Years ago I saw a TV special on the ancient temples uncovered in the jungle of Cambodia. I vowed that I would climb among the tree roots one day and see it for myself. Another dream's come true!
Fortunately, my New Zealand friend Paul (he starred on this blog feeding some deer in Japan where we met) was headed to Cambodia at the same and we came to explore the Temples at Angkor together. We flew into Siem Reap, Cambodia (town nearest to the temples) and have shared the expenses of a private guide and driver for three days of sight-seeing. Paul found our guide Teng Sreang (Teng_Sreang@yahoo.com www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-sreang) on the internet and he has been with us from airport pick-up to my delivery tomorrow for $45 a sight-seeing day. This is the only way to visit these historic temples!
The Lonely Planet guidebook (the travel bible) devotes 50 pages to the Temples of Angkor. There is more history than I can begin to comprehend, but I truly feel like I have learned a great deal about the Kingdom of Cambodia. The 100 plus temples in the jungle of Cambodia were built between the 9th and 14th centuries AD, by about 25 different Kings. The Khmer empire was huge, at one point stretching from China, through Vietnam and Thailand. An astounding 1 million people lived in one of the temples, Angkor Thom (Great City), in the 1100's. At this same time less than 50,000 people lived in London.
I don't know how to begin to describe the beauty of the temples. Angkor Wat is the most famous and the most impressive with a moat as big as a lake, a long causeway leading to the entrance and then another huge walkway to actually get to the temple. The scale is enormous and awe-inspiring. It's believed that this was a funeral temple created to bury the King, because it is the only temple to face west (the direction of death). This is reportedly the largest religious structure in the world. It is in excellent condition, including its fantastic Bas-reliefs, because it is the only temple that was never left to the elements.
The next most impressive temple complex is Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is a walled city with a moat, ornamental gates (featured prominently on Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider), and many amazing temples and terraces. Paul and I met two Australian girls, Alex and Yael, at this temple and they joined us for a walk with our guide into the woods to some deserted temples. This was one of the highlights for me as we saw our first overgrown temple, Preah Palilay. It was magnificent!
We went to countless more exciting temples most celebrating Buddha, and some are still Hindu in both architecture and spirituality. We saw a completely overgrown jungle temple, an island temple, a miniature universe temple, the list goes on. We spent two very full days seeing the best of the Temples at Angkor. We climbed over stones, roots, stairs with 3 inch wide steps that went up to dizzying heights... There are no warning signs or cautions of any kind. The temples are raw and exciting. I felt like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom, but Paul pointed out that no one held Indiana's hand over the big puddles. The days alternated between blistering sun and steamy down pours. We persevered through it all. At the end of yesterday, we rode an elephant up Phnom Bakheng, a temple mountain near Angkor Wat, for sunset. It was the perfect end to our temple adventure!
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