We make an early-ish start leaving about 7:30am for our first day’s excursion to the Angkor temples, capital of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer empire. Today we visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm. Whew! That’s a lot of temple and a lot of walking in the heat. By the end we are struggling to remember what we’ve seen, when. We are leaving the itinerary in the hands of Mr Su who seems best placed to know what is worth seeing and in what order. Angkor is not quite as we envisaged; much of the jungle has been cleared from around the temples and they sit in park land like stately homes. Only Ta Prohm shows signs of the jungle’s encroachment and even here much has been cleared so that it no longer looks as it did when rediscovered in the last century. Some are also under-going restoration or is it conservation? In many cases it seems more like the former than the latter unfortunately, with a lot of new material being inserted in order to allow reconstruction using fallen stones. The new material doesn’t blend in with the old deliberately, with a rather artificial-looking result. A shame as it detracts from the mystery and magic of these magnificent, and in some cases, colossal structures.
All the temples are built of sandstone and laterite, with the former used as the facing stone with the carvings added after the buildings were completed.
Our first top is Angkor Wat itself. It’s sheer scale and completeness is awesome. This is the largest religious building in the world. Built by Suryavarman II in the 12th century to honour Vishnu and to be his funeral temple. Enclosed in 3.6km of walls and a enormous moat that once was guarded by crocodiles, a central terraced walkway leads to the main temple. The structure consists of three levels enclosing squares surrounded by galleries with the central tower 55 metres above ground level. Angkor Wat is a mountain temple representing the mythical Hindu Mount Meru. The most detailed and intricate bas reliefs run the length of the galleries depicting Khmer battles and everyday life – the most reknowned being the Churning of the Ocean of Milk depicting 88 demons and 92 gods churning up the sea to extract the elixir of immortality. This is probably the best preserved of all the temples at Angkor and the jungle is kept well at bay. This is not the romantic setting that was in my mind’s eye and unfortunately it is no longer to possible to climb the near vertical stairs to the top of the central temple and survey the complex. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/angkor_wat
Angkor Thom, built around 1200 was a fortified city with walls and moat stretching for more than 12 km. There are five grand gates into the city each topped the four faces of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of compassion. Built by Jayavarman VII the most revered of the Khmer kings (1181 – 1219) it includes the temples of Bayon (father’s magic) and Baphuon, as well as the Terrace of Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/angkor_thom
Bayon is probably one of the most mysterious of the temples at Angkor – 216 gargantuan faces of Avalokiteshvara stare down from its towers. Each tower is topped by four faces with almond-shaped eyes, flat noses and thick, smiling lips. 1200 metres of incredibly detailed bas reliefs depicting scenes of life in 12th century Cambodia decorate the walls. From a distance this temple looks to have no distinguishing features, it is only on closer inspection that its full beauty becomes apparent.
Baphuon is a huge pyramid-shape temple in the throes of an extensive reconstruction programme . Originally built around a mound of sand that was gradually pushing the base outwards making it unstable, it was completely dismantled by the a team of archaeologists before the civil war and painstakingly catalogued to enable it to be re-constructed. The records were subsequently destroyed by the Khmer Rouge creating something of a headache for the team who resumed the project after the Pol Pot era. Unfortunately, a lot of new material is being used as part of the rebuilding (including the addition of concrete inner retaining walls) and not always with aesthetically pleasing results.
The Terrace of Elephants is an imposing 300 metre-long structure that originally would have been topped with a wooden pavillion. The two stairways are decorated with three-headed elephants and the walls either side of the grand central staircase are lined with enormous bas reliefs of elephants and garuda (mythical half-man, half bird creatures).
The Terrace of the Leper King boasts some particularly well-preserved carvings hidden in a narrow corridor between the front retaining wall and the main structure. These include many Aspara (dancing nymphs) and sinister figures which appear to be molesting them.
Ta Prohm was used as the set for Indiana Jones and the Tomb Raiders, and it is easy to see why – this is probably the most atmospheric and captivating of the temples. Left largely as it was discovered, the jungle envelopes this crumbling maze of corridors some of which are filled with fallen sandstone blocks and others roped off in case of further collapse.. Trees grow from the walls, their gargantuan roots spreading out in wondrous shapes, invading every nook and cranny, supporting and being supported by the structures they envelope. As the late afternoon light trickles through the jungle foliage the whole place takes on a magical air. Thankfully there are no signs of the overt reconstruction that marrs so many of the other temples. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ta_prohm