Angkor

I was in Cambodia for work (in Siem Reap to be exact) towards the end of last week, and even though I was by myself (Jill was still in Japan for work and she's already been to Cambodia) I wanted to take advantage of being there and stay through the weekend to see the temples.

On a side note, Jill had another cool experience in Japan last week as she was trying to get to the airport to get back to Hong Kong.  Enter amazingly nice Japanese person #4. At the train station Jill was a bit lost and asked a younger woman for some assistance.  The woman didn't talk good English, but eventually (after what I am sure was a flurry of repeated words and hand motions) she figured out that she and Jill were both getting on the same train.  Despite the language barrier they ended up sitting together and really hit it off (the woman was trying very, very hard to communicate with Jill).  By the time they got to the airport they had become such good friends that the woman decorated Jill's phone with stickers.  We're not really sure what significance stickers hold in the Japanese culture, but they're still on Jill's phone!  Thank you, kind Japanese woman #2!  (this woman was #4 in the overall count of kind Japanese people we encountered.  The first one was the woman who helped us figure out how to get to Pontocho Street our first night in Kyoto).

Anyway, in addition to seeing the temples of Angkor, I got to experience a little bit of Siem Reap as well.

Friday evening I went exploring "downtown" Siem Reap.  I say "downtown" because Siem Reap is a fairly small city.  There's no high rises or tall buildings (according to the driver that picked me up from the airport no building can be taller than the temples of Angkor), but the hotel is in a great location and I was able to walk to the popular areas.  They have a couple of different night markets, and "Pub Street" where a lot of tourists were hanging out. There were surprisingly a lot of people out and about, and it was pretty lively.  It is the tail-end of Cambodia's rainy season, and their high season for tourism is just about to start, so it makes sense why it was crowded.

These are just some random pictures from being out and about...

Lots and lots of people on bikes- motorized or otherwise.

Besides bikes it seemed like the main mode of transportation in Siem Reap is a tuk tuk....and you get offered a ride every single time you pass one.

There were a lot of markets selling everything from dried-out animal innards to knock-off sunglasses.  LOTS of interesting odors.

Pub Street was pretty cool....and it's just what it sounds like....a street with a lot of bars.

They had these "fish pedicure" tanks set up all over the place where you just stick your feet in and the fish "clean" your feet.  I think it would be fun to try it, but God only knows what's floating around in those tanks.  And talk about some direct advertising...

LPC

I wasn't out too late on Friday because I planned to spend all day Saturday visiting temples. Everything is extremely cheap in Cambodia, and I was able to hire a tuk tuk for the entire day for a total of $18 US.  I was picked up at the hotel at 4:30 AM for sunrise at Angkor Wat, and it was still dark when I arrived at the temple, but I was able to get a great spot for pictures.  Just for some context, here's a little background on the Angkor region (I added these little blurbs about each place I visited in case you want to know more about them).

Angkor  is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit nagara, meaning "city".The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king", and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under Ayutthayan suzerainty in 1351. A Khmer rebellion resulted in the 1431 sacking of Angkor by Ayutthaya, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.

The ruins of Angkor are located amid forests and farmland to the north of the Great Lake (Tonlé Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern-day Siem Reap city (13°24′N, 103°51′E), in Siem Reap Province. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the magnificent Angkor Wat, said to be the world's largest single religious monument. (courtesy o' wikipedia).
 

LPC

LPC

The rest of these pics are from Angkor Wat as well.  And just a note about all the temples in general; there are certain places you can, and can't go at the sites.  Some are clearly marked, and others aren't.  There are "tour signs" directing you where to go as an observer, but for the most part it's a free-for-all (there are very few roped off areas).  A lot of restoration work has gone into the sites, but there are places where obvious work has been done and honestly, to me, it somewhat "cheapens" the structures. It's almost like someone came along a super-glued a piece of plastic that looked like what used to be there.  Certainly still amazing and awesome, but if you visit these sites and look closely you can definitely tell what's authentic and what's been "restored".  Don't get me wrong, these places were unbelievable, and the history is really cool, but at some points I couldn't help but think that there was some piss-poor restorative work...like some of the things I saw I would've rather they just left them as is to make it more authentic.  But seriously, it's still an awesome place to see and I highly recommend it.  Not trying to take away from the significance of these sites, but wanted to share the observation.

AWS (Angkor Wat Selfie...don't hate)

After Angkor Wat it was on to Ta Prohm. This temple was used as a location for filming in the movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (starring Angelina Jolie).  It was really cool because trees have actually grown through/around the structures...so it's easy to see why they would film a movie there.  

Ta Prohm is the modern name of the temple at Angkor, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and originally called Rajavihara (in Khmer: រាជវិហារ). Located approximately one kilometre east of Angkor Thom and on the southern edge of the East Baray, it was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors (courtesy o' wikipedia).

A giant millipede that will haunt my dreams.  I saw two of these things crawling around...nasty.

