Temple Scrambling Day 1

The early bird catches the worm. That's a phrase that entices the lazy folk to wake up early to get a lot done during the day. That's basically how our whole vacation was; our first morning in Siem Reap, we woke up early to get a great start on the day of temple viewing. We hopped into our two tuk-tuks that swooped us away to the land of mysterious temples.

It was a short tuk-tuk ride and we reached our first destination, the infamous Angkor Wat temple. I had seen pictures on the internet prior to coming to Cambodia; but nothing could have prepared me for the bewildering behemoth structure before me. It was literally breathtaking to see in person. I was even awe-stricken by the simplest things around me before starting to advance towards it. We all caught our breathes again and started up the walk. Around us was a moat that surrounds the temple, we spent like 5 minutes at first checking out all the unique carvings on the wall, doors, ceilings, poles, ground, everywhere. These carvings are called bas-reliefs, some depict stories and characters from Hindu mythology and the historical wars of the King who built this temple.

this is walking towards Angkor Wat

This is looking back from the way we came

Some facts about this temple:

• it was built in the early – mid 12^th century

• It was a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu

• It's been a Buddhist temple since the 14^th century

• it's situated westward which is very odd (all others are generally situated to the East)

• the exterior wall measures 4265 feet x 4921 feet

• the temple itself is 1km square

• it consists of 3 levels with a tower on top of it all

• the 5 lotus towers you can view in the picture are 213 feet high

The best part of this temple is that you can basically do whatever you want. For example, climb up to the highest point on unstable stairs that were built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. This type of dangerous undertaking would never be allowed in America or most developed countries. Now, there are signs that say Climb at your own risk – and that's what we – and most people did...climb up and up and up. These stairs aren't exactly stairs per se, but really small, stumpy, chunks of concrete that jut out over each other. I took my sandals off, placed them in my bag and started my ascent. If you've ever been around me hiking or in any other situation, you know that heights just aren't my thing. Well, I put my fear in my bag with my sandals and didn't look down. There are so many dangerous aspects of this climb, for example; “stairs”that really aren't, the steepness, sweaty palms and feet, sun blinding your vision – but the challenge was worth it. I made it up before Haruka & Katie and admired the view that my brief stunt of rock climbing gave me. There really isn't anything up top that is super spectacular aside from the view. I sat up there with Haruka for maybe 15 – 20 minutes before facing the descending escapade that was needed.

Katie & Haruka following after me

If you have ever gone up something really steep, you probably realize that going down is actually even more problematic. Thankfully, someone else thought that too and a steel bar was put up for that reason. There was one set of “stairs” that had a pseudo handrail attached to the side of the concrete. This was just a silver, metal pole that was creaky in use and also sweaty and unpromising. The scariest part is that if one person fell, it would be like dominoes – that person knocking down (and probably killing) everyone in the way.

yep, this picture above is how you come down...scary...

We made it out alive...obviously. This was certainly a beautiful way to start out the day of temple viewing. Our next stop was Angkor Thom. There are five entrances to the city, one for each cardinal point that is crowned with 4 giant faces. We stopped at the South Gate, the first gate that you enter when approaching from Angkor Wat.

Facts about this Angkor Thom:

• constructed in the late 12^th – early 13^th century

• It's a Buddhist temple

• It's 3km squared and walled

• it's moated

• Inside the Angkor Thom area are many, many smaller temples too

After eating lunch, we went and checked out the wonder of Bayon, which by the way, ranks as one of my top favorite temples I saw in Cambodia. This temple was behemoth as well, taking about two hours to go through it. The fun being climbing all over it, in it, through it, basically any particle you can think of we did. This temple has many, many towers that are all covered with carved faces, 37 towers to be exact. Most of these towers have the 4 faces that are in the direction of the cardinal points. It was constructed in the late 12^th century and is a Buddhist temple. Again, this temple, like Angkor Wat had many carvings all over it. This temple's carvings included scenes from a real life war, market scenes, cockfighting, chess games and even childbirth.

So yea, we spent hours checking out this beast in the beating sun as well. Afterwards, I went and looked at a very large Buddha that was nearby. Following a bit of confusion of not finding Brian for a while, we finally continued on our way of viewing the temples that were within Angkor Thom.

a short scaryclimb up got me here, PEEK A BOO

If you've ever seen Tomb Raider, one of the temples that was used was at the Angkor Wat area, so I decided to be sexy like Angelina Jolie and this is my best shot at it (get the pun?)

