SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA
The reason people come to Siem Reap is to see Cambodia's most famous landmarks, the temples at Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 A.D. The temples, which number over 100, are widely considered to be one of mankind's greatest architectural achievements, and make up the largest collection of religious structures in the world. Many of them had been forgotten for centuries and covered over by jungle, and were only "discovered" by westerners in the 1800s.
This morning, at the ungodly hour of 5 am, we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day and set out to see as many of them as we could. We started so early in order to get a sunrise view of the largest and most famous temple: Angkor Wat. It's a huge stone pyramid on several levels surrounded by a massive moat, with five large towers at its center (symbolizing the five peaks of Mt. Meru, home of the Hindu gods), with a long stone causeway leading up to it. It really is a spectacular place, especially at daybreak, when the towers and the morning sky reflect in the two lotus ponds in front of the temple. After taking some photos of the towers, I spent some time exploring the inner courtyards, then walked along the incredible bas-relief sculptures that cover the four outer galleries. Most of these show events from Hindu epics--the most famous scene is the "Churning of the Sea of Milk," depicting the gods and demons in a tug-of-war, pulling on a giant naga (many-headed serpent) that in turn moves a mountain, stirring the cosmic sea to create the elixir of immortality.
After an hour or so at Angkor Wat, our driver then dropped us off a various other sites on the "small tour" of Angkor, a circuit that includes the most famous temples in the area. We saw so much that I can't properly describe them all, but here at least are their names and a few distinguishing characteristics:
Angkor Thom: Not a temple per se, but an entire walled city of nine square kilometers that includes several major temple sites, three of which are listed below. There are four large gates in the wall; we entered through the South Gate, which features a giant face on each side and an avenue of statues lining the road leading up to it.
The Bayon: This was the state temple of king Jayavarman VII, and is famous for being "the temple with all the faces." There are 37 towers in the temple, all featuring huge enigmatically-smiling faces staring out from several sides, which are thought to represent a combination of the king's features and those of the Buddha himself. It was a little eerie to walk around the temple ruins, because wherever I stood, I was being stared at, usually from several directions! For that reason, this was one of my favorites--and maybe also because it reminds me of Disney's Jungle Cruise, which replicates these same stone faces.
Baphuon: A five-tiered pyramid set within a long enclosure, partially ruined, and at one time probably pretty impressive. An interesting story here: The French had set out to restore this temple back in the '60s, and had proceeded to more or less completely dismantle it stone by stone in order to shore up the collapsing inner foundation. Of course, they numbered all the stones and created maps of where they went so they all could be put back together properly. But when the Khmer Rouge took over the government in the '70s, they destroyed the records which showed which stone went where! So now it's basically the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle, and they're still in the process of figuring out how to put it all back together. There are thousands of numbered blocks strewn all around the grounds of the temple, which truthfully still looks like a big mess.
Phimeanakas: This was the royal palace of Suryavarman I. Like most of the temples in the area, it was at one time the center of its own city, but since only the temples were constructed of stone, none of the other city buildings have survived.
The Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King: These are two long terraces with carvings on their side, and were the foundations for royal reception pavilions. The Elephant Terrace features dozens of cool sculptures of (what else?) elephants.
After a full morning of climbing temples in the brutal heat, Chris and I opted to head back into town for lunch and to rest for a few hours at our hotel before we could even think of continuing. Around 3 pm, we headed back to Angkor (only about 10 minutes from our guesthouse) and finished the "small tour," stopping at:
Prasat Kravan: A 10th-century temple consisting of five brick sanctuaries in a row, with unique brick bas-relief sculptures of Hindu gods inside each.
Banteay Kdei: A large temple consisting of a series of enclosures, mostly ruined.
Srah Srang: Translated as "Royal Bath," or as our driver called it, "the king's swimming pool," this is a large rectangular man-made lake with a stone landing stage at the west end.
Ta Keo: A "temple mountain" construction of five high sandstone towers, abandoned before it was finished.
Ta Prohm: This was probably my favorite temple, as it was chosen to be left in its "natural" state. In other words, it hasn't been renovated at all, and it appears much as it did when it was rediscovered by 19th-century explorers, with impressively large silk-cotton and strangler fig trees growing through its mossy ruins. Adding to its wild atmosphere were large flocks of squawking parrots in the trees, making all kinds of jungle-movie noises. Oh, and speaking of jungle movies, scenes from the movie Tomb Raider were filmed here. (Also that movie about the two tiger cubs, but who saw that?)
Whew, them's a lot of temples! And we had purchased three-day park passes, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a few more. It was really tiring exploring all of the above today, but I have to say it was worth it--they are all stunningly beautiful, even the ones that are in ruins. And each temple is completely different from the others, so it seemes like there was always something new and interesting to see.
