Before getting into the specifics, a short description of the Angkor area is appropriate. Angkor is the ancient capital of the Khmer kingdom and the cultural and spiritual heart of Cambodia. Angkor is one of the wonders of the world. Perhaps nowhere else on earth, except in the Valley of the Nile in Egypt, are the relics of antiquity found in such overwhelming grandeur.
The Angkor time period runs from approximately AD 800 - 1300. After its abandonment, it remained largely undisturbed until it was made popular by the reported travels of French explorer Henri Mouhout in 1860. It was always known to the Khmer people (the people of Cambodia), but they largely ignored it.
Our first visit was to the Bayon temple at Angkor Tom. This is one of the larger temples, built from 1181-1220. There is one large central tower, with 54 surrounding towers, representing the 54 provinces of the Khmer kingdom at the time. The central tower represented the King's central power. There are more than 30 towers still standing in various states of restoration.
The construction of these edifices and complexes is amazing, with large stones laid together so tightly that you cannot slide a sheet of paper between them. For Sonya and me, this was very reminiscent of our travel to Peru to see the Incan ruins. They were of a similar construction and a similar scale, but more spread out and much more intricately carved.
Here you can see a very large head that has been sculpted out of many blocks. The blocks were laid first, then carved.
Here you see lines in the face that are thicker than a sheet of paper that I refer to above, but that is from the restoration. Where the original construction is undisturbed, the lines are much tighter.
The next shot below gives an idea of scale of the head on the left, which is set back 300 feet from where we are. The doors towards the bottom of the picture are about 5 feet in height. This is part way up the Bayon temple and the tower on the left is one of the 54 mentioned earlier.
After this we visited the Tomb Raiders temple, made famous by Angelina Jolie. The real name is Ta Prohm, and the reason for leaving the roots is that when they started the restoration, they determined that it was the best strategy for structural integrity and most popular by choice. The way the trunks and roots weave around the structures provides a good idea of what the whole area was like when it was rediscovered by the French explorer. Here is Sonya's view of this site:
And this one too:
While not the best preserved or restored, it had the best "cool" factor. Go watch Tomb Raiders again and you will see what I mean.
On Friday morning we visited Angkor Wat. The sheer scale of Angkor Wat is difficult to grasp in a single visit. The area of land covered by the complex is around 500 acres and it is surrounded by a moat which is 650 feet wide. Just walking to the central shrine across the moat and along the main causeway is a humbling experience. At the end, the main towers of the temple rise to an astonishing 210 feet through 3 separate levels.
The assent to the third level is not for the meek or those with a heart condition. The 47 stairs to the top have an angle of about 70 degrees. The original 37 steps (now prohibited from use) were steeper yet and symbolized the 37 different levels of heaven in the Hindu religion. Here I am on stair number 4 or 5, I believe.
At the top of this is a buddhist shrine that many people visit. I asked Sonya if she wanted to get a particular shot, but she gave me very abrupt "Not now" and took off. I found out after that she was on the hunt for a shot of the two monks shown here. Oh boy, more monk shots!!!
The Angkor area was designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1992, which means that they receive funding from many different countries to help restore the ruins. Much work has been done on these sites by many countries. There are way too many pictures to post here, but the picture below shows one of the four pools on the second level of the temple. For perspective, the pillars surrounding the pool are about 7 feet high.
After touring Angkor Wat for about 2 hours we went to the Pink temple or Women's temple. It is called the pink temple because of the pink coloured Sandstone that was used to construct this site.
You can see the colouration above. This temple has the best example of the intricate carving that was done during the construction of these temples. The scale of it is too vast to take in on a blog, but this will give you a wee taste.
As we were leaving this site, our guide gave us the choice of a beer or a young coconut. The coconuts were in a freezer, so the coconut water in them was ice cold.
During the times off war when blood plasma was low, they used the water from the young coconuts as plasma and injected the water directly into the blood stream. I bet you did not know that, Doctor-to-be Joel!!
After this it was off to the French Artisan School, where students with disabilities such a missing limbs or other injuries, from the internal war and current day land mines that have not all been removed, are taught a craft such as painting, sculpture, laquerware, silk weaving and so forth. Naturally, we did not get out of this place without ONE MORE scarf!
We had a group dinner with our tour group. This was a dinner literally fit for a king, as it was designed based on meals prepared for the ancient Angkorian kings. We had some lovely music and dancing as well.
These young ladies were dressed as Asparas. The best parallel would be that of nymphs. I leave the rest to your imagination.
On Saturday morning we arose very early (0430) to go for a sunrise ascent in a tethered helium balloon. This balloon rose 100 metres in the air in order to get a bird's eye view of Angkor Wat. This is the balloon:
Unfortunately it was too hazy to get any really great shots of the area, but it did give us a real appreciation of the Angkor area and the reason that it was largely undisturbed until popularized by the French.
The last thing we did before we left was to take a ride on an Asian elephant. As many of you know, when it comes to elephants, Sonya has to get several photographs of them ALL. She was looking this one in the eye:
when another one "snuck up behind her" and almost required a change of pants!
It is the first time I have heard of an elephant "sneaking up" on someone! Anyway, we did get our ride - as shown by a shot taken by our tuk-tuk driver:
Our tuk-tuk driver was a real sport that morning, so we made sure that he was well compensated for his efforts. Here we are in his tuk-tuk. He has license 007 for his tuk-tuk (you can see the 7 on his bike).
As we finish this, we are at the Siem Reap International Airport, bound for Hong Kong, then Vancouver and finally Edmoton, arriving on Sunday at 0100.
So,
THIS IS TRULY THE END.
See you in Edmonton.
Paul & Sonya
