Be prepared, this is going to be a LONG one...
Not such an early start today, we’re collected from the hotel by our guide and driver at 09.00. Our guide is called Sip (pronounced sepp) and a car with AC is very welcome – even this early the humidity is rising and it’s starting to get very warm. Thailand was deceptive with the northerly winds cooling things down – this is more like we expected the weather to be! We’ve got the guide and car for 3 days, so we discuss our itinerary with Sip as we head off on our Angkor temple marathon.
Day 1: Pre-Angkorean Temples (Roulos)
Temple #1 – Preah Ko. This place dates back to the ninth century (the Angkor temples date from the early twelfth century). The first thing we notice is the Cambodian kids as soon as we emerge from the car, trying to hawk stuff to us. It’s hard to resist but we must – as soon as you get dollars out you’re marked as a target – we’ll soon get used to the ubiquitous cry of “one dollar, one dollar” wherever we go! As an introduction to the temples in the region this place is pretty impressive. Classically laid out with 3 ‘male’ towers in front and 3 ‘female’ towers behind and some impressive carving. Like most of the temples it’s sandstone-faced with igneous rocks underneath for strength. It’s also not too busy, unlike some of the more famous temples we’ll encounter later...
Temple #2 – Bakong. Another 9th century temple, this one is much more impressive – it’s much bigger with five levels. Most of the temples of this age are Hindu, the later ones are Buddhist, with one very impressive temple (Bayon) dedicated to both religions. It’s bizarre to realise that two of the most peaceful religions in the world were at war with each other back in the 11th century in southeast Asia! There are also a number of features of Bakong that we later realise are a ‘standard’ feature of most temples in the area – three entrances (one for the king, one for the priests and one for the commoners), a moat with a single crossing, then the walled temple itself with numerous towers (and a minimum of two libraries!) The moat represents the path to Heaven, the crossing itself is akin to the rainbow so passing over the moat is like crossing over a rainbow to Heaven. We are both blown away by the temple, it has 10 small temples surrounding a central tower but the architecture is beautiful. Most people talk about Angkor Wat when they consider the temples of Cambodia, we can’t wait to see how impressive that place will be.
Temple #3 – Lolei. This is a tiny temple, which still has an active Buddhist monastery beside it. At Lolei we got introduced to the ‘sexual’ aspects of the Hindu temples – Linga (male) and Yoni (female) – these concepts crop up at every other temple from now on! Lolei is very small, and feels very old. Nice as it is, the Buddhist temple next door is more impressive – it’s not quite the Cistine Chapel but it’s still very beautiful inside.
Temple #4 – Ta Phrom. This place truly is impressive. We’re now into the Angkor era of temples. The temples around Siem Reap were discovered in the mid-nineteenth century, and a huge effort took place to recover the temples from more than 800 years of jungle intrusion. Most of the temples were cleared and restoration of the temples took place – Ta Phrom was different, a brave decision was made to leave this to the mercy of the jungle and this gives the temple an ancient, almost primeval feel. Growing throughout the entire complex (which once housed 10,000 people and Buddhist monastery) are huge silk cotton trees. In places these are destroying the temple, while in others they are serving to keep it held in place. It’s genuinely awesome. Linda suggested that the trees looked like the Ents from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, climbing over the rooftops – it’s hard to disagree. You can see why they filmed part of the Tomb Raider film here (though the less said about that the better!)
Temple #5 – Ta Keo. This one’s a quick one – it’s fairly impressive in terms of height, but actually remained unfinished as it was struck by lightning when nearing completion so was abandoned. This one has REALLY steep steps up – Linda and the guide stayed behind, I climbed up like a mountain goat The steps were each around 15-18 inches high, about 4 inches wide, and nicely rounded off due to centuries of weathering (and decades of tourism!) Climbing up was OK, coming down was definitely interesting – a few people were abandoning all semblance of dignity and crawling down on their arses, I at least remained on my feet but decided that holding onto the side (where available) was sensible. Good view from the top though!
Temple #6 – Preah Khan. Again, a very impressive Angkor temple. This is a sizable place, which has been well-restored in a number of places. This was formerly a religious university with in excess of 1000 teachers. The libraries were impressive, double-tiered structures. This place also introduced us to the concept of the Naga (dragon) – used in many carvings and there are a number of large Naga sculptures used as balustrades, predominantly at the entrances to temples or cities as we’ll learn later. There are still a number of silk cotton trees growing over this temple, but it feels more orderly than Ta Phrom.
The day finishes with a trip into Siem Reap for a few beers and dinner. We head to the famous ‘Pub Street’ which is flowing with tourists. Characterless, but OK for a cheap beer or two, and we’re becoming better at haggling with the tuk tuk drivers!