After Ta Prohm my driver suggested going to a temple where there wouldn't be as many tourists (you can't tell from the pictures, but there were a ton of other people around).  So he took me on a little excursion through the jungle to Ta Nei.  My driver was right about no tourists - we were the only people at this one, and it was definitely worth the short drive over a pretty bumpy dirt road to get to.  This temple was the smallest one I saw, but one of my favorites because it was secluded.

Ta Nei is a late 12th Century stone temple located in Angkor, Cambodia. Built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, it is located near the northwest corner of the East Baray, a large holy reservoir. It was dedicated to the Buddha (courtesy o' wikipedia).

See?  I am the only tool around...

Mr. Mieng, my driver, forging us along the dirt road away from Ta Nei.

 After Ta Nei we went back to the hotel so I could grab some food and get out of the humidity (Siem Reap is only about a 10 minute tuk tuk ride away from the temples, which is awesome).  It wasn't crazy-hot, but it was very humid.  After re-fueling we went to Angkor Thom, which is actually an ancient city with a bunch of different temples within the city walls.

Angkor Thom (Great City), located in present day Cambodia, was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman VII. It covers an area of 9 km², within which are located several monuments from earlier eras as well as those established by Jayavarman and his successors. At the centre of the city is Jayavarman's state temple, the Bayon, with the other major sites clustered around the Victory Square immediately to the north (courtesy o' wikipedia).

One of the entrances to Angkor Thom

Still outside the entrance...

'Nother shot of the entrance

 Once inside Angkor Thom we stopped at The Bayon.

The Bayon is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple at Angkor in Cambodia. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman's capital, Angkor Thom. Following Jayavarman's death, it was modified and augmented by later Hindu and Theravada Buddhist kings in accordance with their own religious preferences.

LPC

Once you're in Angkor Thom and get past the Bayon, then you're just kind of on your own to wander the grounds.  There are little temples everywhere, and to be honest, I have no idea what these locations/temples are called.  But again, this is all still within Angkor Thom.

LPC.  Buddhism is the dominant religion in Cambodia, and throughout the day I saw a fair amount of people in their robes.

 

From Angkor Thom we then visited Preah Khan, which is a temple outside of Angkor Thom.

Preah Khan (Royal Sword) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII. It is located northeast of Angkor Thom and just west of the Jayatataka baray, with which it was associated. It was the centre of a substantial organisation, with almost 100,000 officials and servants. The temple is flat in design, with a basic plan of successive rectangular galleries around a Buddhist sanctuary complicated by Hindu satellite temples and numerous later additions. Like the nearby Ta Prohm, Preah Khan has been left largely unrestored, with numerous trees and other vegetation growing among the ruins.

I was trying to go full circle and catch the sunset, so from there we went to Phnom Bakheng.  Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy and the sunset wasn't as cool as the sunrise, but still cool nonetheless.

Phnom Bakheng at Angkor, Cambodia, is a Hindu temple in the form of a temple mountain. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasovarman (889-910). Located atop a hill, it is nowadays a popular tourist spot for sunset views of the much bigger temple Angkor Wat, which lies amid the jungle about 1.5 km to the southeast. The large number of visitors makes Phnom Bakheng one of the most threatened monuments of Angkor. Since 2004, World Monuments Fund has been working to conserve the temple in partnership with APSARA.

View of a structure that just sticks up from the jungle as you walk to the top of the mountain.

Looking down at a structure below from the top of Phnom Bakheng

This is the structure at the top

Bhuddist buddies catching the 'set

LPC.  Looking down at the landscape from the top of the hill.  As you can see it was pretty hazy/overcast.

Not as cool as the sunrise, but I ain't complaining.

That was it for Angkor.  I think I did about as much as anyone could do in a single day, and it was well-worth it.  Don't let my comments about the questionable restoration work deter you from seeing Angkor - can't stress enough that it is definitely awesome and definitely worth it.  After looking at the photos you might think to yourself that it all kind of looks the same...and you're right, after a while it kind of does.  But keep in mind that I was only there for a day and only saw a fraction of what is there.  Taking everything into consideration it's pretty cool to see what an ancient civilization was able to build.  And It was probably the first time in my life that I actually felt like Indiana Jones...'cept instead of screaming at the sight of snakes I was screaming at the sight of a millipede...

On Sunday morning I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the hotel had Fox Sports, so I could watch game 3 of the World Series (which by the way my parents, brother, and cousin were at).  Of course I was heartbroken to see the game end the way it did...but my fam said they had a great time regardless.  I haven't watched a game since then, and of course the Sox are now up 3-2 on the Cards and the series is going back to Fenway.  So, I don't think I am going to watch any more games...go Sox!

Now, I don't want to end the blog on a bad note, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention anything about the impact of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.  Most of what I learned about the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide came before my trip there, and admittedly I didn't pick up on these things during my visit, but after talking to Jill and looking back I can definitely see that Cambodia is still recovering from that very dark period.  One of the biggest things that stood out to me was how young the population was...I honestly don't think I saw anyone who appeared to be over the age of 50.  Very sad to think about, but tourism seems to be picking up and the future looks bright.  If you're not familiar with what happened and you want to learn more read this.   

Til Next Time,

Luke & Jill