but also was a city. It was built during the first half of the 12
th century. The complex is surrounded by a broad moat, which contains the nearly 82 hectares site – 1025m x 850m across. Of
Causeway crossing over moat to Angkor
You can see here the restored portion of the causeway to the right and the unrestored portion to the left - lots of settlement in the stone over the years. this site 9 hectares of the site was associated with the temple complex, the rest of the land was developed into a city, none of which remains as it was constructed from light materials.
The temple itself is meant to represent the Hindu universe. The moat represents the mythical oceans surrounding the earth and the succession of concentric galleries represents the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru, the home of the gods. The towers represent the mountain’s peaks, and the experience of the ascent to the central shrine is, maybe intentionally, a fairly convincing imitation of climbing a real mountain (see my photos of the steps).
In total I had almost 2 hours to tour the site, which seems like a long time, until you attempt to perform the feat – it’s impossible to do and you find yourself quickly moving on trying to complete your own ascent to the holy mountain. I gave up trying to see everything and spent time focusing in on elements and then skipping ahead until something grabbed my attention.
One of the more impressive features of the temple is the large bas-relief carving around the temple’s outer wall. These, arguably one
of the most famous creations in Khmer art, cover an immense area approaching 600m long by 2m high. This carving on many levels could compete with the Elgin Marbles from the Greek Parthenon. These carvings tell various real and mythical stories important to the original builders of the temple – each element different from the last – you can see a small fraction of the relief in my attached photos. I also found that the Angkor wat apsaras carvings too be the most varied here and elaborately costumed.
I carried on up to the upper temple level via the steep steps. When you arrive and you gaze upon the central tower you do feel as if you’ve made an pilgrimage to some distant mountain – all the world disappears from your view and your eyes are drawn up to the apex of the tower and on into the heavens.
I found a few quiet places to get away from the crowds where I could sit back and contemplate what I was seeing, feeling and thinking. You can’t help but contemplate the insignificance of your lifespan when you are looking at a 900 year old temple, but also celebrate
what is achievable in that lifespan with the temple and all its beauty created in just 40 years.
Angkor Thom and Bayon One of the more photographed temples in the area is Bayon (a short drive from Angkor wat); which has been equated by some to have an appearance similar to that of a coke bottle crate with is many towers (each with four faced carved on the cardinal sides).
The temple was a maze within a maze. I found myself going up, down, left, right, (A+B+A+B… do you know the code?)….back up, down and to the left, around in a circle, down even further, into a nearly pitch black corridor, up again…. Now which way? I have six options to choose from…. Yes, that is exactly what one feels like as you walk through the complex. There is no right or wrong way, just follow your feet and look up at the towers – enjoying the kaleidoscope of tower faces that surround you on all sides.
It was here where I noticed the strongest incense fragrance and found the central tower to contain a statue and a woman handing out incense sticks to tourist to
Norther most entrance of gopura.
The entrance was made large enough to accomodatevehicles and elephants. I could see on the door jambs ancient scuff marks and chips in the stone where you could see karts or elephants had rubbed up against the side. light up.
It’s now about 11am and I’m noticing I’m getting “templed out”… while I’m enjoying what I’m seeing the face pace and number of tourists is really starting to get to me – one stone carving starts to look like the prior one and the prior 10 before that. I’ve got to get out of this maze and find some quiet space; so on I move to Baphoun temple next door.
Baphoun I find myself a pile of large rubble stones to sit on in the shade of some ancient trees and gaze out over the moat towards the long causeway and restored temple complex of Baphoun. Reading my guide book I learned that this temple was only recently restored after 15+ years of work – previously the temple had tumbled over and not much more than the central sand core of the mountain remained. While the restored temple looked like it would have been interesting in its original form, the restored version was too clean and perfect (and a lot of the exterior ornamentation and structure remained missing) I took a quick stroll through here, but found I didn’t need the full allotted time as
there wasn’t much to look at that I hadn’t already seen elsewhere.
After leaving Angkor Thom we went to Srah Strang pool where we had a very spicy Cambodian dish. Mr khy was attempting to explain traditional methods for roofing houses with grasses and leaves… I found it hard to concentrate as I was still processing the last two days… I don’t think he realised I’d zoned out. Next stop was Te Prohm of Tomb Raider fame.
Te Prohm I’ll keep it very simple and short. It’s an injustice to say this, but the most memorable feature of this temple were the trees that had taken over the stone complex. Like a parasitic leech the tree roots appeared to be slowly sucking the life out of the stone structures – leaving behind in their wake a jumble of ruined stone blocks. I got really exciting thinking about those first Europeans that would have hacked their way through the jungle to stumble upon this photogenic ruin.
I was now nearly to the point of complete mental exhaustion and almost asked the driver to call it a day 45 minutes early, though I know he would have said
no as we had one more stop at Benteay Kdei. Here I found a stone wall to sit on where I watched the tourists snap photos at a mad pace as they nearly ran through the temple complex trying to complete their temple marathon for the day.
Returning to town for the evening I located a sushi restaurant that had a good buzz about it – the food, cold beer and conversation about anything other than temples did me good, as did the inexpensive Thai massage…. oh my weary feet.
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Alethea
non-member comment
Reminds me of our honeymoon
Hi Donavin, Glad you are enjoying your trip! Your photos remind me of our honeymoon, although it looks much busier there now....not sure if it was the time of year that we went (November) or if the word has gotten out and more travelers have been visiting there since 2008? I was surprised to read that you found a spicy Cambodian dish, as they tend not to go spicy, and if asked will comment on their crazy Thai neighbors for liking spicy food. :) And what I wouldn\'t give for a good local massage right now...or 5 of them in a row! It is fun to know that we have shared the amazing experience of traveling SE Asia - it is a special place!