The reason people come to Siem Reap is to see Cambodia's most famous landmarks, the temples at Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 A.D. The temples, which number over 100, are widely considered to be one of mankind's greatest architectural achievements, and make up the largest collection of religious structures in the world. Many of them had been forgotten for centuries and covered over by jungle, and were only "discovered" by westerners in the 1800s.
This morning, at the ungodly hour of 5 am, we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the day and set out to see as many of them as we could. We started so early in order to get a sunrise view of the largest and most famous temple: Angkor Wat. It's a huge stone pyramid on several levels surrounded by a massive moat, with five large towers at its center (symbolizing the five peaks of Mt. Meru, home of the Hindu gods), with a long stone causeway leading up to it. It really is a spectacular place, especially at daybreak, when the towers and the morning sky reflect in the two lotus ponds in front of the temple. After taking some photos of the towers, I spent some time exploring the inner courtyards, then walked along the incredible bas-relief sculptures that cover the four outer galleries. Most of these show events from Hindu epics--the most famous scene is the "Churning of the Sea of Milk," depicting the gods and demons in a tug-of-war, pulling on a giant naga (many-headed serpent) that in turn moves a mountain, stirring the cosmic sea to create the elixir of immortality.
After an hour or so at Angkor Wat, our driver then dropped us off a various other sites on the "small tour" of Angkor, a circuit that includes the most famous temples in the area. We saw so much that I can't properly describe them all, but here at least are their names and a few distinguishing characteristics:
Angkor Thom: Not a temple per se, but an entire walled city of nine square kilometers that includes several major temple sites, three of which are listed below. There are four large gates in the wall; we entered through the South Gate, which features a giant face on each side and an avenue of statues lining the road leading up to it.
The Bayon: This was the state temple of king Jayavarman VII, and is famous for being "the temple with all the faces." There are 37 towers in the temple, all featuring huge enigmatically-smiling faces staring out from several sides, which are thought to represent a combination of the king's features and those of the Buddha himself. It was a little eerie to walk around the temple ruins, because wherever I stood, I was being stared at, usually from several directions! For that reason, this was one of my favorites--and maybe also because it reminds me of Disney's Jungle Cruise, which replicates these same stone faces.
Baphuon: A five-tiered pyramid set within a long enclosure, partially ruined, and at one time probably pretty impressive. An interesting story here: The French had set out to restore this temple back in the '60s, and had proceeded to more or less completely dismantle it stone by stone in order to shore up the collapsing inner foundation. Of course, they numbered all the stones and created maps of where they went so they all could be put back together properly. But when the Khmer Rouge took over the government in the '70s, they destroyed the records which showed which stone went where! So now it's basically the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle, and they're still in the process of figuring out how to put it all back together. There are thousands of numbered blocks strewn all around the grounds of the temple, which truthfully still looks like a big mess.
Phimeanakas: This was the royal palace of Suryavarman I. Like most of the temples in the area, it was at one time the center of its own city, but since only the temples were constructed of stone, none of the other city buildings have survived.
The Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King: These are two long terraces with carvings on their side, and were the foundations for royal reception pavilions. The Elephant Terrace features dozens of cool sculptures of (what else?) elephants.
After a full morning of climbing temples in the brutal heat, Chris and I opted to head back into town for lunch and to rest for a few hours at our hotel before we could even think of continuing. Around 3 pm, we headed back to Angkor (only about 10 minutes from our guesthouse) and finished the "small tour," stopping at:
Prasat Kravan: A 10th-century temple consisting of five brick sanctuaries in a row, with unique brick bas-relief sculptures of Hindu gods inside each.
Banteay Kdei: A large temple consisting of a series of enclosures, mostly ruined.
Srah Srang: Translated as "Royal Bath," or as our driver called it, "the king's swimming pool," this is a large rectangular man-made lake with a stone landing stage at the west end.
Ta Keo: A "temple mountain" construction of five high sandstone towers, abandoned before it was finished.
Ta Prohm: This was probably my favorite temple, as it was chosen to be left in its "natural" state. In other words, it hasn't been renovated at all, and it appears much as it did when it was rediscovered by 19th-century explorers, with impressively large silk-cotton and strangler fig trees growing through its mossy ruins. Adding to its wild atmosphere were large flocks of squawking parrots in the trees, making all kinds of jungle-movie noises. Oh, and speaking of jungle movies, scenes from the movie Tomb Raider were filmed here. (Also that movie about the two tiger cubs, but who saw that?)
Whew, them's a lot of temples! And we had purchased three-day park passes, so I'm sure we'll be seeing a few more. It was really tiring exploring all of the above today, but I have to say it was worth it--they are all stunningly beautiful, even the ones that are in ruins. And each temple is completely different from the others, so it seemes like there was always something new and interesting to see.
posted by John Kuge at 8:34 PM
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