preah khan

by far my favourite of the temples we visited was preach khan. also a 12th century temple, it is set a bit further afield from the normal tourist trail. a monastery and school for more than a thousand monks it is a dense collection of temples, carvings and nature. exploring the temples was like wandering through a maze when you would arrive at a dead end one turn, and open out into a courted filled with ruins with trees fighting through the rocks, or spectacular carvings at the next. even driving to the temple was quite spectacular through forest and gateways, and the walkway to the temple is lined with totem like statues that give it a grandeur. the area is surrounded by beautiful waterways that made the area more peaceful than anywhere else we went in siem reap. it was a really magical place, no doubt!

more temples.

angkor (the entire archeological park) contains more than a hundred monuments spread over some 400 square kilometres. it includes the remains of the khmer empire from the ninth to 15th centuries. there is a huge variation between complexes between their purpose, materials, carvings and current state. after visiting angkor wat, we headed to the two of the other more famous complexes - ta prohm and angkor thom. 

ta prohm was one of the later temples, built in the late 12th century (about half a century later than angkor wat). it was founded as a monastery and university and in drastic contrast to angkor wat, it has largely been left how it was discovered by the french, as a concession to those with an appetite for the picturesque and for whom nothing matters but the dramatic romanticism symbolised by the vision of some piece of wall crumbling under a weight of roots. while it is in quite a state of disrepair, there is most definitely a certain romance and atmosphere to the temple that is intriguing and indeed very picturesque. banyan trees and the jungle grow in, around, on, through and over the ruins. the famous images of trees protruding from the ruins mostly come from this temple, making it very popular, and of course in true asian style tourism they have built strategically placed stages to ensure everyone may have their photo taken in front of these iconic trees.  

out of the jungle we next arrived at the city of angkor thom, which holds the magnificent temple of bayon at its centre, the royal square and palace. built at the end of the 12th century, angor thom, has numerous monuments within its enclosures that are surrounded by an eight metre high wall forming a three kilometre square. the wall and five monumental city gates slowed the convoys of tuk tuks and buses herding the tourists in and out of the complex, which allowed ample time to observe the impressive enclosure.

unlike the sprawling and spacious angkor wat, bayon temple is a tightly packed jumble of stone and confusing corridors. the stairways to move between levels were incredibly steep but once we arrived at the upper level there was a brief moment of serenity, before the crowds appeared, and the sun beating down sapped all of our energy. this did not take away from its magnificence, with more than two hundred faces of Lokesvara visible on the fifty towers protruding from the temple. the faces from each new angle were endlessly intriguing and spectacular juxtaposed against the blue skies.

just to the north of the bayon, is the royal square and palace and enclosure. beautiful long terraces run the length of the square towards the victory gate and include the elephant terrace and leper king terrace. whilst enjoyable to stroll along the terrace and imagine the grandeur of its hey day, the sides of the terraces display beautiful carvings of hundreds of almost life size elephants, as well as bas-relief of lines of seated figures representing various characters represented in different ways. by this point in time however, it is fair to say that we had well and truly worn ourselves out and were quite desperate to be sitting by a pool with a drink in hand. which is exactly what we did.

temples, temples, and you got it.

a lot of people have been commenting recently about my supposed natural aptitude for travel planning and that perhaps i missed my calling. i think it is more a desperate and constant desire to be travelling combined with a refined list writing skill. either way, a weekend in siem reap quickly dispelled this rumour and demonstrated the value in prior research. the things that i learned upon arriving in siem reap that would have been valuable to know prior to planning this weekend getaway include the following. april, as it turns out, is the hottest month in siem reap, where the sun blisters and tourists expire from the heat. one would think the positive to this would then be a quiet time, great for visiting temples. except the weekend we went of course, because as it turns out, it was khmer new year. and then of course there was the fact that the deposed thai prime minister, thaksin, who happened to be in siem reap the same weekend to address 40,000 red shirts.

all this equals a rather busy town and ever busier temples. fortunately getting up at dawns crack and visiting the popular temples and less frequented in the afternoons allowed us to beat some of the crowds. our other tactic was to find a perch, and wait out the groups of thirty plus people in matching shirts to march through following a guide holding a large sign, umbrella, or flashing stick to identify themselves, to shuffle through, snap off a series of photos and be on their way.

we had three days in siem reap, visited ten groups of temples, and took a serious amount of photos. we hired a tuk tuk to transport us from site to site, and john with his guide book and encyclopedic memory led us through the temples. we began our tour on day one at angkor wat, the most well known of the temples. and we went hard. it is easy to underestimate how huge and intricate the temple complex is.

surrounded by a river like moat, the largest khmer complex in the world was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II. it is not until you see a model of angkor wat (or perhaps float above it in the giant yellow hot air balloon that pops up and down all day long to give tourists a different perspective) that you can really appreciate the symmetry and immensity of the complex. although your legs give you a pretty good indication of its size after a few hours.

you first wander across the stone bridge to enter angkor wat, and can quickly become lost in the various galleries, doorways and layers to the temple. every surface is decorated with carving, from intricate patterns, to various gods, to immense battle and mythological scenes, to beautiful devatas and asparas (guardian spirits or sorts) also known as the pretty dancing female figures.

being the most popular of the temple complexes, it has had a lot of restoration and is in impressive condition. in particular, the battle and mythological scenes that span the full lengths of the outer galleries are mind blowing. they estimate that the gallery walls along have more than 1000 square metres of bas relief. amazing. there are some photos of the galleries below but you cannot begin to capture the scale of angkor wat. and i am quite partial to some detail shots.

buckle in for a few more installments of the temples, or if it is not your thing, perhaps tune back in next week because there are a lot of khmer carvings coming your way, and perhaps a banyan tree or two.