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Land of a thousand temples
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The Cambodian legend continues... We arrive in Siem Reap, some 314 km northeast of the capital, it is the jumping off point for exploring the great temples of the Angkor era (8th - 13th centuries). We bought 3 day passes for the temples and hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us around. After Angkor, no temples compare. In the surrounding region of the great lake and Siem Reap, hundreds of ancient ruins survive as a reminder of the great Khmer dynasty that once ruled from present day Vietnam to Burma. These temples are the pride of Cambodia, the central point in the contemporary Cambodian conciousness...they appear on the currency, the national brand of ciggarettes is named after them, the national beer, half of the hotels and guesthouses in every city bear the name Angkor, etc, etc. Every ruling government in the past century has place extraordinary emphasis on the temples and how they play the significant role in the formation Khmer identity. Even Pol Pot, within the framework of his radical utopianism, stressed the importance of Angkor (going so far as explicitly using the term ''Angkar'' in reference to the communist party oranisation - CPK) as a great Khmer tradition that proved the potential of the people.
We started off at Bayon, the strangest of all the temples. A massive heap of jutting sandstone towers and pillars, the faces of the gods carved within the rocks. Probably the most unique and interesting of them all. Afterwards, we headed straight towards the colossal Angkor Wat. The largest religious structure in the world, the greatest temple in the world. Upon crossing the massive moat that served symbolic and protective purposes, you are left to walk east within the outer walls along the causeway towards the giant towers the rise towards the heavens. Like most of the other temples, Angkor Wat was built in the Hindu tradition as a symbolic representation of the entire Hindu universe. The moat represented the oceans, the gardens within the outer walls symbolised the continents, and the towers were supposed to be the peaks upon where the god's dwelled. The center tower, the most important, was representative of Mt. Meru, the dwelling place of Shiva - in whose name most of the temples were dedicated.
The second day awoke at 5am and made the tuk-tuk ride for Angkor Wat to see the sunset. Unbelievable. The sun is firey red in Cambodia and when it emerged from behind the massive towering structure, it appeared as if the jungle behind was emblazened setting the entire horizon and sky on fire, flames bursting from the palms. A magnificent sight. The sheer size of the temple is baffling and intimidating. We ended up visiting all the important temples in the direct vicinity of Siem Reap - another that was impressive due to its natural setting and lack of maintenance was Ta Phrom - where ''Tombraider'' was filmed. Huge stragler figs have engulfed much of this temple which resembles a lost maze.
The owner of our guesthouse invited us out for a night on the town. Dylan was a bit ill so he stayed in and Cooky and I went along. The owner and 3 of his Khmer friends took us by tuk-tuk to a spot somewhere outside of the city center, driving for miles until we reached this crazy red Karaoke Khmer disco club hidden back some alley behind a food market. Not a foreigner inside, nor for miles in any direction. What a night! They bought us drinks all night, didn't even charge us for tuk-tuk, and belted out Karaoke and danced like lunatics. These are the kinds of experiences that make everyone love Cambodia. We met this old guy from Texas who was explaining to us how he's been to this county 20 times because he has fallen in love with it. It is strange because at first glance, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, appear to be very similar, yet none have the charm and warmth of Cambodia. In retrospect, Vietnam seems even a bit rough, hard-edged. But Cambodia, beautiful counrtyside, classic and timeless cities and the people, unlike any other.
However, lets keep in mind that there is still a massive amount of poverty, millions of landmines, a frightening amount of guns, killings, and theft in this war-torn, shatterred country that is still struggling to rebuild itself after decades of brutal civil war and the legacy of the most extreme and radical communist revolution to ever sieze power anywhere. Perhaps it is this predicament that makes one love Cambodia in a nostalgic and primitive sense. Love and pity, a powerful combination.
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