Fran & Rich's Big Happy Trip: Angkor Blimey

Guest writer Fran here again. We arrived in Siem Reap after a pretty good 6 hour bus journey. The bus had a/c, free water and we were even given a small box with two pastries inside for breakfast. Not bad at all.

Siem Reap is a small town which, due to the huge number of tourists that visit, has lost some of its charm as a result of the touristy shops and bars that are on every corner. It even has its own “Pub Street” offering extremely cheap beer (50 cents a pint)! Most tourists do not go to Siem Reap for the cheap beer though, they go as it is extremely close to Angkor; an area of 3000 square kilometres containing more than 100 temples.

The Rough Guide informs me that Angkor was at the heart of the ancient Khmer Empire. During the Angkorian period (the ninth to fifteenth centuries) the ruling kings built magnificent temples as a way of asserting their divinity and to leave an impressive legacy. It is quite amazing that some of these temples are still standing (albeit in a crumbling state) today. Rich and I spent two days exploring, first by tuk-tuk and then by bicycle, and we only saw half a dozen of these amazing temples. They are all pretty extensive requiring at least an hour’s exploration each hence this especially long blog posted in two parts – hope I don’t bore you too much! Also, please excuse the pictures of us – it was extremely hot and we both got very sweaty – nice!

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is the most famous temple and is the star of most of Cambodia’s postcards and posters. Built in the 12th century as a mausoleum and temple for King Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat is a spectacular structure. Like many of the temples, it is surrounded by a moat which is crossed by a causeway leading to a gateway in the wall surrounding the temple. The gateway itself is pretty impressive giving a hint of the architecture and style of the temple inside.

The moat and gateway

The gateway (called a ‘gopura’) also acts as a gallery

An eight-armed Vishnu image with a Buddha head contained within the Gopura

Apparently, Angkor Wat was originally built as a Hindu Temple dedicated to Vishnu but was later converted to a Buddhist Monastery. Angkor Wat’s most memorable feature are the conical-shaped towers which were designed to look like lotus buds. Pretty cool.

Approaching the temple – with a few other tourists!

View of a lotus bud tower from within the temple

The carvings that are still visible show that almost every surface of the temple was decorated with ornate patterns or religious images. The temple is essentially square with a terrace running around the perimeter which acts as a covered gallery for the carved walls depicting religious narratives, battles scenes and Hindu epics. Unfortunately, the famous carving of The Churning of the Ocean of Milk was closed for renovation. However, we saw imagery from this myth in lots of places in Angkor. The story goes that gods and evil spirits churn the ocean of milk by pulling on either end of a serpent. They do this for a thousand years to produce the elixir of immortality, creating order out of chaos. We weren’t really sure how that worked but the image of a serpent being pulled by either gods or devils was everywhere.

Some ornate carving

Paddington cosying up to a celestial nymph

The gallery of bas reliefs

Men going to battle

Monkeys going to battle

Gods (or evil spirits –hard to identify which) pulling the serpent

The Guivs taking a break

Rich doing the ‘Rocky’ pose at the top of the temple

Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom has a completely different style to Angkor Wat. Originally built as a city it was the home for 1 million people. The wooden homes no longer remain so we only have the stone religious monuments to view. However, the area these cover is pretty extensive all within the 3 km long city walls. Again, the gateway through the city wall gives a hint of the temple inside.

The Gateway to Angkor Thom – note the face – more of those to follow…

Us on the approach to the main temple in Angkor Thom – Bayon

Bayon was really cool. It was pretty hard to navigate as it is quite a haphazard layout but the style is unique with Buddha faces set in the 54 towers and lots of Hindu female engravings on the walls. It was in a poorer state than Angkor Wat but for us this added to the charm. The temple felt much more like ancient ruins.

Bayon

Buddha faces set into the towers

Rich having a staring match with a stone Buddha

A nice smiley Buddha

Doing our bit to repair the temple!

Peek-a-boo!

Bayon again with fallen pieces scattered around the outside of the temple

Surrounding Bayon but still within the walls of Angkor Thom were two terraces – The Terrace of Elephants and The Terrace of the Leper King – and two bathing pools for the king and queen.

Elephant heads on the Terrace of Elephants

The bathing pool – note the local chap fishing by hand in the pool. No way would you get me in there!

On top of The Terrace of The Leper King (this is a Buddha – not the Leper King!. No one knows why it is called The Terrace of the Leper King or if there was a Leper King)