Destinations: Angkor South Gate, Bayon, Baphuon, Royal Terraces, Ta Phrom, Kampong Phluk Floating Village
It's Saturday 6pm and I've essentially wasted the entire day nursing a headache. Horrible! A good reminder that even the mightiest can be toppled by too much gin and soda. Hahaha....
Day 3 in Siem Reap, and finally time to head into the Angkor Temples. Like I mentioned earlier, I had no time prior to this vacation to sit down and read up on the history and significance of this place. This is highly irresponsible for an adventurer!!! :( Knowledge preparation is totally key to maximizing your appreciation for a new environment, otherwise it's just another quick loop through Disneyland's "It's a Small World". Tour guides are kind of like geriatric nurse aides holding Spark Notes -- they bring you around in white vans, help you when you're disoriented, and know exactly where all the bathrooms are. They really are quite useful when you don't know the language and don't have much time to spend on that area. A crappy tour guide, however, is really just a seeing eye dog. Out all the amazing people that I've met in Cambodia, I can't believe that we got lucky and rolled a HORNY seeing-eye dog. :( I don't want to delve into the details, but all I can say is thank god I had 10 days in Siem Reap to redo the temples myself again.
At the same time, perhaps it wasn't a bad thing that I came to Angkor as an ignorant blank slate, with no expectations on how it would look and how I would feel. I remember the excitement building up as we pulled up to Angkor South Gate, and then seeing more-than-lifesize devas and asuras (gods and demons) lining the path depicting a celestial tug-of-war... whoaaaa!!! Words cannot describe how AMAZING (here the word is used to the fullest degree) these temples are, even in their weathered and crumbling state. Pictures really cannot capture the feeling of standing in a time capsule created by the collective efforts, thoughts, and beliefs of millions of people... even after thousands of generation cycles. The Angkor temples are proud evidence of man's ancient triumph, materializing imagination into reality, celebrating their faith in the most grand scale possible. Here, in the Khmer Empire, man created Heaven on Earth.
Bayon Temple was Natalie's favorite. It is a intricate religious complex composed of beautiful bas reliefs that narrate historic and religious stories on the lower levels, and towers of 4-sided Buddha faces staring serenely (yet intimidatingly?) down at you on the top level. Built in the late 12th century under the Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, Bayon actually incorporates both Buddhism and Hinduism as an attempt to peacefully meld the King's religion with the people's dominant belief system. Both major Buddhist and Hindu figures are shown in this temple, and although Buddhism lost ground in the short-run (pictorial example further below), modern Cambodia officially considers itself a Buddhist country with considerable Hindu influences.
At Bayon Temple, one of the few Buddhist temples in Angkor.
Receiving a blessing in the form of a red string bracelet.
Third time a charm? Noooooo.... ok fine, how about the fourth?
If you can imagine this -- the crowd growing and growing as we continued to monopolize the backdrop for each successive failed jump. TOO MUCH PRESSURE!!! Not that a jumping picture is EVER as epic as we think...
From far away Bayon looks like a pile of rubble, but these stones are all intricately carved and once brightly lacquered and gilded with gold.
Bayon is a fan favorite for its towers, which is probably a huge inspiration Hollywood set designers, haha.
Ta Prohm Temple is also the usual must-see on any Angkor loop, a rather "romantic" temple dominated by trees that wove their roots in the temple's stone structures. It's location is convenient and accessible enough for every 2-3 day traveler to make a pit stop, so you will absolutely get your zergling Asian visitor swarms that mercilessly creep into every photo frame you may take. I recommend Bang Melea (to be covered) if you're looking for your Indiana Jones experience.
One of my favorite photos of the trip, if I may say. ;)
Lara Croft... redux? HAHA.
Ta Prohm was also a Buddhist temple constructed by the same king who built Bayon, but this one was dedicated to his mother. Back in the day, kings dedicated temples not only to the gods themselves, but also to their parents, their honored advisers, and of course... to the kings themselves as devarajas (god-kings). Like many ancient civilizations, the Khmer Empire system was one that combined religious and political power. As we know, this is a very effective way to control the people, address their problems, and maintain absolute authority.
The picture below is very interesting -- after King Jayavarman VII passed away, the kings after him may not have prescribed to Buddhism, and there was a massive Hindu movement against Buddhism in the 13th century. This led to the destruction of many Buddhist images in the temples, which ranged from removing Buddhist figures out of stone walls, to defacing Buddha faces, to beheading Buddha statutes, to attempting to "remodel" existing carvings through rather poor etching skills... -_-;;;
Almost all of the Buddhist meditation carvings were defaced to reflect Hindu meditation. The main differences are:
1) Hindu crown (hair) is round, whereas Buddhist is conical.
2) Hindu has beard (possibly for Shiva) whereas Buddhist is shaved.
3) Hindu meditation with palms of hands pressed together in a prayer, Buddhist hands relaxed on the knees in a lotus position.
4) Hindu legs crossed higher, Buddhist legs crossed on the ground.
13th century graffiti.
Dude, you could have done a better job at least. :(
Had to fit a touristy picture in, heh. :)
"Kimchi...."
This flooding cycle is why Tonle Sap Lake has one of the most biodiverse environments in SE Asia. The balance of this environment is highly dependent on the state of the Mekong River, so any major waterway construction efforts (i.e. dams) or seepage (i.e. fertilizer, pesticide, human waste) by neighboring countries such as Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and CHINA will disrupt this delicate balance. Everything is linked together, who knows what the ultimate collective price will be? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to this resource development dilemma, a classic public goods puzzle... I would only expect that it will be more and more difficult for these floating villages to depend on their traditional way of life. Thank goodness for tourism, I guess.
"I'm on a boat!"
... and my flippy-floppies! HAHAHA
The villages aren't "floating" during dry season, but I think it's more interesting being able to see what's underneath the houses.
Webs and webs of fishing nets. Bathrooms directly into the water. Baskets to trap food.
Love the colors here, virtually Ps untouched.
On the way to and from Tonle Sap Lake, Nat and I stopped by the road to walk around a nearby rice field. This was the only area around Siem Reap that was growing rice, the other fields were yellow and dusty (probably waiting for the rainy season, whereas here water was still plentiful). We encountered a beautiful sunset, a perfect way to end the day. :)
This picture is so funny/stupid, had to put it in here because I really don't know what the hell we're doing.
Reminds me of those local Chinese officials surveying road constructions, ha....
Oh maybe we were pointing at dog tracks....?
I've never seen the sun so big in my life before, except in those National Geographic covers!
(to be continued...)
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