Cambodia -Day One, after brunch
After brunch Sang and I headed for Angkor Thom. Loosely translated this is the Town of Angkor or Big Angkor. Angkor Thom has 5 gates, one to each direction and one called the Victory Gate. We entered through the South Gate. I guess I should digress for a moment. One of the interesting things about the ancient Khmer civilizations is that they were originally Hindu and only later Buddhist. Some of the temples started as Hindu were converted to Buddhist then later converted back to Hindu. Some started as Buddhist and were later converted to Hindu. I'll leave you to read up on the history if you are interested rather than go into a prolonged history lesson here. But one result is that many many Buddha images were destroyed. We still see a few here and there and of course some modern ones have been added. Virtually all of the bas-reliefs and carvings are of Hindu origin and many show scenes from the Ramayana. I'll be posting some of these soon.
After we headed through the gate, the next stop was Bayon. Bayon is rated as one of the 'must see' temples in the complex. It definitely lived up to it's reputation. This was a Buddhist temple. The giant heads, like the ones seen at the South Gate may be Loksvara, the compassionate boddhisatva or may be King Jayavarman VII. There is still debate on that and it's doubtful we will ever know for sure. The highlights of the temple are the huge heads and the bas-reliefs. Unfortunately when we got here, it was very hot and very crowded so I probably didn't spend as much quality time at Bayon as it deserved. At this point Sang attempted to give me directions and tell me where he was going to pick me up. This was the only glitch of the entire trip. I wandered beyond where I was to be picked up and couldn't find Sang. Fortunately I had money and liquid vendors were plentiful so I was able to keep hydrated while I searched for him. Eventually I found him right where he said he would be.
In Bayon I strolled around, climbed narrow stairs and generally watched people, both the barangs and the Khmer. I've posted a few pics of people from this part of my trip. After Bayon I headed over to Baphuon. Baphuon is a 'mountain' temple. These were based on the Hindu Mt. Meru. For the Angkor Kings to be considered Living Gods, they had to have these temple mountains built to simulate Mt. Meru, the Golden Mountain where the gods lived. Unfortunately it is undergoing major restoration and cannot be entered. I walked the perimeter and then went to the Terrace of the Leper King. This is where I went wrong. My driver was waiting for me at Baphuon. I stopped for a drink of fresh coconut milk and a quiet moment in the shade. Well, quiet except for the many vendors trying to sell me postcards, scarves, bracelets and guide books. After my liquid fix I wandered off in search of Sang and some much needed air conditioning. I accidentally got to see the Terrace of the Elephants during my search which not surprisingly has lots of elephants. It also somewhat surprisingly to me anyway has quite a few garudas. I was surprised at the link between the Indonesian culture and the Khmer culture as exemplified by the inclusion of the garuda. In any case finally after much wandering I did finally find Sang and we went back to the villa for a rest before the evening's activities.
As always, comments, questions and corrections to andym528@hotmail.com
After we headed through the gate, the next stop was Bayon. Bayon is rated as one of the 'must see' temples in the complex. It definitely lived up to it's reputation. This was a Buddhist temple. The giant heads, like the ones seen at the South Gate may be Loksvara, the compassionate boddhisatva or may be King Jayavarman VII. There is still debate on that and it's doubtful we will ever know for sure. The highlights of the temple are the huge heads and the bas-reliefs. Unfortunately when we got here, it was very hot and very crowded so I probably didn't spend as much quality time at Bayon as it deserved. At this point Sang attempted to give me directions and tell me where he was going to pick me up. This was the only glitch of the entire trip. I wandered beyond where I was to be picked up and couldn't find Sang. Fortunately I had money and liquid vendors were plentiful so I was able to keep hydrated while I searched for him. Eventually I found him right where he said he would be.
In Bayon I strolled around, climbed narrow stairs and generally watched people, both the barangs and the Khmer. I've posted a few pics of people from this part of my trip. After Bayon I headed over to Baphuon. Baphuon is a 'mountain' temple. These were based on the Hindu Mt. Meru. For the Angkor Kings to be considered Living Gods, they had to have these temple mountains built to simulate Mt. Meru, the Golden Mountain where the gods lived. Unfortunately it is undergoing major restoration and cannot be entered. I walked the perimeter and then went to the Terrace of the Leper King. This is where I went wrong. My driver was waiting for me at Baphuon. I stopped for a drink of fresh coconut milk and a quiet moment in the shade. Well, quiet except for the many vendors trying to sell me postcards, scarves, bracelets and guide books. After my liquid fix I wandered off in search of Sang and some much needed air conditioning. I accidentally got to see the Terrace of the Elephants during my search which not surprisingly has lots of elephants. It also somewhat surprisingly to me anyway has quite a few garudas. I was surprised at the link between the Indonesian culture and the Khmer culture as exemplified by the inclusion of the garuda. In any case finally after much wandering I did finally find Sang and we went back to the villa for a rest before the evening's activities.
As always, comments, questions and corrections to andym528@hotmail.com