The mother of all temples
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
147
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Siem Reap,
Cambodia
Monday, March 31, 2008
On the night of our arrival we decided to get a head start on today and bicycled up to the ticket booth to buy our passes. We were informed that, having purchased three-day passes effective the next day, we could go that evening for free and watch the sunset over Angkor Wat. We had finally arrived, and although I hadn't been as impatient as Travis I caught my breath when I finally saw the majestic prasats rising from the treetops. Maintaining his legendary self-control, Travis made sure we walked only around the outside of the temple so that we could take a nice photograph of the sunset. Of course, as soon as we left our prime location the clouds turned pink, but what can you do? And we had both begun looking forward to the next day with relish
our first sunset
. Travis may have had more relish. He crawled out of bed when the alarm rang so that he could bicycle up to the temple in time for sunrise. I opted to stay in bed. When Travis came back for me, however, he was frustrated at the necessary delay my not joining him had caused, and before long we were back on our bicycles. It did sound like a nice sunrise, and I'm a bit sorry I missed it.
When we did get to Angkor Wat we found that we were nearly alone in exploring it. Most tour groups go through around sunrise or sunset, leaving it relatively quiet the rest of the day. This pleased us immensely, and we took our time scrutenizing the carvings and exploring nooks and crannies. Angkor Wat is the biggest religious monument in the world, and was built by King Suryavarman II in honor of Vishnu, with whom he closely identified. This makes Angkor Wat rather unusual, because most of the other temples of Angkor are dedicated to Shiva. Angkor Wat was also meant to be Suryavarman's funerary temple, so one walks around it counter-clockwise rather than clockwise, as one should usually do at Hindu and Buddhist temples. The funerary aspect is apparent in this opposite layout, which was reserved for death, as well as the fact that the main entry to the temple faces west, rather than east
back a little
. In many Asian cultures west is the land for the dead, just so you know. As for the carvings and our explorations - we loved them and scampered around like little kids even though it was killer hot. Most of the stories depicted in the bas-reliefs were about Vishnu, and we had snagged a book about Angkor from our hotel so I could point things out and we played games of finding things in the carvings. Just take a look at our photos and decide that the only way to really enjoy it is to go there. But we hope you can enjoy what we've brought you if you can't go there. I must say, however, that the inside isn't nearly as exciting as the outside. For one, the inside isn't as decorated as the outside. For two, once you're standing under the prasats (which you're not allowed to climb or go into), the temple looks significantly less iconic. And I don't think I mentioned that Angkor Wat is not the temple's original name. This new name cropped up during the rise of Buddhism and the temple was transformed into a wat, which is where monks live. Ergo there are piles of wats in Cambodia and Thailand. There were still monks living in the temple when it was "discovered." Not now, though.
Our attempt to see it at sunset again was thwarted by the fact that we'd been so long that afternoon in Angkor Thom and by the fact that the rain had made the clouds disagreeable
the famous spires
. Still, I liked the look of the dark gray prasats poking out into the light gray sky, so I whipped out the telephoto and got bitten by ants. The light made it difficult to get a non-fuzzy shot, however. That night I vowed I would get out of bed to see the sunrise the next morning, and Travis bet that I wouldn't. But when I actually made him name a forfeit he wouldn't, because he knows how stubborn I can be just to prove something to someone. Particularly him. So when the alarm rang in the morning I groaned and rolled out of bed. Travis followed, having decided last night that the time gained by starting out at five was not worth wasting. By 5:20 we were bicycling through a relatively silent Siem Reap.
When we arrived at Angkor Wat the light was shining, but the sun didn't look like it would make an appearance. Low clouds were residual from yesterday's rains, and made our getting out of bed seem so not worth it. Then, as we leaned against the naga bannisters the giant red ball of the sun burst out from behind one cloud and made its short way up to behind another. But for the few minutes that it shone it was extraordinary, and I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was the first time I ever thought the rising sun looked like a "red rubber ball" for those of you with any musicality
framed by trees
. As we continued our explorations Angkor Wat was always there, so we saw it many times, although the only time we explored it at length was that first day. On the day be both woke up before sunrise we ran around like crazy before settling on Phnom Bakheng, a temple situated atop a hill with a view of Angkor Wat. At sunset it gets to be a bit of a zoo, but we decided to give it a go anyway. We had an excellent view, and as the sun began to set the stones of Angkor Wat glowed warmly, creating a pretty, iconic picture.
Satisfied with our exploits, we rode home, but before we could even think of eating dinner we both fell fast asleep. I love this intriguing place. It's absolutely enchanting.
Erin
