Sarah in Korea & Cambodia (Sarah Altier) : A TRAVEL DREAM COME TRUE

In the morning Piseth, our local guide, picked us up in a tuk-tuk to take us around the Angkor temples. We visited what turned out to be my favorite first. We approached Bayon temple over a bridge where 54 demons and 54 gods are engaged in an epic tug of war with “naga” (the seven headed serpent god). The temple itself has a collection of buildings each adorned with the four faces of what some say is Buddha, others say is a Hindu god, and still others believe might be the king Jayavarman VII . Some of the faces are grinning broadly, some smiling enigmaticly, others serenely expressionless – like Mona Lisa they all seem to know something that the rest of us don’t know. It seemed that every corner we turned we were face to face with another smiling visage. It turns out that Bayon is a temple at the center of the ancient city of Angkor Thom, which once was home to over a million people. The city itself boasts many buildings besides Bayon. We took our time exploring all the towers, stupas, and holy places of Angkor Thom and Piseth explained the Hindu myths which were depicted in the bas reliefs adorning the walls. We climbed a lot of stairs in the steamy heat before visiting our last stop at Angkor Thom, the Terrace of the Leper King – so named because when they found the king’s statue there it was covered in moss and was missing an ear and a few other pieces.

Rubbing noses with the ancients

Piseth then took us to the famed Ta Prohm which is the often-photographed temple which has been overrun by kapok trees. Their massive roots seem to have the temple walls in a vice as they snake down over huge sandstone walls and spread out over the corriders of Ta Prohm. This, of course, is where Tomb Raider was filmed and it seemed as if we were on a movie set or at a Disney attraction as we gingerly made our way over stone structures that time and tree roots have toppled. There was an active dig going on at Ta Prohm as archeologists search for more artifacts, but evidently the decision has been made to let the trees have their way in this one temple – even though some cutting back of vegetation is necessary to keep the jungle from completely conquering the structure.

Ongoing archaeological excavation at Angkor Tom

Is this crazy or what? BTW it was definitely about 7239 degrees out this day

A band of blind musicians - victims of land mines. We bought one of the stringed instruments that the guy in the front left is playing from them

Refreshed by lunch, we went to Angkor Wat. Piseth proved himself to be a canny guide by taking us to Angkor Wat in the early afternoon and through the back gate. Most tourists and guides are resting at this time, so – unlike the throngs of people we’d had to contend with in the morning visits – we almost felt we had Angkor Wat to ourselves as we entered the back gate. Piseth waited for us at the bottom as we climbed the extremely steep and narrow stairway to the central tower and walked around the permiter of the platform which holds it. Then he took us around the incredible bas reliefs and explained what is happening in each scene – carved in fabulous detail. I was happy to see that I actually knew one of the stories – the Ramayana where Sita the beautiful wife of Rama is captured by 20-armed Ravana. Rama calls in the monkey army for help in recovering Sita (very Trojan War-ish, isn’t it?). Other intricate carvings depict heaven and hell, the churning of the ocean milk myth, and the battle between gods and demons. As we finally exited Angkor Wat from the front we saw the swarms of tourists entering and knew that Piseth had given us a treat by timing our visit as he did.

We wimped out at hanging around another three hours for the sunset and instead went back to the hotel for a quick swim and rest before attending a dinner show with aspara dancing in the evening.

Dinner show in Siem Reap

Piseth and our driver picked us up bright and early to explore some of the outlying temples in the area. First we went to Kbal Spean, a sacred place at the top of a mountain known as the “River of a Thousand Lingas”. The mountain is deep in the jungle north of Angkor and it’s a 2 kilometer climb to the top. They will probably have to rename the river “River of a Thousand Sweat Drops” after I finally made my way to the top. Not only is it a steep climb in sweltering weather, but the trail is slippery and strewn with rocks and boulders just waiting to trip up a klutz like me. Jeff pushed and Piseth pulled and we finally made it to the lingas, which are extraordinary. The idea of ancient Hindus laboring to carve complicated images into the rock bed of this river is amazing. Besides the lingas, there are plenty of images of Vishnu, Shiva, and Uma, as well as animal images. Evidently some Hindus still visit the place to drink the water which they believe is holy.

I'm being attacked by tree roots!!

The linga carvings

Very very very sweaty Americans

Climbing down from Kbal Spean was actually harder to climbing up as the danger of slipping on the mossy rocks or slippery clay was increased. But we did make it down and I bought some postcards and a Khmer scarf from the friendly children waiting for tourists to reach the bottom. Then we continued on to see what Piseth said was his favorite temple, Banteay Srei. It is considered to be the prize of all Angkor art because of its intricate carvings and the fact that the stone used for this temple is of a pink hue which makes it even more beautiful than Angkor Wat. It’s known as “The Citadel of the Women” because of its almost jewel-like quality and, even though it’s much smaller than most of the other temples we visited, it’s breathtakingly lovely. The stone carving here has been described as the most beautiful on earth.

We had a pleasant lunch at a wood-carving market. The skills that the ancient Cambodians displayed in carving stone temples has been handed down to their descendants, who have ornately carved wood on their homes and furniture. A massive teakwood bedstead would have been a steal at $1,600 but how to ship it home? Anyway, the lunch was great – mine a chicken curry served inside a coconut. Delish. After lunch we took the bikes out of the van and I did what I swore I would not do – bicycled down a Cambodian road with cars, trucks, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, cows, chickens, water buffaloes, etc. sharing the road with me. It was quite stressful as the roads are in poor shape and their edges pretty much break off and there’s no shoulder to bike onto when in danger of being run over. The good news was that biking at least created a cool breeze as we pedaled along which was refreshing. Another plus – as we passed through small villages we could stop and check out the locals. At one stop, Piseth explained more about the making of palm sugar and we were able to purchase some from a friendly Khmer woman who was making the candy drops (sort of like candy kisses but tastes more like maple sugar) while her friend made the packaging for the candy – little palm frond containers. We bought three packages for a dollar and were still enjoying them days later. We biked most of the way to the next temple, Banteay Samre. Again it was beautiful but I’ll be honest and admit that they were all starting to look the same by this time. We finished off the afternoon at Pre Rup temple and I climbed my jillionth step but it was worth it as it the tower at Pre Rup has a spectacular view of the surrounding jungle and you can even see the towers of Angkor Wat rising up over the horizon.