In stones I found beauty: Angkor and its temples
Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and others
Day 3 - 30 Dec 2003
We started the day quiet early by watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat. The place was full of tourists, mainly Japanese. The rest of the day was spent in visiting the other temples in and around Angkor Thom area, starting with Banteay Kdei and Sras Srang in front of it. From there we went to Ta Prohm. Built as a buddhist monastic complex, Ta Prohm is one of the largest sites among the Angkor temples. Not much restoration work has been done on these ruins, other than strengthening the structures to avoid collapse. This makes it a great place to see the immense strength of nature. We saw several structures that were covered with gigantic roots of banyan, fig and other trees. More pictures in my
Ta Prohm gallery.
After Ta Prohm we visited Ta Keo, Ta Som, Preah Khan, Neak Pean and finally saw the sunset at Pre Rup. Just like in Ta Prohm you can see the power of nature in Preah Khan. Roots dig into structure, in effect supporting them. Neak Pean is set in the middle of a man-made island in a man-made lake. However the dry weather had dried up all the water. The false doors of East Mebon and Pre Rup are supposedly exquisitely carved. But as a part of the conservation effort, the actual doors has been replaced with cement (?) replica of the same. Though they look great, the magic is not entirely there. The Ta Som ruin is supposed to have one of the most enigmatic smiling Bayon faces. However we could not find it. The west part of the temple was closed for some conservation work. Most probably the face must have been somewhere in that region. The sunset at Pre Rup was beautiful, more beautiful than the previous two days.
Day 4 - 31 Dec 2003
Banteay Srei is about 30 kilometers away from Angkor Wat, but this pink sandstone ruin is worth every second of the long journey. Built in the second half of the 10th century, the temple is famous for its excellent decoration and carvings. Its relatively smaller size and state of preservation makes it easy to enjoy every bit of the temple.
One of the interesting features of Banteay Srei is the excellent carvings on the top of the goupras and the libraries. The temple was cordoned off to complete some conservation work, hence we could not get very close to the carvings. Being a temple dedicated to Shiva, most of the carvings depicts events related to Shiva. They included Ravans trying to lift Mount Kailasa, the abode of Lord Shiva, Parvati trying to attract Shiva. Other carvings included Krishna killing Kamsa etc.
In the afternoon we visited the Rolous group of temples. After seeing the wonders of Bayon, Angkor Wat and Banteay Srei, we found the Rolous temples to be quiet small and uninspiring.
Day 5 - 1 Jan 2004
This was the last day of travel for us since the flight next day was quiet early in the morning. We had used up our 3 day pass. So in the morning Bon took us to a silk weaving place and then to an artists' village for wood and stone carving. After that we walked around the local market to see if we could get some souveniers to take home.
In th evening we visited the floating village. The roads leading to the place where we got into the boat is pretty bad. We had to pay $15 each to hire the boat and travel through the village and after that get to the Tonle Sap lake to see the sunset. $15 is a bit steep for the whole adventure, but if even $5 of it goes towards the upliftment of the people living the villages, it is worth it. The condition of the people living here were pretty bad. It was like a shot gun blast that woke us from the beautiful dream of the temples and shook us into ground reality. Hygene was one of the biggest problems since a lot of them don't even care to go further into the lake to fetch useable water for various purposes.
Passing the canal and the village we reached Tonle Sap lake and after wandering for some time in the lake, we set anchor and waited for the sun to set. In came more tourists and we had to ask our boat captain,a boy of about 15 years of age, to steer us to a more clear place. The sunset was beautiful. I have always loved sunset at seas and lakes because of the amazing colors that not only fill the sky, but also reflect off the water.
After the sunset we set off back to the hotel. Our adventure at Siem Reap had come to an end. We had a great time in the ruins, with the people and enjoying great sunsets. We really did find beauty in the stones. I was so moved that when I got back, I just had to pen this travelogue.
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