Ta Phrom, the Jungle Temple

Now more associated with Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft) and Tomb Raider (which was shoot there), Ta Phrom is the temple which would give visitors an out-of-this world feeling. 

Giant trees co-exist with the ancient temple of Ta Phrom. The temple and the trees merged to form one beautiful jungle temple, as if the roots are hugging the crumbling temple to keep it up. With the trees and temple as one, it is hard to imagine one without the other. It left me speechless.The temple, surrounded by a jungle, was built in honour of the King's mother- now, the 300 year old trees, a fitting tribute to her. It left me speechless.

I could not stop clicking my iphone camera.   I wish  brother and my photography friends were with me- we would hve spent the whole day shooting all the nooks and cranny of the temple. Or maybe,if my high school friends were with me, we would have spent a lot of time playing Lara Croft. :)

The "tomb raiders" taking their selfies

I wish i dressed up as Lara Croft!

Me and my travel buddies-- happily concluding our Angkor Wat adventure

Angkor Wat: The Temple of All Temples

Angkor Wat has always been on top of my bucket list (ok- i had to use this overused term). And it did not disappoint.   

Because of its name (wat), I have always thought that it is only one temple.  I was in awe when how huge the temple complex was, and its elaborate details and layout.

From outside, what visitors will see is the enclosure wall.  The complex is surrounded by a man-made lake. The lake serves as a reservoir, and  I cannot imagine how long it took for them to build this lake with the state of technology they had during their time (sometime in the 1200s). 

To get to the main entrance, we had to cross the a naga (seven headed serpent) bridge, a symbolism of crossing from the land of the mortal to the land of the gods.

Causeway leading to Angkor Wat

The wall enclosure

Up close, the Angkor wat is much more than well-preserved stone monuments. It represents an ancient civilization, with very high appreciation for arts, culture and religion The moment i touched it, I instantly regretted why I did not dream to be an archeologist. It would have been a very interesting life discovering ancient relics such as this, digging, looking for clues about how people lived, and trying to figure out what each of the objects found meant,.

The wall enclosure, upclose

We explored the wall enclosure and then entered the complex where we were greeted by another long pathway leading to the central sanctuary. 

Inside the enclosure

Part of the enclosure

The gate to the central sanctuary

To the cental sanctuary

The central sanctuary

We explored the galleries. As compared to the Bayon temple, there are much more bas reliefs carved in the galleries of Angkor Wat, which shows us the ancient Khmer way of life, and their beliefs. There are also intricate carvings which can be found in this area.

There is a corner in the galleries, facing the central sanctuary which is called Halls of Echo. Our guide told us to lean on the wall, and thump our chest lightly.  When we did so, we heard loud echo of the tap.  There is no echo produced when you stamp your feet or talk in loud voices however.  It is a sacred space for the Khmer where they come to pray when they are feeling down or when they needed help.  Thumping the chest with either close or open fist, is way of connecting the heart to their god. 

And then comes the inner or the central sanctuary, which is in the middle of a courtyard. The central sanctuary is a 3-tiered tower with steep staircases.  Three of us went up to the topmost tower where we got a very beautiful view of the courtyard, and of the Angkor Wat Archelogical park. 

The central sanctuary

View from the top

Words escape me whenever I try to describe Angkor Wat, which was made to honor their god Vishnu. Even in ruins, the Angkor Wat remains to be a very beautiful and imposing structure.  It is not only the largest temple in the world- but a very grandiose one at that. I wish there was a way to see how it looked like in its true form.

Cambodian Lunch

Exhausted, but happy, from the Angkor Thom tour, me and my travel buddies were more than ready for lunch.  The weather was too hot and humid and we badly needed to be under the shade- even for a few minutes.

Our tour guide took us to a local restaurant across the Angkor temple. She left but will be back after an hour for the afternoon tour.

We were left on our own - with the non-English speaker servers.  It was a good thing that the menu has pictures- we only needed to figure the ingredients used in those dishes.