Another temple that we went to visit that is withing Angkor Thom is called Baphuon. This particular temple was under construction so we could see the workers reconstructing it for many, many future visitor's viewing pleasure. This is a Hindu temple that was built in the mid 11^th Century. We were able to pass through the gate, walk up to it and just view from the distance as Cambodian men hammered and picked away at it.

From there, we spent probably around atleast 4 more hours going through the complex. Unfortunately my camera battery died so I was unable to take pictures of the rest of the temples. However, hopefully I will be able to get copies from Brian or Katie (please, guys, please!) So, for now I will just tell you about them.

After viewing Baphuon, we walked down a path where we could see all sorts of structures around us. We kept walking, went through a mini labyrinth, and finally made our way to the next Hindu temple named Phimeanakas, constructed in the late 10^th – early 11^th century. This is a pyramid that is constructed of sandstone. This temple was the tallest one WITHIN Angkor Thom area. Legend has is that the golden tower crowned the temple and was inhabited by a serpent which would transform into a woman. The kings of Angkor were required to make love with the serpent every night, or else disaster would fall upon him or his kingdom!!

Next we could come across the Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. Both were constructed in the late 12^th century and are Buddhist in nature. Our elephant friend was 2.5 meters tall and had a 300 meter long terrace that has many carved elephants on it. At the north end of the elephant wall is the leper king wall. This wall is also carved but with things like demons and other non existent, but mythological creatures.

After walking around a bit to see all this, my feet were happy to take a break when we got back to our tuk tuk's. We requested to go see the West gate of Angkor Thom since Katie has read it was worth a see. We drove out there, through bumpy, holey roads and took a good look. There was a family of ducks here, too! Cute. Our tuk tuk drivers next took us to Thommamon ­ a Hindu temple built during the late 11^th – early 12^th century. This temple was much smaller in size compared to what we had seen so far. It was a quick jaunt walking through passageways and checking out the carvings. Moving onto Ta Keo, a Hindu temple made in the late 10^th – early 11^th century – this temple was a little bit larger and we hiked the scary stairs up to the top again. I climbed alongside an Asian man, a companion for the way, unspoken but sharing in our triumph of reaching the top. During it's heyday it was known as the mountain with golden peaks. It indeed offered nice views of mountains in the distance. At the top, I met a young man who was offering me information about the temple. However, in the end he asked me for money – I didn't it to him because he actually worked there. In my opinion, it's quite ballsy to ask someone for money when you are working. It was about this time of the day that I was starting to fade. My feet were killing, the heat was killing me, and the constant badgering for money or to buy someone's goods was starting to get to me.

But, we forged on. The next temple was also one of my favorites. There were many like this one in the days to follow as well. It's name was Ta Prohm and it was a Buddhist temple erected in the mid 12^th – early 13^th century. What made it so interesting was that it was still largely covered by nature. All of the natural overgrowth hasn't been removed from it. It was intentionally left this way, and you can see many trees actually growing on and over the walls of the temple. It is famous for this reason. There is one picture in particular that famous and it shows how a tree is literally just growing on TOP of the temple! You will see pictures of this in other temple photos I have but just not from this day. In it's heyday, this temple was a Buddhist monastery that was very wealthy controlling over 3000 villages.

Next up on today's schedule (can you believe we did all this in one day?)- was Banteay Kdei – a Buddhist temple constructed in the late 12^th – early 13^th century. This temple was also largely unrestored,with much of nature still around it. This one, too was once a Buddhist monastery. And we went from here to our last temple Srah Srang which was just nearby. Srah Srang is also a Buddhist temple made in the mid 10^th and late 12^th centuries. This temple was unique in that it had structures of many guardian lions around it.

I limped across the street to check out a lake before we ended the day. After badgering from many kids to buy bracelets and other goods, we decided to head back to our guesthouse. I don't think I have walked that much in one day in years. My feet were filthy by the end of the day....

Click on my dirty feet to see pictures of all of Angkor Wat temple and some of Bayoun
(about 60)

CLICK ME if you want to see all the pictures from Bayon and Baphoun

Click HERE to read about Katie's outtake on our trip to Cambodia