Temples of Old

The greatest source of national pride in Cambodia is the temples of Angkor. It is why people come to this country, although, I'm quite certain it's the people that make tourists fall in love with this place.

Almost 1,000 years ago, in the city of Angkor, massive stone temples were being built to honor the gods. These temples still stand today in all their glory and majesty. They were stunning and mind blowing.

We joined the fellow tourists to try to catch sunrise at the largest and most well-known temple, Angkor Wat. It is the world's largest religious building and it was built in the early twelfth century from sandstone blocks brought from 50 kilometers away. It was meant to be an earthly representation of Mt. Meru, the Olympus of Hindu gods. (This country has been both majority Hindu and Buddhist at different times and the temples have changed with the religious beliefs.) While we did get to see some color in the sky, we didn't get the postcard sunrise we were looking for, but no matter what, we got to experience the majesty of this ancient wonder before the heat of the day set in. 

The temple was almost endless, each doorway led to another stone hallway or a courtyard. In the center, five towers stood tall, reaching toward the heavens. The symmetry and careful architectural design of the temple was amazing. The most impressive part to me, however, was the detailed, intricate  designs etched into the sandstone walls. Sometimes they were figures carefully drawn and in other places, beautiful, simple, yet elegantly duplicated designs. These days, both monks and monkeys can be found in the temple.

Next, Tom took us to Angkor Thom (yes, we joked that it was his). Around the same time of  Angkor Wat, in the late twelfth century, this became the capital. The ancient city was surrounded by an impressive wall with a moat all around it. At each gate, a line of demons on one side and gods on the other appeared to play tug of war with a giant snake. There were buildings for people inside these city walls, but they were made of wood, as the rocks were reserved for the gods, so the abodes of people have long disintegrated. It was here that the last capital of the Khmer empire lasted for several hundred years. 

Angkor Thom is home to several temples, of which the names begin to run together, but Bayon Temple is the most well known and there is certainly a reason for that. The temple is adorned with a multitude of faces of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Buddhist god who gazed down on the world and encompasses compassion for all people. Legend says that the figure head's have a striking resemblance of the king who commissioned them.

Inside Angkor Thom was also Baphuon, originally a Hindu temple, but later a reclining Buddha was added to the back. We loved the long walkway and the stairways to heaven at the top.

There were several other temples we visited that day, and frankly, they have already started to run together, all but Ta Prohm, one of a couple of temples around where Mother Nature has truly shown her power. In the twelfth century, kings commissioned incredible temples to worship their gods, but long after the men have gone, Mother Nature shows who is truly powerful. The trees grew out of the temple and somehow encompassed both sides of stone walls.

On our second day, which started not nearly as early, Tom drove us to Kbal Spean, a temple only "discovered" in the last fifty years. We hiked a nice hike through the jungle, uphill, not exactly knowing what we were looking for, but in the end, we saw pieces of crumbled stones and columns ornately decorated lying in the riverbed, signs of glorious days gone by, now in disfiguration, but beautiful nonetheless. Look carefully at the riverbed and the boulders in the background.

Next, we headed to another favorite of mine: Banteay Sri, the Citadel of the Women. Why? Partly because of the pinkish hue of the stones used for creating this wonder, begun in 967 (no, I didn't leave off a digit). However, the true reason behind the name is because "it is said that it must have been built by women as the elaborate carvings are too fine for the hand of a man." Girl power over 1,000 years old? I love it! The details were incredibly detailed and intricate! 

Tom drove us back toward Angkor Wat, to Preah Khan, a temple of true fusion where Buddhist and Hindu deities are honored. It is a large maze of long corridors which create a sort of hall of mirrors effect. 

It was here that we got stuck with a rain shower for a bit, but that's okay. What kid hasn't wanted to get stuck for a while in an ancient temple with hallways that look the same one after another? This temple also showed the incredible power of Mother Nature.

Inside the temple we were greeted by a nun, probably one of the oldest, most feeble, and yet genuinely happy women I've ever seen. She offered to bless us both, and how could we refuse. She tied a brightly colored string on our wrist with careful precision, held our hand, then blew gently on our foreheads. Seemingly following the bad spirits out and away from our bodies, she ran her hand down our arms and with a cheerful little sound released them all. 

Tom took us to a couple more temples, but it was raining and we had already seen some of the grandest around. Saying that, had any of these been our only temple visit, we would have been in awe, but with the grandeur of the others, it is hard to compare it.

 

Our last temple of the day was Phnom Bakheng. An enormously tall structure, now a common spot to watch the sunset, and we could see why!

Our last day in Siem Reap was a short one as packing took up a great deal of time, and we had to leave for the airport by 2. Since our bags were thoroughly stuffed and we knew that any walk around the city would include new purchases, we opted to go back to Angkor Wat in hopes of finding blue skies.

Instead, the rain pelted down on us as we approached. Tom put flaps down on the tuk tuk to keep us dry, and covered in a poncho, he saw no reason to call our journey to an end. When we arrived, a clever salesman stuck his hands in the tuk tuk with two ponchos. We really didn't even try to bargain, anything seemed worth it. Our feet, avoiding puddles whenever possible, found a semi-dry spot under a tree for a moment while the rain slowed. Almost as suddenly as it had begun, it ended.

Unfortunately, we didn't get blue skies at the temple, nor did we find curious monkeys that we wanted to, but the crowds were fewer, and even in gray skies, Angkor Wat is majestic and being in her presence, even for just a little bit longer was completely worth the rain. We also got blessed by a young Buddhist monk. He also tied a brightly colored string on our wrist, then chanted as he sprinkled us with water droplets.

We could, and quite possibly should, have gotten a personal guide for a fairly reasonable price, but we opted against that, wanting to move at our own pace. I'm sure I would have loved learning more of the details and specifics of the temples, but Jessica and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the temples, cameras in hand, taking our time.

The temples were probably what drew us here, to Cambodia, and I am so thankful for that. But it's not only the temples that I enjoyed seeing, but a beautiful, vibrant city and people that are beautiful both inside and out.