March 21 – 23, 2013 Phnom Bakheng, and a Drive in the Country

Wednesday evening, after our R&R at the spa, Rong picked us up for the sunset experience at Phnom Bakheng. This temple sits at the top of a mount, and although once massive and glorious, is one of the most severely damaged from neglect and jungle overgrowth. It was built to honor the Hindu god, Shiva, and is still regularly visited by the monks. 

Monks at the top of Phnom Bakheng

A restoration project is underway, but it appears they have a very long way to go.  You can either make the rigorous climb to the top or pay $20 to ride an elephant. We opted for the novelty of the elephant ride and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Once at the top, hundreds of tourists gathered to watch the sunset over Angkor Wat. 

It is said that the setting sun illuminates the 5 spires with an ethereal glow. It is spectacular. We tried our best to take pictures that would do this phenomenon justice but just couldn't capture the beauty with my crummy little camera. 

After hiking down, while waiting for Rong to pick us up it was still so hot that Frank bought a beer from a vendor with a cart. A man gets thirsty on a dusty trek down a temple mount.

Thursday we readied ourselves for the tour of Banteay Srei, "Citadel of Women", but Frank had misplaced his multi-day park pass. We tore the hotel room apart and asked Rong to search his car. It was nowhere to be found. We think when he must've dropped it when he pulled out his money to pay for that beer at Phnom Bakheng. What a pricey beer! (The multi-day pass is expensive.) We cancelled our tour for the day and spent it hanging out at the pool, eating and getting 2-½ hour 4-hand massages instead.

On Friday because we still hadn't found Frank's park pass, Rong decided to take us for a scenic drive to the floating villages at Tonlé Sap Lake. The drive alone was interesting, taking us beyond the jungled areas near Angkor and into the flatlands of the farming and river lands. Because it's now the dry season there wasn't much to the rivers and streams, yet the lotus flower farms were going strong.

Stilt houses with lotus gardens below

We stopped at a place where the last living hand-cast bronze statue-maker ran his shop. It was fascinating to watch the artist at work as he made the master carving that would serve as the mold for all other pieces. These ranged from small souvenirs to massive, important statues commissioned by temples and by the government. We enjoyed this stop very much, although they would not let us take photos.

Along the drive were "Hammock Bars" where apparently during the wet season, people came to laze around in the hammocks eating and drinking.

All of the bars, homes and shops were built on stilts high up above the raging waterline when the summer floods come. Most of them looked like death traps to me!

 

At the end of the line was the launching base to take a boat out to the floating villages. We took one look at the dry hole down there, and overheard some comments about having to "pole" to get through some areas and decided to save our money for something better.

Rong and Frank at the basin to the floating village

Our next stop was The Killing Fields museum. After spying the massive square glass enclosure that housed 100's of skulls, we decided this is as far as we would go. We did stand outside to read the stories on the large billboards in front, but after having seen the movie and then this, we wanted no more visual reminders of the tragedies that nearly wiped out these beautiful people in that short four year period of genocide under Pol Pot's regime. No pictures were taken here. Time to move on…

Nearly back in town, Rong took us to a very large building that housed many of what we thought were "made in Cambodia" goods that ranged the likes of statues, fabrics, wood carvings, and real remnants of Khmer Rouge soldiers, such as opium pots, eating utensils, and so on. We found the prices surprisingly high, so we settled for three small pieces. Later on in our travels throughout SE Asia, we found that this is nothing more than a scam, and that every city holds such a store of mass-produced "hand-made" artifacts. Gee did we have "sucker" written on our foreheads again?

It was getting late and HOT, so we returned to the sanctuary of our hotel and another appointment at the spa!

March 20, 2013 Angkor Thom and Preah Khan

March 20, 2013 Angkor Thom and Preah Khan

Day 3 in Siem Reap we first visited Angkor Thom, "The great City", which was the largest city in the ancient Khmer empire. The center is dominated by the Bayon, which is packed with over 50 towers.  

Bayon at Angkor Thom

We could actually climb up into the tower complex to view the faces more closely. Each and every square tower bears a massive engraved smiling face on all of the four sides, so that everywhere you turn you feel stared upon by these eerily serene faces.  Apparently this depicts the all-seeing/all-knowing lord who looks down on the world with infinite compassion.

This part of the complex is the most well preserved part of the old compound, particularly the bas-reliefs of the Khmer army engaged in battles and also of every day life in the 12^th century: cock fights, cooking meals, festivals, market scenes, Kings riding elephants. You can literally see the stories played out here, just as at Angkor Wat. Again, every surfaced is decorated and carved with dancers, vestal virgins, gods and common folk.  

7 Vestal Virgins

The entrance paths are lined with rows of massive carved statues of gods and nagas.

There are statues of lions, elephants and serpents throughout.

Lion in the foreground, a Naga behind

 Just amazing. Reluctantly, we noticed our guide, Mr. Rong waving us back to the car. It was time to move on.We stopped at a typical tourist trap for a mediocre lunch before heading over to the next complex. 

The drive alone to Preah Khan was just incredible. We passed countless statues, carvings and ruins along the way. This entire area must have been magnificent in its glory days.

The path leading into Preah Khan is very long and lined with complex statues and carvings.

Add path leading into Preah Khan

The main entrances are guarded with warriors holding a massive cobra (Naga).

