February 23 - Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom

We arose extra early to ride tuktuks at 4:45 AM (in the dark) to watch the sun rise at Angkor Wat. We hopped in tuktuk #1 and led our group to the site. We quickly realized that pretty much every tourist in this town had the same agenda! The viewing spot is west of the temple and features a pond where you can admire the temple’s reflection in the water. It was somewhat crowded (but could have been much worse we imagine). Walking to the site in the dark presented a few challenges. We walked through the western gate and crossed a floating bridge. Our guides had flashlights to help us. We then found a good spot to stand and enjoyed the views (and took a lot of photos). It was totally worth it! At 5:30 AM we could hear the chanting of Buddhist monks somewhere in the distance.

After the sun rose, we turned to look back toward the west and saw two large structures that were libraries for the temple. There was also a large air balloon taking up tourists for a higher viewpoint (just up and down, did not travel). Then our guide led us on a tour of Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is currently a Buddhist temple complex and is the largest religious monument in the world, on a site measuring 162.6 hectares. Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built by the King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. The construction took thirty-seven years. As the best-preserved temple at Angkor, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple mountain and the galleried temple. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology. Within a moat and an outer wall are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. Each level indicates a higher level of status. At the center of the temple stands five towers (Mount Meru). Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas (female figures) adorning its walls. Originally, the temple was covered in gold, as our guide showed us in a simulated picture on his iPad. We enjoyed seeing the statues of the nagas, the seven headed serpent-like creatures who are protectors of Buddha. The temple had many images/sculptures of Buddha when it was discovered. They are now found in the Angkor Museum in Siem Reap. One impressive wall carving is still on site, called the “Churning of the Ocean.” This tells an important Hindu story. It is enormous and beautiful.

Originally three thousand people would have lived inside the walls of the temple, but not in the temple. There would have been many more, non-religious people living outside the walls. When we departed the temple on the east side, we admired the peaceful moats. Our guide told us that the preservation of the moats is essential for Angkor Wat. Water is pumped into the moats. If they were to go dry, the surrounding soil might not support the temple, and it could collapse.

We returned to the hotel at 9:00 AM for breakfast and then had the remainder of the morning at leisure. We went to the pool for a quick swim. We then had a light lunch at the hotel’s Ember restaurant: chicken Caesar salads.

In the afternoon, we began our activities with a stop at a high-priced shop with statuary, rugs, clothing, jewelry, etc. Most of the goods were more expensive than we were interested in, but we did buy a small green head of Buddha. Then at 3:00 PM we departed to tour Angkor Tom.

The center of Angkor Tom, which means “big capital,” is a temple called Bayon. King Jayavarman VII built this temple to honor both Buddha and himself, thus it is also his tomb. It took twenty-five years to build the temple, which has forty-nine towers, made from 400 thousand tons of stone (note: Angkor Wat was made of two million tons of stone). The stone quality to build Bayon was not as good, so it has suffered more erosion. The temple is amazing with huge faces carved into the towers. Four of the faces are meant to reflect four emotions. We thought to ourselves, what would we do if we came across this in the jungle, as the French did, with these faces looking out? Turn around and run, most likely! 

The carvings we saw reflected scenes and stories from Buddhism. There are also scenes depicting everyday life. 

Similar to Angkor Wat, there would have been a Buddha figure in every room, now removed to the museum in Siem Reap. The French restored the temple from 1924 through 1941. Thirty to fifty percent of the current structure is a restoration. The site was almost completely empty during our tour. At the end of our time there, a bride and groom arrived all dressed up for some pre-wedding photographs.

We then rode the bus to the area called the Elephant Terrace, named because of the extensive carved elephants in a very long wall. 

We also saw the adjacent Leper King Terrace. This was misnamed. The area was actually a crematorium for the royal family. Carvings on the wall represent possible outcomes for people in their next lives. 

Across a field we saw twelve towers, one for each sign of the zodiac. We returned to the bridge where we had entered the site and saw that the figures on the bridge, which were also telling the story of the “Churning of the Ocean.”

Then it was time for a little fun. We boarded gondolas, which would each hold four people for a ride on the moat. Our gondola drivers were very musical and enjoyed singing to us. One in particular really enjoyed putting on a show! We rode the gondola with Adrienne. A “drinks” boat pulled up alongside of each gondola to serve wine to go along with the appetizers served on each boat. It was a really good time, and the sunset was gorgeous.
 

A short video of our singing gondoliers:
 

The group had dinner at the Chanrey Tree restaurant near the hotel. Rob had beef salad, and Roy had chicken salad. Both were surprisingly not spicy, but we were not too hungry.