We finally woke up roughly at 8am when the phone rang for probably the 100th time and Suporn had banged on our door for what seemed like eternity. We were still tired from the previous day's travel but also excited since we were going to the Angkor temples today. We had a quick breakfast and became aware of busloads (there were 3 buses) of Japanese tourists getting ready to leave for Angkor as well. I said to Abi "Looks like my idea of the temples being quiet & peaceful was not entirely right". Suporn immediately reminded us that he had asked us to get up early to avoid this crowd.
During the 15 minute drive to the gateway of Angkor temples, I read the Lonely Planet about Siem Reap & Angkor. Angkor was the capital of the ancient Khmer empire which ruled Cambodia from 9th-15th century AD. During the Angkor era, stone structures were built only for Gods. Mortals (King included) stayed in wooden structures which have not stood the test of time. The temple ruins of Angkor are located a few kms off Siem Reap between forests. There are over 1000 temples in the Angkor area. Many of them have been restored with the help of UNESCO and foreign governments aid.
We reached the entrance to Angkor area and had to buy an entry pass from a large official entrance booth. Entry tickets are controlled by a petroleum company Sokimex which takes 15% of the revenues as administrative charges. 75% of the revenue is given back to the finance ministry. At the rate of 40USD per person (for a 3 day pass) and over a million visitors, Angkor is a key source of revenues for the Cambodian government. Anyway, enough of money matters !
While I was planning this trip to Angkor, I had realized that all temples looked alike at first glance - stone ruins of temples, weeds growing from them, similar carvings on the stone. To enjoy the experience of Angkor, I had to know & understand the significance of what I was looking at. So I bought a guide book for 10USD afer a bit of haggling. The seller had realized that he could sell a few more books to the busloads of tourists (henceforth referred to as "the bus") than waste his time with me. Inspired by the bus listening to their tour guide in awe, I had taken a fancy to becoming a tour guide as well. I decided that I would be Abi's tour guide for our trip. I quickly started reading the book so that I could seem knowledgeable by the time we reached our first temple for the day.
Angkor temples have some specific styles & structures which are important to know to understand and appreciate the temples better. I wanted to write about it, but found a really clear (and short!) description on Wikipedia, so I am taking a short-cut and pasting the link here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Cambodia
Angkor Area Map
Our first Destination was Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is actually a fortified city of around 10 sq km which supported a population of one million during its peak. It is enclosed by a wall and encircled by a moat which used to have fierce crocodiles. The moat has dried up now. The city has 5 entry gates and we entered through the south gate, which is most popular since it has been almost fully restored. The gate has 54 demons on one side and 54 gods on the other side holding a naga and churning the ocean of milk.
From here, we went to Bayon at the centre of Angkor Thom city. Bayon is known for its 216 faces of Avalokiteshwara which is said to have more than a passing resemblance to the king Jayavarman VII himself. It is a symbol of his power & control over the kingdom. It is believed that most of the temples were built for this purpose. During Jayavarman VII's reign, Khmer Empire was divided into 54 provinces. Hence the temple is built on 54 towers. The 216 faces indicate that the all-seeing eyes of the king were keeping a watch on the 54 provinces from all directions. The guide book waxed eloquent about each face of Bayon looking like it had a slightly different expression based on the direction of the light and angle of viewing. I tried hard to visualize this as well, but couldnt. All faces appeared alike.
There were atleast a hundred people in Bayon with some tourists hugging one of the over the 100 faces and taking pictures flashing a victory sign ! I didnt understand their thrill in climbing statue and flashing a victory sign. But then I dont understand a lot of other things ! Abi wanted to get his picture clicked with one of the faces as well. So we found one which wasnt crowded. By the time I clicked the picture, 5 V-flashing people materialized out of nowhere.
After an hour at Bayon, we went to the nearby Elephant's terrace and Leper terrace. The sun was getting stronger by the minute. I vaguely remember the motions of going to these places but nothing more. The heat had gotten to me. Then I noticed that the heat had gotten to Abi more than me. He looked as red as a tomato and had sunburns on his face. Needless to say, he was in a sour mood.
We went back to the car and thankfully Suporn had the good sense to stock up on water. After a brief rest, we went to 2 smaller temples - Thommanom & Chau Say Thevoda. Both these temples were built in the 12th century and were dedicated to Shiva & Vishnu. Since Lonely Planet said they were both similar temples, we decided to go to only one of them - Thommanom since it was in a better condition. When we reached the entrance of the temple, I decided I wasnt upto it and seated myself under a shady tree and was content with the pictures & description in the guide book. Abi was tempted to do the same but then he felt since we had come all the way here, he had to see the temples and click pictures to prove his presence.
