Amethyst and Sapphire woke up bright and early at 3.45am and were ready when their Tuk Tuk driver, Keo, pulled up in front of the quiet sleeping Two Dragons Guesthouse. They were surprised at how busy the streets were with early morning risers. They joined the Tuk Tuk traffic stream, all on their way to the busy ticket office to queue for entry into the Angkor Archaeological Park.
Siem Reap is the gateway to the millennium-old ruins and the Temples of Angkor. The Angkor Archaeological Park covers some four hundred square kilometres of countryside between the Tonle Sap Lake and the Kulen Mountains, the Temples of Angkor are one of the world’s great architectural showpieces with incredible levels of artistry. Found hidden among the densely inhabited country side these magnificent Temples, although ravaged by time and nature, are mysteriously picturesque in their semi-ruin appeal.
Some, like Angkor Wat have been meticulously restored; others, like Ta Prohm, with its crumbling ruins are in various stages of restoration.
The most famous of the temples is the legendary Angkor Wat, with its five magnificent corncob towers and vast complex of bas-relief galleries, where our two early risers were headed for what would be the most magnificent sunrise they have ever witnessed.
After taking in the magnificent splendor of the sun rising above Angkor Wat from a distance, they made their way over the 170 metre long, 8 metre wide floating bridge which enables tourists and local visitors to reach the ancient temple while the original stone bridge undergoes renovation. This temporary bridge is built on 6,720 polyethylene airbags and is located to the south of the original Spean Harl Bridge.
They made their way through the outer buildings and where in awe of the architecture and the structure of the doorways which were built in such a way that one could see a door within a door, within a door, within a door, continuing as far as the eye could see and creating an almost mirror like effect.
As they exited the outer buildings and entered the gardens, the view of the corncob towers of the main Temple, with the backdrop of the early morning sun, was breathtakingly beautiful.
They spent over an hour walking through and around the temple buildings, admiring the architecture and trying to take in all its ancient beauty. Although they managed to take some awesome photographs, they were unable to capture the true beauty of these truly magnificent architectural historical art forms.
After Angkor Wat, they were taken on a scenic drive through the Park to Banteay Kdei.
The sculptured entrance to Banteay Kdei is truly magnificent. They made their way along the path towards the sprawling, largely unrestored temple complex. The first structure, the Hall of Dancers, was blocked off with no access allowed into the building itself. They walked around the ruins of the Central Sanctuary and were fascinated by a fully grown tree that had embedded itself as if it was part of the actual structure. Banteay Kdei is largely unrestored and huge boulders and remnants of this ancient temple are scattered all around.
Opposite the East entrance of Banteay Kdei, is the picturesque Srah Srang. This is essentially a man made lake built in the mid 10th Century and has retained its water for more than 9 centuries. Srah Srang is a multi-tiered platform adorned by balustrades and guardian lions. The remains of an island temple can apparently be seen in the middle of the lake during the dry season, this however was not evident as the surface of the lake was smooth and undisturbed.
On the drive towards Ta Prohm, the next temple on their itinerary, the road is bordered on the left by a wall, which has stood the test of time over the centuries and still encloses the entire complex of Banteay Kdei.
Click below to view video of the wall that encloses Banteay Kdei.
Ta Prohm also attracts crowds of visitors, its crumbling ruins engulfed by the surrounding jungle, with shrines and statues held in the vice-like grip of giant tree roots. This complex is one of the locations used in the filming of Lara Croft : Tombraider. Local guides and Tuk Tuk drivers often refer to this temple as the Tombraider temple. It would be fascinating to watch the movie now having seen the temple first hand and having walked in the footsteps of Angela Joli. They decided to watch Tombraider that evening and see if they could recognise any of the temple scenes from the movie.
Walking among and in between the ruins both felt an air of almost breathless reverence as they rounded high walls, walked through stone doorways and skirted piles of fallen blocks and sections of ruins. Some areas are still overgrown with clear evidence of the battle being fought against nature and the encroaching jungle. There seems to be a poetical struggle between nature and the ancient man-made temple buildings. The jungle greenery, however, lends an air of life to what would otherwise be scenes of sad desolation. Both our travelers though, felt a sadness at the thought of such splendor and achievement crumbling away due merely to the passing of time.
Ta Prohm is currently in various stages of repair. Construction workers, cranes, bulldozers and scaffolding on site, witness to the restoration of these ruins. They saw numerous blocks and sections of wall, carvings and balustrades neatly laid out on the ground which were clearly marked and numbered. They could only assume that this was done to indicate where these would need to be placed during the restoration and re-building. A billboard erected on the site clearly showing sections of this Archeological masterpiece before and after restoration. The restoration of a particular corridor took 3 years to restore back to its somewhat original glory which our visitors tried to capture as best they could in the pictures below.
While walking back towards the entrance, they chatted and wondered whether archaeologists in a few thousand years time would also feel the same when unearthing any of our current cities or monuments. Time, and nature, it seems are more powerful than any human construct.
When arriving at their next stop, their Tuk Tuk driver, Keo proudly stated that he had been named after this temple, Ta Keo.
Ta Keo was built as a Hindu temple in the late 10th century. This is a gaint “temple mountain” and is rightly known as the mountain with towering peaks. One can climb to the top by ascending the very steep original stairways. Amethyst deciding to rather wait in the shade of the lower structures while Sapphire feeling still rather energetic, ascended to the top. Feeling giddy with accomplishment and lack of breath, sweating profusely from every pore, Sapphire made it to the top of the central tower where he could see the vast jungle stretching into the distance. He made it back down a “suicidally” steep staircase with ridiculous narrow steps, in one piece. Amethyst after taking one look at her Sapphire, was convinced that not even Rocky Balboa, pumped up to the tune of “the eye of a tiger” would have made that ascent without taking strain. She felt so proud of him but also so happy that she had not put her heart to the test.
After the ascent and descent in the sweltering heat, both were quite happy to call it a day but decided to make one last stop before heading back to the coolness of Two Dragons and their room.
Their next stop was Angkor Thom and the temple of Bayon.
Click below to view Video of entering Angkor Thom
Bayon is a state temple, topped with dozens of towers carved with the enigmatic giant stone faces of Lokesvara, one of ancient Cambodia’s most iconic images and synonymous with Cambodia and the Angkor ruins specifically . The walls of the temple are decorated in intricate carvings of real-life scenes of a historical sea battle between the Khmer and the Cham. Even more interesting are the carvings of everyday life scenes interspersed among the battle scenes. Although much of the detail has been weathered by time, one can easily imagine how these must have appeared to the inhabitants and visitors a thousand years ago.
By now our two weary, sweaty and dusty tombraiders, who had only seen a fraction of these ancient ruins and temples, were ready to return back to base camp. They would need to return to the Park, possibly more than once, to be able to cover the entire Archaeological Park and watch the sunset over Angkor Wat.
On the drive back, they reminisced about their original wish list and how surreal it was that they were living their dream. Angkor Wat being one of the places that Richard had always spoken about. He turned to Mandy and smiled, his blue eyes sparkling, a confirmation of the happiness and joy he felt having actually seen these awe inspiring ancient civilizations that had always fascinated him.
They drove out of Bayon, over the Siem Reap river bridge feeling thankful that they were able to experience this day together. A day they did not expect so soon as Cambodia was not on their original plan for 2017.
Thanks to the Spirit of the Universe, the Power of the Universe, the Powers of Light, Time and the Stars and thanks to God, the Creator of all things. Another beautiful ending to another beautiful day…………
