Siam Reap – Angkor Wat
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007Please note: There will be no Angkor What jokes in this post.
Sad i know, but i really do have a ‘100 things to do before i die’ list (remember Tara and Amelia?) This year has seen me tick off a fair few. One of the entries was to visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Ever since i saw their majestic splendour in photographs (which fail to them justice) i knew i had to visit them. So now i was back in Siam Reap. It was a pleasant five hour journey from Phnom Penh, but only because i refused to have no leg room and laid down the aisle much to the bemusement of the Cambodians on the coach who proceeded to stare at me laying on the floor for the next half hour.
After a day when the other five (Ruth, Susan, Louis, Tony and Raymondo) visited the Landmine Museum, which i had already seen on my previous trip, we hired two rickshaws for three days, a bargain at 15 dollars each.
Angkor is the heart and soul of Cambodia, a source of immense national pride. The largest temple is featured on the flag, and the name appears on businesses, hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and even the national beer (which is one hell of a tasty sud). They are world-class monuments on par with the pyramids of Giza and other wonders of the world that have survived into the modern era.
The temples of Angkor were the ancient capital of the Khmer empire and were constructed over a period of five hundred years, from the 9th to 13th centuries. They represent the pinnacle of Khmer art, architecture and civilization. Although the maverick psuedo-archeologist Graham Hancock argues the main temple was built by a progenitor civilization predating the age and empires of antiquity, it is unquestioned that the temples were the sacred political, religious and social heart of the Khmer empire whose economy, culture and military dominated the region until the 1200’s. Ironically these fusions of creative vision and spitirual devotion weakened the empire; the effort, materials and sheer cost of such epic endeavours undermined and bankrupted the imperial crown.
Secular buildings, including houses, palaces and public buildings have long since decayed as the right to dwell in stone was a privilege reserved solely for the gods. As such it was hard to appreciate the epic scale of this city which, at its peak boasted a population of one million people. In comparison ‘mighty’ London numbered around 50,000.
The temple ruins number in the hundreds. The Cambodian god kings (devaraja) strove to better their ancestors in size, scale and wonder culminating in the world’s largest religious building, Angkor Wat. It was here we would begin our journey.
Few who have seen Angkor Wat in the flesh would argue that i am being hyperbolic when i call the temple one of the most spectacular monuments ever conceived and built. It is artistically and aesthetically breathtaking, evoking power, harmony and balance through its sublime arrangement and proportions.
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andrewlegon