Day 13 - Angkor Wat

As our guidebook puts it Ankgor Wat is “The Mother of All Temples.” It is a place where engineering marvel meets religious wonder, and where mystical energy and mysteriousness seem to seep from the jungle which surrounds it – engulf it.

It is important first to understand that Ankgor Wat is but one temple in a complex of probably 100 smaller temples that are  less splendid, but perhaps more mysterious than the main tourist draw that is Angkor Wat. Most of the temples in the area were built more than a Millenia ago by ancient Cambodians, and the city in the area was made up of nearly a million people, a staggeringly enormous city by ancient standards.

So our adventure of Angkor War actually started with a bus ride. A very long bus ride – about 12 hours. Now it is well known that Cambodia is a poor country, but how poor is poor you ask? Well something as simple as a good road is not to be taken for granted. Nearly every road in the states is paved, smooth, and nice to drive on. Here in Cambodia, even the main highways resemble a jungle road which should be fit for only a Jeep Wrangler 4X4. Yet the busses here, though they weigh prob 15 tonnes  and have horrid suspensions that prob were due for maintenance 5 years ago, barrel down these roads at 80 MPH. After our long bus ride, which felt like we are indeed in a blender, or a maraca, or maybe even a lottery ball holder as it is being turned upside down, we made it from Sihanoukville to Siam Reap (the town where Angkor Wat is located). Time of arrival 3:00am. Degree of shadiness once off the bus, a 10 on a scale of 1-10. Chances of getting ripped off on our Tuk Tuk ride to our hotel, 100%. Hours of sleep in our new accommodations, 4 hours. All things considered though, we made it to the 8^th wonder of the world unscathed. Though David was a little weirded out when a lady-boy randomly decided to sit next to him when the bus was not even 25% full. David quickly changed his seat wanting none of the lady-boy's company.

Exhausted on our 12 hour busride.

The next morning was our first of two days we used to explore Angkor Wat, after a hearty breakfast and a 20 dollar admission fee into the park (The most expensive thing in Cambodia) we decided to explore the less well known temples first, saving Ankgor Wat till last.

The first temple we went to was more a mountain of rubble than a temple. Although it was still very impressive, with its unique feature being the red rock that was used during its construction.

David in front of one of the temple spires. 

Exploring the temple.

The second temple was for lack of a better word, using queer-eye for the straight guy lingo,  fabulous. It was by far the smallest of the temples in the complex, but for what is lacked in size it made up for with some of the most intricate carvings that you will every lay your eyes on. Sorry Rome, this art has you beat. The carvings were three dimensional, literally popping out of the walls. Additionally, the method of reflection or repetition (whatever it is called) was used to give an incredible effect to the small temple, similar to when you look into two mirrors facing eachother, the never ending wormhole of reflection. Well that is what this place had, except there were no mirrors, just repetitious carving that recreate themselves on a small scale, successively, until they are too small to carve anymore.

This is a shrine, this is the macro carving, If you look closely you will see on the corners of it are the smaller micro carving, which exactly emulate the same shrine, yet on a smaller scale. 

This is the micro scale carving. Notice that is is identical to the macro scale carving. It too has another level of micro scale carving on its corners.

This picture illustrates the intricacy of the carvings. It is said that these carvings must have been done by women, for they become so detailed that only a small women's hand could have navigated the small crevices. 

After the second temple we continued our tour of the complex seeing a total of 7 temples that day, but I will not bore you with all the details of each temple we visited. Instead I will jump to the “Mother of all Temples” Angkor Wat, which we saw the next day during sunrise with sleepy eyes.

We woke up at 4 AM that day to find bikes to ride to the temple. Because it was so early (or late for the night crawlers) there were still hookers on the street. One of them even had the audacity to grab my arm. I quickly rid myself of her grip and yelled "No!" to her. Finally after walking around the shady streets for a few more minutes, we found bikes to rent. In 30 minutes we made it to Angkor Wat. David and I made it in time to watch the sun slowly illuminate its intricate façade. By 6:30, the temple was fully illuminated, with its 5 spires jutting into the sky like a fire poker, which is red hot on its tip, and grey and dull at its middle. The grey was the stone that was not yet illuminated, for the sun was rising behind the temple, preventing the entire façade from being visible. Realizing we were on the wrong side of the sun, we decided to go inside of the temple and explore.