We ended up with really good dishes, anyways. I would recommend the visitors to try the following: 

Papaya Salad

Lobster with fried rice

Pineapple fried rice

Fish soup

Fresh buko juice

The cost per person is very reasonable (around USD 10 per person), considering that it is a tourist place. 

 

Bayon: Ancient Temple in an Ancient City

Angkor used to be the capital of Cambodia, during the Khmer time from the 9th to 15th century. It is hard for me to believe that this forest, with several ruins, was where around a million people, with great culture, lived. It was said that in the 15th century the Khmer Kings abandoned Angkor. Angkor Thom lost its power and people abandoned the city for hundreds of years. (Read about the story of Angkor in bbc.com) Only the local monks and villagers know of this ancient city within the jungle until it was found in the 1860s and archaeologists came to uncover it.  And the great temple complex was revealed to the world. To date, around 2 million tourists come to see this enchanting place. 

Bayon temple ruins

Tourists..tons of them...and there's Carlos and Dracuse 

Angkor Thom was then the center of power, and is surrounded and protected by a wall. The Bayon temple, which is the temple of the King, is right in the middle of the Angkor Thom. The Bayon (or Prasat Bayon) is one of the must-visit temple ruins in Angkor Wat. Even in its current state, it is a beauty. 

The temple has galleries in the lower ground and several standing towers (it is said to have 37 remaining towers to date) . We first explored the galleries in the lower ground. Our guide showed us the different sculptures (or they refer to it as bas-reliefs) in the wall. Through the bas reliefs, we were taken back to the Khmer time.  It reveals everyday life scenes of the Khmer during the 1200s and 1300s. This includes processions, market scenes and cockfighting. The bas reliefs also show historical scenes, which are mostly about battles: marching armies, horsemen, naval battle, and war machines.  Legends and mythology are also etched in the gallery walls. We were amazed at the details. I was wondering how many years it took them to carve everything , by hand. 

The upper terrace of the temple has towers. Each of the tower has three or four gigantic stone faces.  It is said that the upper terrace has more than 200 stone faces, each is around 13 feet tall. If only for these 800+ years old stone faces, Bayon is one of the most spectacular temples I have ever seen.

Bayon is a bucket-list worthy destination.  

Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom (which means Great City) is a walled city inside the Angkor which was the capital of the Khmer empire.  It was built sometime in the 12th century and where the priests, and the palace and military officials lived. Now, the walled city is a huge complex with several ancient ruins. 

We entered the walled city of Angkor Thom via the South Gate.  There was traffic when we reached the gate.

Whoa...all roads lead to Angkor Thom

Traffic at the south gate

Near the gate, there are elephants which can be rented to take the guests around.

Yang Min, making sure I wont be able to run away from the elephant

The south gate has very interesting details. Giant faces, each showing different expressions, line up the road to the gate.  On the left side (if you are entering the city and facing the gate) are 54 figures of gods, whose expressions are either smiling, serious or serene. On the left side are 54 demons, with grimace on their faces. The gods are holding /pulling the head of a snake, while the demons are pulling its tail.

The demon gods

Rekha is not scared of them..

The south gate is an elegant entry tower. At the top of the tower are giant faces facing the four directions. The lower half are elephant statues with the figure of god sitting on each of the elephants.

The south gate is a lovely, elegant entry tower.  However, after I entered the walled city, I had to get out of it again. Work got in the way of my tour and I received a call to go back to the hotel for a short meeting about the workshop arrangements.  The tour guide was kind enough to ask the driver to take to the hotel, wait and take me back again to the Angkor Wat (and I only needed to add USD5 for the gas). What that meant however was me, missing the tour of the Elephant Court  and the other temples in the Angkor Thom. 

The good news was, when I came back, I was right on time for the Bayon temple ( well our kind tour guide has arranged for it so that I will be able to join the Bayon tour..shhhh).