Well rested now, I was very excited about going to Ta Prohm which was the next big temple we planned to go to. Abi looked like he would drop to the ground anytime. As we entered Ta Prohm, we noticed that the Indian government had contributed to restoring and maintaining the temple. Abi saw the board with the Indian flag and was immediately energized. He insisted that I read out every single word about Ta Prohm from the guide book and we spend quality time here.
Ta Prohm is a buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of the king and close to 80,000 people were required to maintain the temple. It is quite unlike all the other temples we had seen. A large portion of the temple is not accessible today since they are blocked by large piles of stone blocks dislodged by roots of dying trees. To give people an idea of the extent of ruins the temples were in when they were found, Ta Prohm has been left to be swallowed by the jungle pretty much like it was found. I felt that the Indian government had chosen to sponsor the maintenance of the easiest temple. But then we found out that only the big trees have been left in place and the temple has been maintained to give it the appearance of being in a state of disrepair. Hard work indeed ! The temple looks awesome with crumbling walls being held in place by roots of the trees. It is said that the temple will collapse when the tress holding it up die. I think we easily spent an hour here. In the midst of tourists hugging tree roots and flashing victory signs, we did manage to get a few pictures too. There was one particular tree which was quite a favorite with tourists. Some tourists queued up and waited for their turn, others just jumped in from nowhere with a big smile, caps and victory signs. We recognized the first set of tourists as singaporeans and the second as Japanese. The third cateogory of people who watched this from the side (just the 2 of us) were Indians since we are used to standing and watching whenever anything remotely interesting happens.
After a tiring morning, we were really looking forward to lunch. Suporn took us to a small shack within the Angkor area. Abi decided he wanted lime juice to build his energy and informed the waiter that he didnt want it cold. For the next 5 minutes, Abi waited expectantly for the lime juice and conversation had stopped completely. Finally the waiter placed a piping hot lime juice in front of us and thats when Abi lost it completely. He shouted incoherently at the poor guy for a while, then regained his composure and asked for ice. We spent a good part of our lunch hour tying to cool the juice by adding ice pieces at regular intervals.
(Since Day 6 is getting to be really long, its 'To be Continued' in the next blog)
During the 15 minute drive to the gateway of Angkor temples, I read the Lonely Planet about Siem Reap & Angkor. Angkor was the capital of the ancient Khmer empire which ruled Cambodia from 9th-15th century AD. During the Angkor era, stone structures were built only for Gods. Mortals (King included) stayed in wooden structures which have not stood the test of time. The temple ruins of Angkor are located a few kms off Siem Reap between forests. There are over 1000 temples in the Angkor area. Many of them have been restored with the help of UNESCO and foreign governments aid.
We reached the entrance to Angkor area and had to buy an entry pass from a large official entrance booth. Entry tickets are controlled by a petroleum company Sokimex which takes 15% of the revenues as administrative charges. 75% of the revenue is given back to the finance ministry. At the rate of 40USD per person (for a 3 day pass) and over a million visitors, Angkor is a key source of revenues for the Cambodian government. Anyway, enough of money matters !
While I was planning this trip to Angkor, I had realized that all temples looked alike at first glance - stone ruins of temples, weeds growing from them, similar carvings on the stone. To enjoy the experience of Angkor, I had to know & understand the significance of what I was looking at. So I bought a guide book for 10USD afer a bit of haggling. The seller had realized that he could sell a few more books to the busloads of tourists (henceforth referred to as "the bus") than waste his time with me. Inspired by the bus listening to their tour guide in awe, I had taken a fancy to becoming a tour guide as well. I decided that I would be Abi's tour guide for our trip. I quickly started reading the book so that I could seem knowledgeable by the time we reached our first temple for the day.
Angkor temples have some specific styles & structures which are important to know to understand and appreciate the temples better. I wanted to write about it, but found a really clear (and short!) description on Wikipedia, so I am taking a short-cut and pasting the link here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Cambodia
Angkor Area Map
Our first Destination was Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is actually a fortified city of around 10 sq km which supported a population of one million during its peak. It is enclosed by a wall and encircled by a moat which used to have fierce crocodiles. The moat has dried up now. The city has 5 entry gates and we entered through the south gate, which is most popular since it has been almost fully restored. The gate has 54 demons on one side and 54 gods on the other side holding a naga and churning the ocean of milk.
