Temples of Angkor

The early wakeup call was a theme that we established early on. Today, we were up at 4:30 am to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat. We took a tuk tuk to go watch the sun s-l-o-w-l-y rise from the outer moat of the complex. Due to the humidity, we didn't see the best sunrise. It was definitely worth the try!

When the sun had fully risen, we sat at one of the many restaurants surrounding Angkor Wat and munched on our four types of bread and an equal number of bananas provided by our hotel. Then it was at last time to go inside. I was real antsy by this point. Visitors littered the grounds, but as a result of the vastness of the temple, it didn't feel overly crowded.

We spent about three hours touring Angkor Wat and learned a wealth of information (very little of which I remember). Our tour guide, Mr. Ti, was a walking fact book. Husband listened while I frustrated myself trying to capture the scope of it all. The position of the sun (and my aging camera) greatly compromised my artistic ability.

This is a little about what I do remember, specifically regarding Angkor Wat: This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the largest religious monument in the world. (This marks my second 'seven world wonders' after visiting the Great Pyramids in Spring 2008.) The modern name, Angkor Wat, means Temple City in Khmer. Angkor Wat was built in the first half of the 12th century. The estimated construction time of the temple is 30 years and was commissioned by King Suryavarman II. The temple was originally constructed as a temple to the Hindu gods, but was transformed into a Buddist temple at the end of the 12th century, which continues to present day.

On our visit, we walked in through the west gate and out the east where our tuk tuk driver was waiting to transport us to Ta Prohm, the Jungle Temple. Ta Prohm was particularly crowded during our time. The "jungle" has likely made this temple popular with tourist like ourselves (not to mention it being featured in the Tomb Raider movie). The temple was much smaller than Angkor Wat, with lots of tight spaces between the crumbling corridors and large tour groups posing for pictures. Unlike most Angkor-ian temples, Ta Prohm has been left largely un-restored with the trees slowly pushing their way between temple walls to reclaim the jungle as their own.

The temperatures as we toured were incredibly hot and humid, only made worse by the beating sun. Wearing the temple-appropriate clothing - covered knees and shoulders - was pretty miserable. There were plenty of ill-dressed Tourasians, loud Americans, and Eurotrash. The disrespect these people displayed was disappointing!

Though Ta Prohm was largely untouched, it was an exception and throughout the Temples of Angkor, there are constant preservation and restoration efforts. Given the age and the ornate detail of all the temples, the need for continuous conservation is easily understandable.

Lunch was next of the docket. We dined at a slightly nicer restaurant because Mr. Ti highly discouraged our street food habits. We had chicken amok and fat noodles - both were good, though continued the trend of overly-sweet-should-be-savory-food. The fans and restrooms, part of the upscale dining experience, made the prices of this meal quite a bit more than the standard we'd been paying.

With full stomach, we were back to temple-ing. We closed out the afternoon as part of the Small Circuit tour visiting Angkor Thom, literally "Great City," which is comprised of multiple temples. We visited the Terrace of Elephants, Phimeanakas, Baphuon, and Bayon.

The Terrace of Elephants was used by Angkor's King Jayavarman VII as a platform from which to view his victorious returning army and welcome visiting dignitaries.

Phimeanakas is a Hindu temple in the shape of a three tiered pyramid. The colors of the stones on this temple were beautiful. This was also one of the more evident examples of the steep stairs leading to the top on two of the sides. The steep staircases facing east and west and were ceremonial and only meant for the use by the gods. The north and south facing stairs were to be used by the kings and the people.

Baphuon is a three tiered mountain temple. And it sounds crazy, but the higher up we climbed, the hotter it got. The extreme temperatures were almost unbearable but the views were incredible! We learned about quite a bit about the custom of converting between Buddist and Hindu temples over the centuries depending on the preference of the current king. This particular temple had a Buddist face carved in the walls when it was converted in the late 15th century. The statue is huge - sitting nine meters tall by 70 meters long on the west side's second level. In other temples the desecration of the former religious idols were more evident in the removal of Budda heads or conversion of Hindu goddess to something more Buddist appropriate.

Bayon temple's distinctive feature was the 216 serene and smiling stone faces on the towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak. These stone carvings depict the face of the king and a message of spiritual worship. This is a place where the teachings of Buddhism and Hinduism co-exist in a unique spiritual balance.

Mr. Ti was also a big fan of pictures and had us posing in several of his favorite, very specific places.

And with that, our 17 kilometer temple tour was complete! In much need of decompression and downtime, I convinced Husband we were due for a walk around the dusty roads near our hotel. We grabbed iced coffee with milk, a meat pie from a bakery, more crispy pork belly - our snack of choice - from a roadside stall, and toured a more authentic local shopping center.

Do I even need to say it? After all this activity and the early rise, we were off to bed at sundown.