Angkor Wat

First an admission. Up to a year ago we had not heard of Angkor Wat and so it was not until we had watched a couple of films on Pandaw that we started to appreciate the enormity of what we were about to encounter. The whole area covers some 400 km2 and we visited three of the main sites.

Getting up at 4:00 so that we could witness the sunrise our guide (Pat who was just brilliant) took us through the Eastern gate of Angkor Wat. This was a quite entrance away from the hordes. It was eerily strange to see huge structures emerging from the gloom as we walked to the centre of the site. It is vast - for example the surrounding rectangular moat is 2 kms by 1.0 km and almost 200 metres wide. As we moved along the side of the temple we approached the Western Gate and here were the masses. There are some 3000 visitors a day to the site. We did manage to find a quiet spot for our only selfie.

There are 5 towers with the centre one some 213 metres high (as compared to St Pauls at 111 m or the Pyramid of Giza at 146 m). Considering this is built on silty ground the work that had gone into making stable foundations can only be guessed at. Suffice to say the lines are still true. The skill of the masons was also formidable with no mortar used and the face of the stones so true that you had to look hard to see the joints.

Once laid they were carved in intricate detail much of which depicts the history of this war ravaged area. (The Kymers (Cambodians) and Champs (Vietnamese) have warred for centuries.)

The carving below has even been hollowed out behind.

A 100 + metre long history lesson

With joints barely visible. There are millions of hours of work. Built in the first half of the 12C by King Suryavarman II it took only 40 years to build. A project of epic proportions.

The third level of the temple is accessed by steep steps. Fortunately the originals have been protected by timber steps with a hand rail to aid climbing. Most needed a rest after this!

The whole site is well maintained with the moat clear and reflective.

By comparison the adjoining Angkor Thom site is even bigger although maintenance is a bit more problematic.

We approached through the West gate which was beautiful with the dappled light of the tree lined road giving way to a huge face looking down at us.

The Bayon is in the centre of this site and also has a reflective pool which emphasises the 49 towers with their 4 heads on each face. The faces are all different and have varying hints of a smile.

You can tour round on an elephant. It sounds surprising but this one rather crept up on Helen giving this animal lover quite a jump.

The carvings and stories are more related to every day affairs such as cooking, building and other antics. This man is looking a bit cross – probably because the turtle has bitten his bottom.

Although the quality of the stone is less than Angkor Wat (the quarry ran out) some of the features are nonetheless remarkable. These fins (and their ties) are all from one piece of stone.

Every where you look there were faces. They looked a bit more relaxed than the next group….

OK its hot – where’s our lunch and a cool beer?

A unique photo – which I suspect our guide does with most of his guests!

After a pleaseant and cooling lunch we were ready for our third site at Ta Prohm.

We stopped at an old bridge which rather gave a flavour of things to come with the silk cotton trees finding the stones to their liking. They flow and look almost as if they have been poured from a jug and then set.

The older ones love the moist and slightly cooler micro climate of the buildings. This is where Tomb Raider was filmed. The site certainly sparks the imagination.

Some repairs (they were really rebuilds) were being undertaken by a French group. There is still a bit of work to do.

The before and after shots show that this colonnade was a pile of stones when the site was discovered.

The size of some of the trees was huge. They are quick growing. Some are slowly being removed to enable the stonework to be repaired while others a left as they add ambiance and add to the history.

The site was quite busy so patience was required to get these sort of pictures. Mind you the plague of people wanting to take selfies with every picture is quite hard to comprehend. How do they think they can improve on this - they can't all be Oscar Wilde's offspring.

 

It is a little ironic that some of the trees that are slowly strangling the structure are in turn being attacked by strangler figs.

After almost 12 hours we were ready to head back to our hotel, a beer and air conditioning however, we could not resist having a small stop to see this water wheel which was being enjoyed by the local children (it being a Sunday).

If you are heading towards Asia then a couple of days in Siem Reap is a must with a visit to this 7^th wonder of the world. Be quick as I suspect access will start to be restricted given that some of the visitors have no idea about respecting the stonework.