I'm already back in Finland from South-East Asia, but since my blog entries became scarce (or non-existent) as my departure approached, I haven't even mentioned the Angkor temples yet. And I should. It is the one must-see sight in this part of the world that everyone has heard of, the temple area is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year (even 2 million according to Lonely Planet) and Siem Reap, the city closest to the temples has transformed into a tourist hot spot in good (great food, drinks and services) and in bad ("Miss, tuktuk, Lady, pineapple, Miss, fish massage...").
The Angkor temple site is much larger than most people think. You can easily spend more than a week exploring the ancient temples. The area is huge, more than 25 km2. In fact, one part of the complex, Angkor Thom, was during its heyday a city of one million inhabitants, bigger than London at the time (only 50 000 inhabitants). Nowadays, only the temples of the ancient Khmer cities still exist, other buildings of lesser importance were built of wood and distroyed by time and tropical weather. Thus, not much is known about the daily life in the cities (and I can remember even less). During the visit, the main interest is in Buddhist and Hindu images and the interplay between nature and Khmer architecture (and in strategies how to avoid too many tourists and too much sun).
Map of the Angkor complex (from Wikipedia). The distance from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat is around 6 km.
I spent three days exploring the area (3-day pass 40 US dollars, everything is paid in dollars in Cambodia): two days by bike (even though at the hotel they said: "Oh no, it's way too far away, you won't make it", well, during the first day I biked more than 30km and it was great!) and the last day by a tuktuk as I went to see temples further away.
Well, I did see the Southern gate of Angkor Thom in the sunrise. Then I explored the local insects for an hour in the 'suburbs' or Angkor Thom...
On my first day, I woke up at 4.50 am to see the famous sunrise (the wow-moment every Angkor-tourist talks about). I biked 6 km to the most popular Angkor Wat temple, but already at 5.30 am it was buzzling with tourists, I decided to enjoy a more tranquil sunrise and continued a bit further. I had read from the New York Times that the hill temple of Phnom Bakheng is actually great for viewing Angkor Wat in the morning light. Well, it was pitch-dark and I couldn't find the hill (later I heard that it is actually the sunSET hill). Instead, I was biking and then running around in order to not to miss the sunrise, which I eventually did. No, wow-moment. I continued biking and lost precious calm morning time (at 6 am the place is beautiful in the morning light, still cool and tourist groups haven't arrived yet) wiping the spider nets off my shoulders as I was doing my off the beaten track -tour. Sometimes, it is just better to stick to the usual routes...
However, I did made it to the main temple of Angkor Thom, Bayon, before 7 am. It has 54 towers decorated with enormous faces of a bodhisattva that embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. Some researchers say that the faces resemble the king Jayavarman VII who built the temple in the 12th century. This king seems to be the Medici of Khmer empire as he ordered many of the famous temples in the area (and the only one whose name I could pronounce quite easily).
I had missed my potential wow-moment, and I didn't had it during the three days of my visit, but Bayon was certainly impressive. Nevertheless, I couldn't help thinking that the temples built in the area were from the golden period of Khmer civilisation, i.e. between 9th and 14th century. During this time, they built great cathedrals in Europe too (Angkor Wat was built at the same time as Notre Dame in Paris). I couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't 'that old'. I guess it was this fact that somehow suppressed any possible sentiment of pure amazement. I didn't get the same feeling as I did when I entered the 4000 years old tombs in Egypt or when I gazed at the perfect ceiling of Rome's 2000 years old Pantheon. Maybe the sunrise could have approached me to Stendhal's syndrome as in Macchu Picchu when the morning haze disappeared gently and let the viewer admire the Inca ruins (not that old either, from 15th century) and the massive mountains little by little. I was slightly disappointed, but considering how high expectations I had, it's no surprise. But for sure, some of the ruins that were left to the mercy of nature were amazing, inspiring once again Indiana Jones -like thoughts. Coming soon...
The Angkor temple site is much larger than most people think. You can easily spend more than a week exploring the ancient temples. The area is huge, more than 25 km2. In fact, one part of the complex, Angkor Thom, was during its heyday a city of one million inhabitants, bigger than London at the time (only 50 000 inhabitants). Nowadays, only the temples of the ancient Khmer cities still exist, other buildings of lesser importance were built of wood and distroyed by time and tropical weather. Thus, not much is known about the daily life in the cities (and I can remember even less). During the visit, the main interest is in Buddhist and Hindu images and the interplay between nature and Khmer architecture (and in strategies how to avoid too many tourists and too much sun).
Map of the Angkor complex (from Wikipedia). The distance from Siem Reap to Angkor Wat is around 6 km.I spent three days exploring the area (3-day pass 40 US dollars, everything is paid in dollars in Cambodia): two days by bike (even though at the hotel they said: "Oh no, it's way too far away, you won't make it", well, during the first day I biked more than 30km and it was great!) and the last day by a tuktuk as I went to see temples further away.
Well, I did see the Southern gate of Angkor Thom in the sunrise. Then I explored the local insects for an hour in the 'suburbs' or Angkor Thom...On my first day, I woke up at 4.50 am to see the famous sunrise (the wow-moment every Angkor-tourist talks about). I biked 6 km to the most popular Angkor Wat temple, but already at 5.30 am it was buzzling with tourists, I decided to enjoy a more tranquil sunrise and continued a bit further. I had read from the New York Times that the hill temple of Phnom Bakheng is actually great for viewing Angkor Wat in the morning light. Well, it was pitch-dark and I couldn't find the hill (later I heard that it is actually the sunSET hill). Instead, I was biking and then running around in order to not to miss the sunrise, which I eventually did. No, wow-moment. I continued biking and lost precious calm morning time (at 6 am the place is beautiful in the morning light, still cool and tourist groups haven't arrived yet) wiping the spider nets off my shoulders as I was doing my off the beaten track -tour. Sometimes, it is just better to stick to the usual routes...
However, I did made it to the main temple of Angkor Thom, Bayon, before 7 am. It has 54 towers decorated with enormous faces of a bodhisattva that embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. Some researchers say that the faces resemble the king Jayavarman VII who built the temple in the 12th century. This king seems to be the Medici of Khmer empire as he ordered many of the famous temples in the area (and the only one whose name I could pronounce quite easily).
I had missed my potential wow-moment, and I didn't had it during the three days of my visit, but Bayon was certainly impressive. Nevertheless, I couldn't help thinking that the temples built in the area were from the golden period of Khmer civilisation, i.e. between 9th and 14th century. During this time, they built great cathedrals in Europe too (Angkor Wat was built at the same time as Notre Dame in Paris). I couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't 'that old'. I guess it was this fact that somehow suppressed any possible sentiment of pure amazement. I didn't get the same feeling as I did when I entered the 4000 years old tombs in Egypt or when I gazed at the perfect ceiling of Rome's 2000 years old Pantheon. Maybe the sunrise could have approached me to Stendhal's syndrome as in Macchu Picchu when the morning haze disappeared gently and let the viewer admire the Inca ruins (not that old either, from 15th century) and the massive mountains little by little. I was slightly disappointed, but considering how high expectations I had, it's no surprise. But for sure, some of the ruins that were left to the mercy of nature were amazing, inspiring once again Indiana Jones -like thoughts. Coming soon...
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