Cambodia Trip - Part 1

 

Alright before we begin let me give you an outline of my trip! I went for this trip on Friday, 30th of June till Monday 3rd of July. I flew from Indonesia to Bangkok with Air Asia, and then another flight to Siem Reap! Arriving at around 2:30 PM. Reached town at 3:30 ish, checked in the hotel and then spent the day walking around town. I booked a 2-day tour package from Happy Angkor Tour which started on the 1st and 2nd of July. Including both sunrise and sunsets! No luck with both though :(

So I'm going to divide my post into three parts, this part about my first day at Angkor, second part about my 2nd day at Angkor and last part about Siem Reap itself. I visited a lot of temples at the Angkor Complex so they definitely deserve individual posts for each day hoho. Alright lets begin!

 View of Angkor from the east!

On my second day (1st July), I got picked up by my guide from Happy Angkor Tour (HAT), Mr Sophea! We began by going to the Angkor ticketing place to get my 2-day pass, which entitles you to visit any temple in a period of ten days, but only applicable for 2 days. The first temple we went to was the Angkor Wat itself. What I love about HAT is that Mr Sophea knows the entry places and timing. We went by the East gate and there's nobody there! Awesome photos time.

Along the way he explained to me a lot about the history of the Khmer empire and Angkor Wat itself. And inside, he explained a lot about the carvings etc. My first impression of Angkor Wat is that it is really really impressive. For a temple to last for almost a thousand years, with such magnificence and grandeur, is really mindblowing. No metals, no concrete and no woods, just blocks of stones carved!

Okay I won't go into details of the history of the Khmer empire hah, but basically the Angkor Wat is actually a Hindu temple, which is then converted into a Buddhist temple. You can find many carvings telling Hinduism mythology inside. Even the architecture is also linked with Hinduism!

 Can you see the 5 towers?

I thought Angkor Wat consists of 3 towers (as seen from the side views) but I learned that there are actually 5 towers. 4 towers surrounding one tall tower in the middle. So from any sides, you'll only "see" three towers. The 4 towers represent Mt Meru and the middle, tallest tower represents the centre of the Universe. The moat (water body) surrounding the temple represents the mythical ocean surrounding earth. Pretty interesting facts I've learned in this temple.

 The demons (asuras) in the churning of the milk ocean carving

There's also a carving that tells the story of the churning of the milk ocean, which is a famous Hindu mythology. The carving is really beautiful and it shows the devas (gods) and asuras (demons) milking the mountain which is carried by a turtle. I've never known about this story, and Mr Sophea explained it to me really well. Walking through Angkor Wat is like getting a crash course in Hinduism haha.

 Sigh...

Although I feel really sad also to realise that there are a lot of vandalism carried out in the past 20 years. Missing heads from Buddha statues, missing carvings, missing statues of gods and deities, all of these that were sold to the black market by some irresponsible and heartless people. I mean how can they so easily disregard the glory of the Khmer empire? This empire that once stood gloriously on the soil that they lived on. Oh well, money do make the world go round right.

 Ta Prohm

After Angkor Wat we went to the next temple called Ta Prohm, which is also known as the Tomb Raider temple! It is the temple which they shot the movie at. Also it is the movie that made me so fascinated with Angkor Wat mwahaha. The temple is built by Jayavarman VII, and is dedicated for his mother. This is one of my favourite temples because it is really quaint and peaceful inside. Also the big cotton trees that grow and sit on some of the temple structures are amazing.

 Reminder: The planet doesn't need us to live on

Although to me those trees are just a reminder that this planet doesn't need us to live on. After Ta Prohm we went to a few other temples namely Ta Nei and Ta Keo. Ta Nei is located in the middle of a forest. It is an amazing small temple for its size, filled with lots of beautiful carvings. Ta Keo is an unfinished temple because it was said that the king would fall sick (a bad omen) if he were to finish the temple. Okay sadly I don't have much photos in these two cause my camera was dying :(

The carved faces at every gate of Angkor Thom

After Ta Prohm we went to Angkor Thom, which was once the capital city of the Khmer empire! It is a huge complex, which was once surrounded by tall walls (3 KM in length if I'm not wrong). In each gate, facing the four directions, is a huge statue of Avalokitesvara! Although my guide says that some are debating that the face may belong to the king. Or the Buddha. Or a mixture hah.

 Elephant Terrace

There's a place called the Elephant Terrace. This is like the "parade square" of the Khmer empire. They would have elephants and the army marching around a road beneath the terrace. And there would be circus performances for the king too. The place is really huge! I can totally imagine how it was back then, during such parades. We went to a few different temples, namely Ba Poun and Bayon.

 Bayon

Bayon temple is another favourite of mine. It is the famous temple with many faces of Avalokitesvara (again, still debated whether they are the king's). There used to be 54 towers with the faces, which totaled up to 216 faces! But my guide says there's only about 40 left standing now. I really love this temple because it felt really incredible to be standing in the middle of this temple. I feel so amazed by every aspect of the temple. The faces, the tall towers and the intricate carvings. It's really amazing.

 Look at how similar these faces are, such skills!

What's amazing is that each of these carved faces look pretty similar with one another. The high skills required to do this is really admirable. And they last all these years!

The last temple for the day was Phnom Bakheng, which is the spot to watch the sun sets! But there's no luck because it was rather cloudy. The temple is located on top of a hill, and I started hiking at 4 PM. Reached the top at about 4:30 PM and we had to wait for about 1.5 hours for the sun to set. At this time the top was filled with people. And the temple authorities only allow a certain number of people on top so I suppose we were lucky to get a spot. I was feeling so tired I fell asleep! :P

 Angkor Sunset. Kind of.

But yeah there's no luck for sunset as it was rather cloudy. I did take some shots of the sun peaking behind some clouds though which look kinda amazing. I then made my way down and that's all for day two! Went back to town for dinner and walked around to shop for souvenirs haha. 

Well I had such an incredible day the Angkor Complex. To learn so much about the Khmer history and also about Hindu Mythology. As someone who loves history, it was pretty much a heart-fulfilling day. Was really looking forward to learn more about the Khmer History the next day as I explored more temples at the complex. I love seeing the remnants of the past, and learn about them. So yup, Siem Reap was the place to go I suppose. Alright moving on to part two soon!