Two of my buddies from college, Maura and Adam, spent their month off from teaching English in China to travel around Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We decided to tag along with them to Siem Reap (translates to “defeat” or “death” to Thailand) to see the ruins in the Angkor Archaeological Park.
We learned quite a bit of Cambodian history on our visit, some of which I’ve been able to retain. Many of the temples built in the Angkor Park were constructed during the 12th-13th centuries, including the most famous, Angkor Wat. Some temples are Hindu, while others were Buddhist…..the religious affiliation was usually tied to whatever religion the reigning King practiced. Cambodia’s borders and influence stretched much further across Southeast Asia than its current place in the world suggests. The Khmer Empire stretched into many areas of current Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. Over the last, oh, 800 years however, wars with neighboring countries, sought protections from the French, and the Khmer Rouge regime (Pol Pot, mass exodus of urban areas, and ethnic cleansing of those that dissented or were considered 'intelligent' and hence threats to the Khmer Rouge regime) have changed all that.
Interestingly enough, most Cambodians we came across spoke fluent English and were very, very interested in our American money. ATM’s in the country dispense US dollars and the local currency, the riel, is best used as a bookmark (a 100 riel bill is roughly 3 cents) or given in handfuls to beggars.
Our journey began on Thursday from our Thai town and we hopped on the local (that means very slow around here) bus that took us directly to the Thai-Cambodian border in about 3 hours. After finding Adam and Maura who traveled in from Bangkok, we made an uneventful border crossing, stopped to play a quick game of Indian Poker at the Cambodian casino, and found ourselves in a 2 hour cab ride onward to Siem Reap.
We spent Thursday evening checking out our surroundings in Siem Reap…..western style hotels, restaurants, and bars were on every corner and were in stark contrast to the scenery from our cab ride where we saw how people really live in the country. With that said, it had been a long, long time since Shelly and I had eaten anything but Thai food, so when we found a Mexican place that had CHEESE, we broke down and ate there.
These dudes in the photo below were kicking around a long badminton birdie looking thing. we also saw a pretty good copy of the hotel california:
Friday we decided to do some pre-templing templing at Beng Mealea, a temple located about 65km outside of Siem Reap (where the most popular temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park are). Our guesthouse arranged a tuk-tuk driver for the day and after some negotiating, we were on our way. Beng Mealea was built as a Hindu temple and is believed to have been built around the same time as Angkor Wat, in the late 12th century. The mostly sandstone temple has collapsed on itself and has not been restored, except in a few areas to provide structural support in areas where tourists are seen climbing in, on, and under the rubble. After paying a $5 entry fee, you’re free to do whatever you want and explore this place and imagine what it must have been like almost 900 years ago.
These dudes in the photo below were kicking around a long badminton birdie looking thing. we also saw a pretty good copy of the hotel california:
Friday we decided to do some pre-templing templing at Beng Mealea, a temple located about 65km outside of Siem Reap (where the most popular temples in the Angkor Archaeological Park are). Our guesthouse arranged a tuk-tuk driver for the day and after some negotiating, we were on our way. Beng Mealea was built as a Hindu temple and is believed to have been built around the same time as Angkor Wat, in the late 12th century. The mostly sandstone temple has collapsed on itself and has not been restored, except in a few areas to provide structural support in areas where tourists are seen climbing in, on, and under the rubble. After paying a $5 entry fee, you’re free to do whatever you want and explore this place and imagine what it must have been like almost 900 years ago.
On Saturday, we woke early, at 445, to meet our tour guide “Sun Same” for the sunrise at the well-known and mind-blowing Angkor Wat. Waking up this early was slightly more challenging than usual for us as we had celebrated Adam’s 30th birthday the night before by restaurant and drink hopping.
We scored some seats near the front of the left reflecting pool, which offers the best sunrise views over Angkor Wat at this time of year. As the sky turned from black to purple and red, the outline of the temple’s towers come into view and might be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. We shared this sight with several thousand other photographers trying to get the same shot…..we think we have a couple cool ones:
We scored some seats near the front of the left reflecting pool, which offers the best sunrise views over Angkor Wat at this time of year. As the sky turned from black to purple and red, the outline of the temple’s towers come into view and might be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. We shared this sight with several thousand other photographers trying to get the same shot…..we think we have a couple cool ones:
Angkor Wat was originally built as Hindu, but later “rededicated” as Buddhist (this involved physically tearing out the Vishnu statue and putting in a Buddhist one).
Built during the 1100’s by Khmers but no one is exactly sure what dates.
The quarry used to cut the sandstone for Angkor Wat lies about 70km from this site. It’s believed that the sandstone was transported on a series of river canals.
Angkor Wat is in a state of constant repair, since it’s been sacked by a bunch of different countries, most notably the Chams, Cambodia’s main enemy about a thousand years ago.
It’s the largest religious building in the world!
Henri Mouhot, a French professor turned explorer, “found” the temple again around 1860 and popularized it in the west through his travel journals. Mouhot died a couple years later of Malaria just outside of Luang Prabang, Laos.
The below text was graciously donated to us from Adam and Maura’s blog. Thanks guys!
After spending about 5 hours at Angkor Wat, it was time to move on to temple #2 of the day, Angkor Thom. This nine square km ancient walled city was home to about a million people, many temples, and the king’s palace. Everything except the temples was built with wood, so the only structures remaining are the temples and the wall itself. The wall had five main gates that each had a specific purpose. The gates, along with the temples inside were constructed with large stone faces in the likeness of the king and Buddha. Inside of Angkor Thom we visited Bayon, which is a temple constructed by a Buddhist king in the 1100/1200s. It has 54 towers to represent the 54 provinces of Cambodia, with a total of 216 huge smiling faces. Although not as large or famous as Angkor Wat, we all enjoyed the design and feel of this temple.
We left the Angkor Thom city and traveled another short distance to Ta Phrom. This temple, more famously known as the Tomb Raider Temple (after the video game/movie), was constructed by the same king as Bayon and it was dedicated to his mother. The temple is now completely overtaken by massive jungle strangler fig trees and it was also badly damaged by the Thais in past wars. The truly breathtaking aspect of Ta Prohm is how the enormous trees are interlocked with the structure of the temple. The government removes new vegetation growth, but the existing trees are now part of the permanent temple structure.
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| These trees aren't cut down or removed as they are physically supporting the temple structure in many places. |
Sun entertained us for a full 11 hours of touring (and for $50 split 4 ways, well worth it) and then dropped us off at the hotel for a nap and of course, more western food. Shelly and I made our way back to Thailand, albeit slowly, on Sunday with some great memories and of course, great pictures. If you’ve ever considered a trip to SE Asia, be sure to put Cambodia and Siem Reap on your list of must-do’s!
