Song of the Day
我常常在旅途中迷失...
那種猶疑不定的感覺...
會讓自己錯亂在這堆瓦礫中...
自己到底扮演什麼角色...
或者我們以後要成為什麼樣的人...
不斷不斷的嘗試和跌跌撞撞.......
After trekking through Vietnam (more to come about this in my later posts), we spent the last leg of our trip in Siem Reap, home of the Khmer temples. Three days of sightseeing around the temples of Angkor Wat, Bayon, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm (the 'Tomb Raider' temple), Banteay Srei and other smaller ones. This trip is certainly not a walk in the park, the weather condition is grueling, 100F+ (approximately 37c) under the hot Cambodian sun, not to mention high humidity all over, our tour guide told us these are the hottest days of the year. We sure picked the right moment and got ourselves a great souvenir - Cambodian tan! Anyhow, I had visited the Angkor temples back in 2001 and 2005. This time around, I still discovered a few new places which I had missed during my prior trips. "Third time's the Charm!" as the saying goes....(Many thanks to W for some of the photos).
DAY ONE - 9am starting at the South Gate of Angkor Thom (meaning Great Angkor or Great City), with hords of 'early bird' tourists.
Pictured to the left are the 54 Asuras (gods), also note the gargantuan face crowning the top of the entrance.
The south gate is most popular with visitors since it has been fully restored and many of the heads (usually
copies) remain in place. The gate is on the main road into Angkor Thom and it gets very busy. We are going to
visit The Bayon temple, which is situated inside the city walls.
A peek through one of the door frames revealed a few of the gothic towers in the inner couryard of Bayon.
The Bayon was built around 1200AD, with a collection of 54 gothic towers decorated with 216 enormous coldly smiling faces.
The signature of the Bayon Temple are the enigmatic smiling faces, which I'm doing a very poor impression.
The eastward orientation of Bayon leads most people to visit early in the morning, preferably just after sunrise,
when the sun inches upwards, lighting face after face. A Japanese team is currently restoring several outer
areas of the temple.
Another temple (The Bapuon) under major restoration work, the stone wall to the right are the remains of an
enormous reclining Buddha (back side)...
Cambodian lizard with a watchful eye...
Recently, they have installed stairways to make it easier to explore the upper levels...
This is the Terrace of the Leper King, a 7m-high platform. With the Terrace of Elephants in the background. On top of
the platform stands a nude, though sexless, statue. It is another of Angkor's mysteries. The original of the
statue is in Phnom Penh's National Museum, various speculations were to explain its meaning. Legend has it that
at least two of the Angkor kings had leprosy, and the statue may represent one of them.
On the southern side of the Terrace of the Leper King, there is access to the front wall of a hidden terrace that was
covered up when the outer structure was built - a terrace within a terrace. The four tiers of apsaras and other
figures, including nagas, look as fresh as if they had been carved yesterday, thanks to being covered up for
centuries. Some of the figures carry fearsome expressions.
The 350m-long Terrace of Elephants (adjacent to the Terrace of the Leper King) was used as a giant viewing stand
for public ceremonies and served as a base for the king's grand audience hall. As you stand here, try to imagine
all the fanfare and grandeur of the Khmer empire at its height, with infantry, cavalry, horse-drawn chariots and
elephants parading across the Central Square in a colourful procession.
The Terrace of Elephants has five piers extending towards the Central Square - three in the centre and one at each
end. The middle section of the retaining wall is decorated with life-size garudas and lions; towards either end
are the two parts of the famous parade of elephants, complete with their Khmer mahouts.
Saw this friendly baby cow on our way to another temple, it has a very long tongue. Me and tour guide posing with the calf.
Each temple has a notice board like this one for identification purposes. Ta Prohm was built from 1186 AD. It was a
Buddhist temple, and still is one of the few temples in the Angkor region where an inscription provides
information about the temple's dependents and inhabitants, which at one time, the monastery employed 12,640
people in total, with an additional 79,365 people worked in the neighbouring villages attached to the temple.
Many of the corridors are impassable, clogged with piles of stone blocks dislodged by the roots of long-decayed trees.
Bas-reliefs on bulging walls are carpeted with lichen, moss and creeping plants, and shrubs sprout from the
roofs of monumental porches. Trees, hundreds of years old - some supported by flying buttresses - tower
overhead, their leaves filtering the sunlight and casting a greenish shroud over the whole scene.
Recent addition - wooden walkway has been built to facilitate viewing of the temple.
The gigantic roots almost damaged the porches of this section of the temple.
A 'clean' slate of apsaras carvings still remained intact.
The roots reflected a metallic hue from the sun light.
These are called "spung" trees, a nickname of course.
We are on our way to catch a glimpse of sunset. A 20 minute hike together with hordes of sightseers.
After reaching the hill top, there is another flight of stairs to climb up to the top of a temple, the platform
was crowded with people. This guy standing behind me has a 'bewildered' look on his face, maybe he's overwhelmed
by the crowd?
View of an artificial island with a temple (West Mebon)
Monks and sightseers descending the steep steps of the temple after sunset.
W selected a Khmer restaurant serving tapas style food located in the Old Market. I could not believe in just a few
years, Siem Reap has transformed into such a touristy town, bustling with world class eateries. The above
dish consists of small portions of pate, nuts, beef jerky and veggies.
A trio of finger food. From the left, French fries, olives and mussels.
Deep fried chicken and coconut spring rolls and green mango salad with dried Snake meat (the texture is similar to
dried fish)
Beef skewers with green papaya pickles.
Khmer style pan sauted prawns...
Dessert - Pandan Leaf and sticky rice Crème brûlée. The sticky rice was concentrated towards the bottom of the
bowl. It was a very eclectic mix of ingredients, I'd try it again on my next visit. The entire dinner costs
approximately US$22, which is very pricey for the locals. We also order a Khmer beer and a Sprite. This
concludes our first day in Siem Reap.
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