Temples of Angkor
When people think of Angkor they only think of Angkor Wat, as did I until we got there! The Angkor temple complexes are actually made up of thousands of temples spread over hundreds of miles. The main “angkor” people think of though is probably 40 square miles just outside of Siem Reap.
We got the 3 day pass which was $40 pp. We had arranged for a tuk tuk driver to take us around for all 3 days. Most of them know a bit of history as well so are helpful for their knowledge of the area.
We first went to Angkor Thom which is a huge complex. The wall around the city is almost 4km each direction. Inside there are many things to see but the highlight was Bayon, a partially restored temple which was originally made up of 49 towers, 37 of which are still remaining. Each has 4 huge faces, one in each direction and all of the temple is intricately carved with stories, pictures, and writing. From Bayon we walked through to Bapoun, some smaller temples, and then to the Temple of the Leper King and Elephant Terrace. All of the temples were built between about 950 and 1150 and, like the Mayan Ruins, the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall, etc. it is absolutely astonishing how much they could accomplish that long ago with just very primative tools and means.
We saw a couple more smaller temples and then had a great lunch at a local restaurant near the Royal bath complex and then off to Bantreay Kdei. Another very large temple that is still in it’s partially ruined state. After that…the highlight of Angkor Wat. This is really the only temple in really good condition, and even that has many walls looking near collapse. We spent around 2 hrs there admiring the architecture and carvings.
Day 2 we got up at 4:30am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Then circled around and did some of the temples further out, culminating the day with a visit to Ta Prohm. This was the temple where some of the movie Tomb Raider was filmed. The archeologists decided to leave this temple as it was “discovered” so people could see how the entire area appeared when westerners first found them. They have spent lots of money and time keeping it in a state of “maintained dëcay” . It was a fascinating site and we spent quite a bit of time there. One interesting thing amongst all of the carvings is what appears to be a dinosaeur. Since this temple was built before it was discovered that the earth was round and since no bones of any such creature have ever been found in SE Asia it’s quite a mystery where and how that carving came to be done.
Day 3 we headed 32km out of town to Bantreay Sreai, also called the temple of women because the carvings are so small and intricate they believe no man could have done them. This is a small site but incredibly beautiful. Next on to the land mine museum. It is run by a man who was forced to be a boy soldier by the khmer rouge and laid thousands of land mines. Now he has the museum, houses homeless children who have been victims of the mines, and works to find and defuse the existing mines. It is believed that 2-4 million of them still exist in the countryside and almost 1000 people are injured or killed every year. It was certainly a sad reminder of the various wars and pretty sickening that the US is one of only 13 countries in the world who refuse to stop making these destructive weapons.
That was our time in Siem Reap. We had boat tickets for the trip to Battambang for the next day and are ready to move on but we greatly enjoyed our time here. Good food and drinks and truly amazing sightseeing.
More on Cambodia later. Cheers J&R
Tags: Travel
admin
Leave a Reply