The Temple of Angkor Wat at Sunrise. 

Inside of the walls of Angkor Wat. The steps were made so absurdly steep that walking up them was like rock climbing. They said this was symbolic of the difficulty associated with reaching the gods. 

What we found did no disappoint. An incredible stone carved tapestry surrounded the temple, telling the history of the Ankgar and their triumphs in war. Most of the carvings depicted graphic scenes, with beheaded men, impaled soldiers, and infantry men being stomped by the elephants which supported the gods. Below are some images of the carvings.

Hard to see, but you can make out a line of infantry soldiers carved into the wall. These carvings went on for at least 100 ft. This was one of 8 carvings that surrounded the exterior of the temple. 

We eventually left the carvings and climbed to the top of the temples to take in the view of the complex. At the top, the spleandor did not disappear, and carving were everywhere, with a shrine at the geometric center of the building, incense scented the air surrounding it. The view from the top was beautiful, with the ability to take in the surrounding walls and the smaller buildings. Beyond the trees was the enormous moat, a football field in width, that surrounded the temple complex. The moat was perhaps as impressive as the temple itself, the manpower to dig it must have rivaled the jewpower needed to build the pyramids in Egypt. 

The largest central shrine at the top of the temple.

The enormous moat that surrounded the temple. Incredible...

After seeing Angkor Wat, we continued on to view the other temples. But before we would do this, we needed some refreshments.

David and I acquired a taste for this delicious pomegranate iced tea that they sell everywhere. So we stopped at the nearest drink stall to get one.

This drink stall consisted of about 5 older women and a few kids, all selling the same exact thing. Maybe it was a slow day, but what was about to happen will stick with me fore the rest of my life.

So I roll up on my bike from behind them, sneakily. The creak of my bike catches the attention of one of the ladies. She turns around and her eyes become wide, like a deer in headlights. She immediately gets up and makes a MAD DASH to her cooler. She is followed by the rest of the ladies. It becomes a race to sell me a drink, a one dollar drink. There is no other way to describe this mad dash other than a shark feeding frenzy, every shark for themselves, one fish at stake. After an elapsed time of about 10 seconds, I am having various drinks shoved in my face: water, coke, sprite, none of which I wanted. I call out that I want a "red" iced tea. Once again a feeding frenzy. The victor, a little girl who understood my request immediately and was a step quicker than the rest. She was extremely happy to have my dollar. Her cute face made me feel as if I had done a good deed.

After refreshments, it was on to the next temples. I won't describe them all, but I will describe my favorite temple of all, Ta Prohm or "The Tree Temple."

Ta Prohm was nowhere near as large as Angkor Wat, it was nowhere near as intricate, nor as splendid, but it lacked something that Ankgor Wat had, and that was maintenance, Angkor Wat was never abandoned, Ta Prohm was abandoned to the jungle for many centuries. The result was an incredible temple that was taken over by the jungle.

If you wanted to have an idea of what it would be like to find an ancient temple in the middle of the jungle, this temple gave you a good vision.  As you walk up to the temple you  notice that you feel as if you are in a jungle, and are walking on a path that was not well-maintained, albeit well trodden.

Ta Prohm. Notice the trees growing right out of the roof. 

Cute kid selling trinkets in front of one of the trees. 

When you enter the temple you notice that there are enormous trees that seem to be growing right out of the temple. In fact, they are. Trees spring out of the temple everywhere you look, their roots seamlessly following the cracks between stones that make up the walls. Believe it or not, this temple was on of the temples in which Tomb Raider was filmed, the one with Angelina Jolie. The famous tree which was seen in the movie is below. 

The most famous of all trees. Look in the top left corner and you can see a root perfectly grown into the shingles of the roof. 

After marveling at this jungle temple, David and I have had enough. We retired back to the guesthouse for a shower then headed to pubstreet for dinner. On our way home we were accosted again, this time by little children, no more than 8, asking us for money. When we refused they became much more aggressive, attempting to stick their tiny hands in our pockets to take our wallets. They were unsucessful and classless, but I guess that is what poverty will do to you.

Siam Reap was good to us, but it was now time to leave and head to none other but the city of Bangkok!