Siem Reap
SE Asia, actually all of Asia is full of temples. It really is quite amazing to think that for over a thousand years the Hindu, Buddhist and other Asian religions and cultures flourished. While Europe was in its dark ages and through all of the revolutions that took place that shaped the Western world – the East was a completely unknown world. Only once the Silk Road opened the wonders of Asia did Europe begin to learn of the magnificent cultures, religions and practices that existing on the other side of the world.
We have been to a lot of historic places throughout our time in Asia. It seems that everywhere we go there is some magnificent ancient religious site or amazing site. Angkor Wat can basically be described as the mother of all temples. We ventured through Cambodia to get to this place – the same can be said for basically every other traveler who comes to Cambodia.
Siem Reap is the city that is the gateway to literally hundreds of temples that are dotted throughout the region. I promised Danna this would be the last temple visit so she agreed on the extra time. With that deal in place we decided to give Siem Reap a few days so we could really explore the area and visit some of the more remote sites as well.
We were pleasantly surprised at the city of Siem Reap itself. While it is very “touristy” and everything there is catered toward the revolving door of foreigners that flood Angkor Wat every day, it was actually a really fun and cool place. Really cool area called Pub Street, nice hotels and bars and big night markets to peruse. While sitting on the sidewalk of Pub Street you would have no idea this is in the middle of Cambodia. We decided to start our first day of touring with the more remote temples which are actually the oldest temples of the region – working chronologically to see how the ancient Khmer architecture and design culminated in the glory of Angkor Wat.
Our first destination was a 45 minute tuk-tuk drive out of town to Banteay Srei. This temple is on the small side for this region but may be the oldest, and is considered one of the jewels of Khmer art due to the amazing carvings that can still be seen. The entire thing is made from red sandstone (unlike almost all other temples) and this stone allowed for very detailed artwork.
It was a chilly early morning start. As we left Siem Reap we crossed a very clear line from the tourist village we were staying in to rural Cambodia. Passing farmland, palm trees and local homes we got a glimpse what daily life in this part of the world looks like. We made it to our destination early enough that we were one of only a few tourists there to start the day. What we found was a crumbling ancient ruin set in a majestic forest of ancient huge trees. It felt more like a movie set or the entrance to a ride at Disney than a real ancient temple. Everything seemed perfect – the layout, the reflecting pools even the placement of the crumbling building blocks. It all seemed very surreal and quite scary. All of the carvings, gods and demons all looked like they could come to life any moment and would not be happy to see any of us walking around taking pictures of this once supremely holy site. Then the buses of Chinese tourists started rolling in – before we knew it there was a stream of 250 people walking the grounds – also quite surreal and definitely scary.
But this was a perfect way to introduce ourselves to the unbelievably beautiful scenery that makes up the Siem Reap and Khmer ruins experience. We left this temple spending the rest of the day meandering around other secondary temple sites. One of the interesting things about the temples are the damage that is itself ancient. One of the continuous themes of ancient Khmer history is the constant switching between Hinduism and Buddhism. Many of the temples in the region have strong Indian influence and were built for either Hindu gods or Buddha depending on who was ruling the empire at the time. Then there would be a revolt the other team would win and they would go deface and destroy the statues in the temples of the other team. The Khmer had many great achievements but tolerance has never been high on list of priorities.
The real beauty of these temples is not just the ruins and the history but the trees. I was in awe of the massive ancient trees that dominated the landscape. Some of these temples were built 1200-800 years ago and it seems like the trees were planted with them. Amazingly huge, walking the grounds under these skyscraper trees all around you made the whole thing feel more like a fairy tale than just more sightseeing. The juxtaposition of tremendous human accomplishments and amazing nature makes these temples magical. Then you see where nature is starting to reclaim its dominion over the area.
Certain temples have been taken over by the forest. Massive trees come down from the tops of buildings. Winding vines and roots snake around bricks and destroy the structures from the inside out. these eerie roots framing doorways and spilling over walls seem to be consuming the buildings themselves. Honestly, it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
We had an awe inspiring first day and were ready to have our breath taken away by taking in the sunrise over Angkor Wat – our fourth Wonder of the World – the next morning.
We got up predawn and along with hundreds of other tourists made our way to the grounds of Angkor Wat. Everything was pitch black and only the lights from the tuk-tuks brought any illumination to the darkness. We crossed over the bridge that crosses the moat around Angkor Wat and positioned ourselves in front of one of the reflecting ponds to take in one of the great moments any visit to this amazing place. A million stars dotted the sky when we got there and we stood and watched the sky brighten into the beautiful shades of purple that come right before the sun peeks above the horizon. We walked around trying to get some different angles and we even found a random white horse just grazing near one of lakes. We took like 100 pictures trying to get the right one. I think we got some pretty good pics – but at a certain point we put the camera down just to soak in a few moments together witnessing something pretty special in this world.
We then left Angkor Wat (planning to return later in the day) and visited another temple with massive faces built into the facade that seem to watch you everywhere you turn. The temple also had massive detailed frescoes depicting wars – victories and defeats- every day life, fishing hunting and royal processions. You could clearly make out the different species of animals, birds and fish that used to be prolific in this region. We wandered through spires that had bats living in its highest parts, climbed back stairways leading to courtyards and landings and just explored. At one point we saw a ray of light penetrating from in between the crumbling stones – just another awesome moment in the temples of Angkor that seem to be around every corner.
We wandered through the grounds of this massive walled city that houses all of these temples. We passed an area called the terrace of elephants that was a huge platform built and carved with elephant fixtures that was the gathering place for royal announcements. We visited a temple that is severely losing its battle with nature. Yesterday we saw what it looked like when the trees started to retake the landscape – at Angkor Thom the trees are about to finish the job.
We then came back to Angkor Wat to explore this beautiful centerpiece of the ancient Khmer culture. The building follows the classic style that is seen all around the area with three spires and moats and a symmetrical inner and outer section. This building has three levels representing Heaven, Earth and Hell. We climbed up a ridiculously steep set of stairs to see Heaven for ourselves. It provided stunning views of the entire area.
Angkor Wat gets the credit and deservedly so. But it is the entire area of the Angkor Temples that puts this wonder of the world at the top of my list so far of must sees. It is very hard to describe the feeling of spending hours wandering through places that truly feel like a time warp, fairy tale and Hollywood movie set all at the same time. Nothing looks real but everything is real. It is that feeling of absolute wonder that is so hard to come by that makes all the packing and unpacking bus rides and mosquito bites so worth it.
Well, now that I promised Danna no more temples, there is only one thing left to do...go to the beach! We will be heading back to Bangkok for Shabbat and then down to the famous Thai beaches to finish our journey through Southeast Asia.
