This will be my last entry from Southeast Asia. It's now the evening of January 12 and tomorrow I leave for New Zealand. This has been the most incredible trip but I am looking forward to returning to a world where there is order, and where traffic rules exist and are respected.
Cambodia is the first country we have visited where there has been a significant amount of begging. Not surprising, given many of the people are so very poor, although that was also true in Laos. And there are also more people trying to sell you one thing or another, including very young children saying they need the money for school. Let's hope that is how it would be used. Very sad.
One thing I have appreciated about this tour is that I have never once felt that there was an ulterior motive behind any of our visits, and that we had been "set up" to spend money.
Don't think I've mentioned the currency in Cambodia. It's the Riel, and there are about 4,000 to $1US. But the dollar is very widely used here. Small change is made in the riel so one does accumulate a bit of it.
Siem Reap is the closest town to Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, built in the 12th century, The town has therefore grown into a very popular tourist destination. One woman on the tour was here 2 years ago and has seen a big change in even that time. I can only imagine what another few years will do, It's been enormously helpful to the Cambodian economy. Virtually the entire local population services the touist industry. Wikipedia says the population is about 175,000 but I've heard other figures.
So trips to the ruins of Angkor Wat and other temples of this period were the focus of our time here. I'll mention them in the order in which they were built, rather than the order in which we saw them. We had a local guide for our temple visits, Sabade, or just De. She was excellent So good she had been awarded a scholarship to study Spanish for 3 months in South America. So she does tours in Spanish as well. Imagine learning a language in 3 months!
Simply the feat of getting the stone required to build these temples to the building sites is remarkable. Foundations were generally made of laterite, a stone that is soft until exposed to air, when it hardens quickly. The visible parts were made of sandstone. De told us the stone was taken from a distant quarry and floated to the required site. Tough work!
Roluos group temples (Bakong, Preah Ko, Lolei): One of the other women in the group and I took a tuk tuk to these temples, which are not located in the main temple area, They were built in the late 9th century (wow!), at the first major capital of the Angkorian Era Khmer Empire. Bakong is the most impressive, standing 15 meters high, and one of the first to use stone rather than brick.
Bakong
Banteay Srei (meaning citadel of the women): This temple was built in the late 10th centuty, of pink sandstone, which is especially durable. So the detail on the carvings in this temple is still remarkably intact. Quite glorious! This site was not discovered until 1914, by French archeologists.
Carving detail at B. Srei
(after 1000 years!)
Pre Rup: This is the second temple built, in the late 10th century, after the Khmer capital was returned to Angkor. It was built as the state temple for King Rajendravarman ll, and still has many well preserved carvings.
Pre-Rup
Angkor Wat
The remaining temples we saw were built by the greatest king of the Angkor period, Jayavarman Vll, or J7, as we came to think of him. In addition to the major constructions he was responsible for, he also built 121 rest homes for his people, and 102 hospitals. He wanted to turn Cambodia into a paradise. Sadly, he would have needed to live forever to do that.
Angkor Thom and Bayon: Late 12th, early 13th century. Angkor Thom is a 3 km. square walled city. There are 5 gates to the city, each crowned with 4 giant faces. De told us 1 million people lived in and outside the city walls. Bayon is the temple inside Angkor Thom. Thirty-seven of its towers are still standing, although over a dozen have been destroyed. Once again the carvings on the walls of this temple give us a picture of life at the time.
Angkor Thom (I think!!)
Ta Prohm: This temple was dedicated to J7s mother. Seeing this temple makes it very clear what happened to them after the Khmer empire fell and they were largely abandoned. They were looted, destroyed, and became overgrown. Restoring them has meant removing trees that were hundreds of years old. In parts of Ta Prohm this has intentionally not been done, so massive tree roots are intertwined with the stone walls. Almost eery!
Tree roots at Ta Prohm, so amazing
Well, that's it for temples, probably one of the highlights of this entire month. In addition, while here in Siem Reap, I visited the Museum dedicated to these temples and also a Landmine Museum. Many Cambodian people have been victims of all the landmines left by the Khmer Rouge. The museum was started by a former child soldier who laid some of these mines. Now he disarms them and houses at the Museum many children at risk, who he helps to educate.
Any free time I filled with town walkabouts, and of course some visits to the local markets. But everything soon begins to look the same.
The last night the group was together we went to supper at a restaurant (Khmer Barbe Q) in addition to food also included a traditional dance performance. It was very well done and depicted many scenes of life in the country. Have a look at the costumes!
The group has now all left for home or future travels so I am here on my own for a day. I'll get back to you next from NZ!!!!
