Cambodia: Exploring Angkor

Even with crowds of people migrating towards it, Angkor Wat dwarfs them and makes all those heading to the sanctum behind its stone walls seem fleeting in their passage.  At no point as I walked the stone bridge across the moat did I feel that there were simply too many people.  The gargantuan nature of the complex defied such a sensation.  I passed beyond the outer wall and entered the massive courtyard further along where the iconic five-tiered temple  of the Wat itself looms with timeless power.  Unfortunately during my visit (and this season, if not year, in general) safeguarding construction is being undertaken on the main structure, highlighted by large green curtains.  No matter though, Angkor Wat provided an unexpected amount of roaming room.

I'll mention now that one of the most impressive things about Angkor, besides the architecture, obviously, is just how freely visitors can roam.  Once you've bought your pass (one day, three day or one week) and have passed into the territory you are at liberty to explore as freely and extensively as you wish until closing time in the early evening.  For two of the three days I rented a bicycle, which I overall preferred to the popular tuk-tuk method, and enjoyed taking as much time as I wanted to explore every corner a given temple if I so chose to.

As far as I can tell from my map I managed to visit every temple within the main area of Angkor, consisting of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the temples along what are known as the "short circuit" and the "long circuit".  I could go into detail to describe each, but rather than do that I'll suffice by posting some of my pictures here, though if ever it could be said that pictures won't properly convey a place, this would be a prime example.

Aspara dancer reliefs that have retained some of their paint

Battle depicted in elaborate reliefs (from the walls of Bayon)

I'll return to Angkor Wat for a moment, though.  Any tour groups going through stick to a fairly straight and narrow route through the grounds, and there was plenty of time to be alone there.  It was easy to find small grassy areas littered with ancient fallen stones, sit down in the shade of the towering walls of the Wat and relax.  The stonework there, and in all the temples in general, is extraordinary.  Not only in terms of the sheer size of the structures but in the intricate reliefs carved everywhere.  Beautiful reliefs of female aspara dancers adorn the walls of many of the other temples, but in the Wat they are particularly numerous and well preserved; in some of the more sheltered spots, say where one has been more saved from blowing rain by a nearby pillar, a layer ruddy red paint, which has otherwise faded away almost everywhere, is still on the stones.  Even more impressive is that they appear quite distinct from one another.  Other reliefs, some smaller, some extravagant, depict everything from daily life to wars to farming, including some of the grandest ones which show mythological battles and the army of Suryavarman II (founder and king of Angkor), among other things.  The most elaborate ones take up entire walls, running what I guesstimate to be 30 meters or more.



Impossible not to mention would be Bayon, in Angkor Thom.  This temple is decorated with giant, enigmatic faces carved into the stone, nearly as iconic to the outside world as the silhouette of Angkor Wat.  Having biked through the massive entrance of Angkor Thom that arches over the road, and down a dirt road through it's interior without consulting my map in detail for what lay just ahead, coming upon Bayon was an even more stunning moment than that of Angkor Wat--a humbling, powerful and complex construction adorned with its resident faces in stone, which stare out calmly across the centuries.  Bayon was a temple to truly lose yourself in, exploring its maze-like interior with its narrow darkened passages and quiet corners.

Bayon

Those were only the first two temples on the journey.  The rest is simply too much to detail--from the awe inducing Banyan trees spreading centuries of serpentine roots through and over legions of stone, the jungle pushing back at the temples with the slow and irresistible force of nature; crumbling temples so vast that one could never hope to be sure they've seen all of it in just one visit, to secluded ruins where I could have the pleasure of knowing that for a time at least I had it all to myself.  

And that leads me to my last points: the most surprising thing about Angkor was the sheer lack of people.  Never did I feel swamped by crowds (and I was there at peak season) that I had read I would have to be wading through.  No such thing.  Sure, more popular areas had more traffic, or maybe I was just at the right particular places at the right time, but never once did I feel moved along, or that I was in someone's way, or that I couldn't just sit down and relax.  Angkor is simply too big and sprawling for that.

If Angkor was in certain other places in the world we probably wouldn't be able to walk around freely anywhere within it, running our hands over ancient reliefs, lounging about on its stones or climbing to temple summits on steep stone staircases of uneven and sometimes disconcertingly narrow steps.  In other places it's likely that areas would be roped off--there'd be a set path to walk on, and plenty of signs forbidding entry to restricted areas (there are admittedly a few warning signs there in particularly dangerous sections).  Further more, many of the hundreds of reliefs, statues and carvings that fill the walls, courtyards, and litter the grounds where they've fallen over the centuries, would no doubt be in museums in environment-controlled casing.  But all of this is in Cambodia, South East Asia--out in the jungles of a poor, developing country absolutely devastated by a genocidal regime (more on that in a later post) less than forty years ago.  Perhaps someday, as Cambodia develops more, many areas of Angkor will be roped off, some of its most incredible carvings removed and carried off to museums where they will be preserved for posterity.  Perhaps some temples will someday be forbidden altogether.  Not at this point in history though, and just in case, I'm glad I saw it when I did.

From the corner of the low wall around the immediate Angkor Wat temple

Looking across the moat of Ankor Wat

Headless stone warriors "hold" up the railing of a bridge

Only a lone doorway remains standing at this ruin

A monkey hangs out at the roadside

Old blocks sit scattered about in the leafy shade

Catching sunrise at Angkor Wat

I doubt I could ever get bored of these incredible trees

Taken from an inner room with a ruined ceiling.  A Banyan rises from the wall beyond.

Stone cobras in the ruins watch for passerby in a lonely area of  Angkor Thom

A dead rose found near a small Buddhist prayer site in one of the Prasat area structures.  The temples are naturally still used by locals for worship purposes.  Very early one morning I had climbed to the top of a pyramid like temple in Angkor Thom, where used incense sticks in the stone indicated it was used for prayer.  An old Cambodian woman suddenly entered behind me with flowers, placed them down in the offering area and began to weep.

Owners ride their elephants up the Anchor Thom road leading to Bayon

A gate arching over one of the "royal roads".  The final time I tried to photograph one of these I dropped my camera and impaired its ability to process photos properly.  The only saving grace is that it happened closer to the end of the trip.