Adventures By Design

In which the travelers meet Angkor

Today marks the first of three days we will spend exploring the temples of Angkor. Before we came here, we thought that the famous Angkor Wat was the only attraction of Siam Reap, but we now realize that the Angkor Wat is the largest and most well-preserved of hundreds of temples in the area that used to be the Angkor city. The city of Angkor (see Wikipedia) was the capital of the Khmer empire that stretched from Burma to Vietnam and spanned from the 9th to the 15th centuries. At its zenith, Angkor was the largest city in the world, twenty-three times larger that its closest rival, the Mayan city of Tikal in present-day Guatemala. Despite its former size and glory, the stone temples are all that remains of the empire because the houses, palaces, and other buildings used by the Khmer people were made of wood; brick and stone buildings were the exclusive domain of the gods.

You can buy passes for one, three or seven days; we choose the three day pass, costing $40 each. Not cheap, but when you have the largest religious temple in the world, with two million visitors a year, you can charge whatever you want.

Our first stop was Angkor Thom, the latest and longest lasting of the ancient Angkor capital city locations. Angkor Thom was a fortified city with massive walls and a moat surrounding it. Bridging this moat are wide causeways which lead to the huge gates. The causeways are flanked by large statues depicting a popular Hindu myth called the Churning of the Sea of Milk; in a an epic game of tug-of-war, gods and demons square off on opposing sides of a giant snake (Vasuki, the King of Serpents) to churn up the sea to extract the elixir of immortality.

It was on this causeway that Jesse required some light surgery. Janelle suggested that she take a photo of the statues and gate, while the rest of us poke our heads out from amongst the statues. Jesse found a great location, but just as Ric was about to join him, he started jumping around, muttering “Ouch! Ouch!”. He had discovered a wasp nest, and one stung him on the finger! Jesse told us that at times he’s had an allergic reaction to bee venom, and so he needed our help with his own home remedy. Ric gave him his pocket knife, Gin provided the tissue and bandage, and Janelle helped him to sterilize the knife as best we could using hand sanitizer gel. Jesse explained that he wanted to slice a small X over the bee sting and drain the venom out. He managed to make the first cut, then asked Janelle to take over for the second. We sat of the side of the road cutting open Jesse’s hand while tourists continued to pour over the area, and tuk-tuks raced past. It was a little strange. But at the end of it, Jesse said his finger felt better, and there was very little noticeable swelling. Plus, since the knife was razor-sharp, the cut was clean and, with pressure, quickly stopped bleeding.

The excitement over, we breached the gate of Angkor Thom and entered the city. Angkor Thom was huge, and must have been amazing to see when it was still a city. Today it looked like a lush forest. In the middle of Angkor Thom is the Bayon. The Bayon, known to locals as “Magic Temple”, is one of the most famous temples in the area because of the massive stone faces that stare out serenely from the tops of the towers. We wandered around the Bayon, climbing the temple stairs, and enjoying the view. Inside the stone walls, the air was noticeably cooler, and it was a comfortable place to hang out.

Leaving the Bayon, we set off to visit some of the other temples in Angkor Thom. We wandered around through the forest, taking photos and declining offers of cold drinks and cheap bracelets. We finally found ourselves at the base of a pyramid-shaped temple. Staring up its face, we felt the first drops of rain, and saw that the sky was dark. We were still deciding whether we should climb the temple when we realized the rain turned into a downpour, and it was approaching fast. We ran to the nearest cover—several stalls selling tourist souvenirs—and barely got ourselves under the tarp roofs before the rain started pouring. Boy, were we glad we hadn’t decided to climb the temple!

When the rain showed no signs of letting up, we settled in for a longer wait. All the shopkeepers collected their goods out of the rain, and lounged about for naps, knowing that nobody would be walking past in the heavy rain. Luckily, the stall we’d chosen was empty of goods, and there was a table and some plastic chairs nearby. While unexpected, the rain wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, and we took this opportunity to practice the handful of Chinese words Jesse and Janelle had taught us. Janelle also challenged us with a couple riddles she knew; using sticks for props, she soon had us scratching our heads, which tweaked the local shopkeeper’s curiosity, and soon the whole neighborhood was standing around us, puzzled and entertained. (Mental note: learn a few language-independent brainteasers for just such occasions.)

When the rain finally let up, we decided to find lunch, and hopefully the rain would fully stop, and we could spend the afternoon resuming our exploration of the temples. Unfortunately, the rain showed no intention of stopping, and although it was tolerable for us humans, we worried that our cameras wouldn’t fare as well (especially Ric’s precious DSLR).

Rather than call it a day and go home, we agreed to preview Ta Prohm. Although the Angkor Wat is the most famous temple of all, Ta Prohm is our favorite both for its stunning and eerie beauty, and its conceptual symbolism. When the Khmer empire declined in the 15th century, this temple was abandoned. Year after year, season after season, the jungle continued its slow digestion of the temple, resulting in the organic hybrid we see today. Exploring and photographing this temple was at the top of Ric’s list, but because of the rain we didn’t want to risk having our cameras outs. We decided that today we’d just walk through leisurely without our cameras, and tomorrow we’d return and take some photos.

We headed home to our hotel room, amazed by what we had seen, and excited to come back tomorrow. After a brief rest, we set out again to buy prepaid internet access card. Gin had discovered that we had wireless internet access in our room. We found a shop selling the cards, but unfortunately when we got back to our hotel and peeled off the security sticker covering the login and password, the sticker took off some of the letters. Aarrgh! So Ric walked back to the shop for an exchange. Walking back, he was offered ‘boom-boom’ and pot. A classic offer for the single man walking at night.