From here, we went to Bayon at the centre of Angkor Thom city. Bayon is known for its 216 faces of Avalokiteshwara which is said to have more than a passing resemblance to the king Jayavarman VII himself. It is a symbol of his power & control over the kingdom. It is believed that most of the temples were built for this purpose. During Jayavarman VII's reign, Khmer Empire was divided into 54 provinces. Hence the temple is built on 54 towers. The 216 faces indicate that the all-seeing eyes of the king were keeping a watch on the 54 provinces from all directions. The guide book waxed eloquent about each face of Bayon looking like it had a slightly different expression based on the direction of the light and angle of viewing. I tried hard to visualize this as well, but couldnt. All faces appeared alike.
There were atleast a hundred people in Bayon with some tourists hugging one of the over the 100 faces and taking pictures flashing a victory sign ! I didnt understand their thrill in climbing statue and flashing a victory sign. But then I dont understand a lot of other things ! Abi wanted to get his picture clicked with one of the faces as well. So we found one which wasnt crowded. By the time I clicked the picture, 5 V-flashing people materialized out of nowhere.
After an hour at Bayon, we went to the nearby Elephant's terrace and Leper terrace. The sun was getting stronger by the minute. I vaguely remember the motions of going to these places but nothing more. The heat had gotten to me. Then I noticed that the heat had gotten to Abi more than me. He looked as red as a tomato and had sunburns on his face. Needless to say, he was in a sour mood.
We went back to the car and thankfully Suporn had the good sense to stock up on water. After a brief rest, we went to 2 smaller temples - Thommanom & Chau Say Thevoda. Both these temples were built in the 12th century and were dedicated to Shiva & Vishnu. Since Lonely Planet said they were both similar temples, we decided to go to only one of them - Thommanom since it was in a better condition. When we reached the entrance of the temple, I decided I wasnt upto it and seated myself under a shady tree and was content with the pictures & description in the guide book. Abi was tempted to do the same but then he felt since we had come all the way here, he had to see the temples and click pictures to prove his presence.
Well rested now, I was very excited about going to Ta Prohm which was the next big temple we planned to go to. Abi looked like he would drop to the ground anytime. As we entered Ta Prohm, we noticed that the Indian government had contributed to restoring and maintaining the temple. Abi saw the board with the Indian flag and was immediately energized. He insisted that I read out every single word about Ta Prohm from the guide book and we spend quality time here.
Ta Prohm is a buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of the king and close to 80,000 people were required to maintain the temple. It is quite unlike all the other temples we had seen. A large portion of the temple is not accessible today since they are blocked by large piles of stone blocks dislodged by roots of dying trees. To give people an idea of the extent of ruins the temples were in when they were found, Ta Prohm has been left to be swallowed by the jungle pretty much like it was found. I felt that the Indian government had chosen to sponsor the maintenance of the easiest temple. But then we found out that only the big trees have been left in place and the temple has been maintained to give it the appearance of being in a state of disrepair. Hard work indeed ! The temple looks awesome with crumbling walls being held in place by roots of the trees. It is said that the temple will collapse when the tress holding it up die. I think we easily spent an hour here. In the midst of tourists hugging tree roots and flashing victory signs, we did manage to get a few pictures too. There was one particular tree which was quite a favorite with tourists. Some tourists queued up and waited for their turn, others just jumped in from nowhere with a big smile, caps and victory signs. We recognized the first set of tourists as singaporeans and the second as Japanese. The third cateogory of people who watched this from the side (just the 2 of us) were Indians since we are used to standing and watching whenever anything remotely interesting happens.
After a tiring morning, we were really looking forward to lunch. Suporn took us to a small shack within the Angkor area. Abi decided he wanted lime juice to build his energy and informed the waiter that he didnt want it cold. For the next 5 minutes, Abi waited expectantly for the lime juice and conversation had stopped completely. Finally the waiter placed a piping hot lime juice in front of us and thats when Abi lost it completely. He shouted incoherently at the poor guy for a while, then regained his composure and asked for ice. We spent a good part of our lunch hour tying to cool the juice by adding ice pieces at regular intervals.
(Since Day 6 is getting to be really long, its 'To be Continued' in the next blog)
5 comments:
Fantastic style of writing :)...just out of curiosity how did u react when u saw the piping hot lemondae???
Thanks :) I dont remember how I reacted since I was too busy watching Abi react! I also find it much easier to describe others' reactions than pen down my own
Great blog...u write so well apu!
I was lol thinking about the piping hot lemonade! waiting for the next one :-)
you were an awesome guide...but I guess an even better writer! keep writing...
Another amazing post...! I am left 'comment-less' :-)
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