Warrior
Preah Khan is said to be built as a monastery and hostel for weary travelers, and is named for the Sacred Sword of the King's father. As with the other complexes, it is built to lead you to the center sanctuary of the sword where the tomb of the king is (was) encased. 

It appears to be lit with a flame when the sun hits a certain point in the sky You will note the many holes in the walls…these were formerly inlaid with precious gems, which have long ago been raided. It must have been a magnificent sight when the sunlight entered this sanctuary.

There is a wing dedicated to the shrine of the White Lady – the queen – who promoted education and had established an on-site library and religious college.

Shrine of The White Lady

The Library

There were many small buildings set throughout the complex that I thought appeared to be tombs, but a local guide indicated that these were the hostels.  Hmmm.

There was also the Hall of Dancers adorned with dancing Apsaras.

Entrance to the Hall of Dancing Apsaras

Another view of the small buildings

Preah Khan is distinctly unique and sadly has also been raided and stripped of all jewels and adornments, when the Hindu rulers conquered the area and replaced many Buddha images with Hindu deities, although vestiges of both are still evident. There is a feeling of spirituality to this place that I did not sense at Angkor Wat or at Angkor Thom.

The sun began roasting us so we gratefully climbed back into the car for our fresh towels and cold water. Next stop was the hotel pool and the spa where we were both booked for massages to end our  day.

March 18 – 19th, 2013 - Siem Reap Cambodia…Angkor What?

If you decide to make a trip to Siem Reap Cambodia, don’t bother going online for entry visa advice because we did and after spending a ridiculous amount of time researching the how’s, what’s, and where’s, downloading, printing and completing forms, we arrived to find that it was all for naught. The process has now been made so simple.  Also, in all of that research, we missed that Cambodia trades in USD, in fact the ATM machine spits out beautifully crisp American currency. OK, so here’s the drill:  grab a form at the desk/table marked VOA, complete it and then get into the queue for VOA (visa on arrival), present your Passport and a $20 bill and then step aside. Your passport goes down a production line of at least 5 officials who process your documents and then call out your name to pick up your passport. Easy as…

After we grabbed our bags we were met with a beautifully dressed young Cambodian man who introduced himself to us saying; “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Gradney (our new Asian name), my name is Dawind. I am your 24-hour personal assistant during your stay at The Privilege Floor (our hotel), and this is Mr. Rong your personal 24-hour driver.  Here is your personal mobile phone to use while you are here. Anything you need or want during your stay is my pleasure to provide”. Nice way to begin our 6-week trip through SE Asia. We chose this hotel because it’s a 5-star property for the price of a Marriott back home, and it really does provide not only those services, yet many more which we fully enjoyed over the next 5 days.

We were warned not to go off on our own or to embark on any unguided walks or hikes outside the clearly marked safe areas because to this day, live mines are still being regularly discovered; remnants of a violent and tragic era in this country’s history and ours.

Our first outing the next morning was to Angkor Wat. It really does look just like all of the postcards and pictures, so well preserved in all of its vast grandeur. Because there is so much history readily available I won’t go into much other than it was built in the 12^th century by King Suryavarman II of the Khmer Empire. Its name translates to “The City which is a temple”, and is dedicated to the god Vishnu, covered in carvings and bas-reliefs it tells stories and reveals history on every square inch. The five towers replicate lotus buds and are said to face west toward the setting sun, in a symbol of death. The outer walls represent the edge of the word, and the surrounding moat: the cosmic ocean. There is just so much history, culture and mystique about this amazing place we could have spent days just here. It is the most famous and well preserved of any other Wat (temple). Because it is so enormous we enjoyed a near private tour in spite of the 1000 or so tourists flooding in. In fact it is so vast that Frank and I got separated trying to find the exit where we were to meet our driver. Wandering around the periphery I ran smack dab into some cruiser friends, Han and Karla from the yacht, Esperanza. Well waddaya know?! Imagine the irony.  We visited for a few minutes before we noticed our driver beckoning to us. He met us with damp, ice-cold lemongrass-scented cotton cloths and bottles of cold water. Heavenly! It was already so hot we felt we were melting.

Dancers inside Angkor Wat

One of the battles depicted on the massive walls

Steps leading up to a spire - very steep and narrow

the back side of Angkor Wat, after tour 

Angkor Wat from the street view

Rong drove us next to Ta Prohm, which was built as a Buddhist Monastery, and which had nearly been completely reclaimed by the jungle. It’s name apparently translates to “Ancestor (of) Brahma” and is known for being one of the most photographed ruins primarily due to the many massive trees that have literally grown among and into the remains of the complex. The inhabiting monks owned the surrounding 3000 villages maintained by 18 high priests, 600 temple dancers, and 80,000 attendants. It is rumored to have been decorated in millions of diamonds and pearls, which of course have all been stripped out and the place practically gutted by “tomb-raiders” and thieves over time – as have all of the temples and relics. Even today you can see that it must have been magnificent in its glory days. It was one of the sites used in the movie, “Laura Croft – Tomb Raider”. The trees seem to be guarding the place as if to say: “This is mine now, back off”. 

entrance to Ta Prohm

Leaving Ta Prohm, Rong once again met us with refreshing cold drinks and towels. He returned us to the hotel where a lovely basket of beautiful local fruits was waiting for us in our room, along with a bottle of Champagne.

We attended the free happy hour for some refreshments and snacks before our driver took us into town where we asked him to just leave us for a while to stroll the streets and enjoy finding a nice place for dinner.