Siem Reap, Cambodia
We landed at 2 pm and by 3:30 we were looking across the
moat at the fairy tale looking towers of Angkor Wat.
ANGKOR WAT TEMPLE COMPLEX.
Angkor Wat was built in 37 years in the 12
th
century.
It is made out of
sandstone and has intricate carvings everywhere.
It took 70,000 workers and 40,000 elephants to build Angkor
Wat.
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| The entrance into Angkor Wat |
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| Barb and Scott with our guide. |
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| Angkor Wat |
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| Barb near entrance |
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| In front of moat around complex |
There is a moat around the temples.
The temple complex is contained in
about 1 square kilometer.
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| The moat surrounding Agkor Wat is four kilometers long. |
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| Amazing site. |
Some wall carvings tell stories of great battles. The Generals ride elephants into
battle. The officers ride horses
and the soldiers are on foot.
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| Battles being fought |
There is a room where 1000 Buddhas were once stored.
As a result of the fog of war beginning
with the Vietnam War and ending when the North Vietnamese armies helped rid
Cambodia of the Khmer Rouge killers that had plagued the country with 25 years
of civil war, many of the priceless statutes of Buddha and other valuable
sculptures were hacked out of the temple and stolen to neighboring countries or
sold on the black market around the world.
Our guide told us that Cambodia is attempting to track down
some of these relics and is asking for their return.
Many of the statutes and carvings have been defaced.
The heads of many statutes are missing.
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| Taller than Scott Buddha. |
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| Reclining Buddha |
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| Meditating Buddha |
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| In the Palace of 1000 Buddhas |
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| Adorned Buddha temple |
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| Catching the reflection |
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| Stone carved hallways |
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| Soldiers |
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| The scale is incredible |
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| You can climb on most of these Temples |
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| These stairs are steep |
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| Performers in their native costume |
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| Carving everywhere. |
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| View from on top. |
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| Every alcove has a little temple. |
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| Walking to the top. Heaven is always on the third level. |
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| Over a doorway. Is this a high school cheerleader pyramid? |
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| The library |
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| The bath area |
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| Sunset |
The next morning we arose at 4:50 am and were inside the gates of Angkor Wat at 5:30 am to witness the beauty of the sunrise behind the temples.
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| It was a little cloudy, but the reflection was great. |
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| The reflection looks better than the actual buildings. |
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| Barb getting a little crazy and just taking a photo of the reflection. |
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| Water lilies only open between 6 and 10 am. Then it is too hot for them. |
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| The sun finally peeked through. |
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| Different cameras give different lighting |
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| Morning excursion. |
TA PROHM
Ta Prohm was our favorite temple site.
It is still overgrown with trees and
appears as it might have when Europeans first stumbled onto the temples.
There seems to be secret passageways
and interesting architectural elements everywhere you look.
You could get lost in this temple.
It would be a fun place to play hide
and seek with Alysa, Roni, Cade, Claire, and Aislyn.
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| It looks like a halloween movie set, but this is the real thing! |
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| Moss growing and tree roots coming through roofs. |
Inscriptions around
Ta Prohm indicate to archeologists that this temple was used as a
Monastery for the King.
It was
built beginning in 1186.
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| Great for Hide and Seek. |
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| Is this a giant snake or a tree root? It is very much alive. |
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| This tree root is unbelievable!!! |
There are thousands of blocks strewn about covered with
lichen and moss.
Some have
numbers.
The sunlight filtering
through the trees and illuminating the temple gives an “other worldly”
character to this temple site.
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| It's a giant building block puzzle. |
There was a temple alter where Barb made a donation and
received a blessing for health, happiness and success.
It’s good karma to get the
blessings.
After each blessing a
holy string gets tied around our wrists.
My wrist is starting to look like the frayed end of an old carpet but I
like it.
It makes me feel good.
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| Scott keeps adding to his blessings |
There is a crew attempting to reassemble the temple. If you come in a few years this temple
might look quite different.
Hopefully it will be magnificently restored to its original glory.
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| We've never seen a crew like this. |
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| Scott with our guide |
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| Amazing shapes and colors are mixed with antiquity |
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| This corner of the temple makes you wonder if you are in a sci-fi movie. |
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| Buying flutes from local kids |
BANTEAY SREI
This is a temple dedicated to Shiva, the Destroyer or Warrior God. The carving around this temple is
delicate and our guide said that some think it must have been carved by women
with small fingers. Banteay Srei
means “Citadel of the Women” and is said to date to about 970 A.D.
This temple was 35 kilometers away from Siem Reap and it was
fun to see the farmers and people working in the countryside.
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Walking through the crops.
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| The entrance |
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| The carving above the door is very intricate |
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| This is Shiva and his mate on his bull. |
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| The ancient people were a lot smaller than we are. |
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| Watch your head! |
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| Stairs, stairs and more stairs |
PRE RUP
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| Our guide and driver |
ANGKOR THOM
We walked past the stone soldiers guarding the Victory Gate
into Angkor Thom.
Angkor Thom is 3
square kilometers.
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| Stone soldiers guarding the gate |
We saw the Elephant Terrace where the King and royalty would
review the return of the victorious armies.
PIMEANA KAS SKY PALACE TEMPLE
This temple was the abode of the Serpent Lady that required
that the King sleep with her every night or else harm would come to his
kingdom.
I followed Barb up three
steep stories of stones to the top of the temple but I did not get to sleep
with her there.
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| Another temple on top |
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| Looking back out to the elephant terrace. |
BYPOUN TEMPLE
BAYON TEMPLE
Bayon temple has 54 towers and 216 faces that are thought to
be a resemblance to the King of Cambodia that built the temple.
Our guide thought they were faces of
Buddha but these temples were built when the Hindu religion was in full
sway.
It seems more likely that
the King at that time had his own face memorialized.
His face is now on the paper money of Cambodia.
It is a smiling happy face and his
temple is at the geographic center of Angkor Thom.
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| Entrance |
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| More dancing nymphs |
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| Scott is soaking wet. |
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| The face behind us is the model for the face on Cambodian paper money. |
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