CAMBODIA - ANGKOR WAT

On Thursday, November 4th, we left for Siem Reap and saw Angkor Wat in the afternoon. An interesting note is the passport check-in at Siem Reap. We handed our passports and the photo plus $20 to a passport officer then walked down a long counter. There must have been at least 12 passport officers that each checked our passports and did something with them. Each passport agent was sitting behind the long counter and opened our passport and fiddled with it until it got to the end where the last passport agent handed our passport back to us.

As we exited the airport we noticed that the scenic beauty was like Hawaii. The weather was perfect and the scenery hard to believe. Who would have guessed we were in a communist country? We checked in at the Allson Angkor Paradise hotel. Although we forgot to take a picture at the airport we did take some pictures at the hotel.



Salle and Ken at Allson Angkor Paradise Hotel, Siem Reap

Then we went to visit our main attraction, the Angkor Wat temple,

for about 3 hours. We were photographed and received our 3 day

pass for all the temples in the Siem Reap area.  The Angkor Wat temple was built in the early 12th century between 1113 and 1150 with additions.  It was built during the reign of Suryavarman II.  Angkor Wat means the city that became a pagoda.  It was dedicated to the god Vishnu.  It is the largest and most impressive of the temples of Angkor.  It is faced in laterite and sandstone.



Entrance Gate to Angkor Wat




Bas Reliefs

 

Grace and Ken at Angkor Wat



Long Hall with Bas Reliefs on Inside Wall



Bas Reliefs on Inside Wall

The Bas Reliefs are where the Cambodians come and make rubbings on paper to make a very beautiful artistic "painting".

The Angkor Wat complex has many sides and long walls. Below you can see the extent of a long hall. Inside the hall to the right is a long complete wall filled with bas relief sculptures.  These walls are on all sides of the Angkor Wat temple.  So many bas reliefs you cannot count them.

Our guide for out stay in Siem Reap

Cultural Dancer

Two Women in relief on the walls of the Angkor Wat Temple

That night we had dinner at Koulen II Restaurant and saw a Cultural Dance show. The buffet was extensive and crowded and the food average at best. The cultural show was good but it did not start until after dinner and we were so tired. The walking up and down Angkor Wat gave Ken leg cramps that night. The hotel was very nice except that the water pressure kept dying out when you took a shower.

 

Young Boys destined for monks in a pavilion next to the temple at Angkor Wat



Angkor Wat Early Morning on Friday



Salle Stemmons and Grace Early Friday

TA PROHM

The next temple we visited was Ta Prohm.  The main feature of Ta Prohm is the trees that have been growing there for many many years and they have taken over the temple.  There was much destruction of the temples from the trees.  This temple was built by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.  Two types of trees are responsible for the destruction of Ta Prohm - the larger tree is the silk-cotton tree and the smaller is the strangler fig.  The trees that have grown intertwined among the ruins are especially responsible for Ta Prohm's atmosphere, and have prompted more writers to descriptive excess than any other feature of Angkor.

Grace surrounded by the tree roots at Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm wall figures

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm

Tree Roots were everywhere at Ta Prohm

ANGKOR THOM - was built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman II and his successors.  One of the largest of all the Khmer cities and the capital until the 17th century.  The name means Great City.



Large Buddha at Angkor Thom

Tom Powell and Brett Chatelain thanking Tom's mother and step father for the trip around the world

Elephant Terrace at Angkor Thom

In the afternoon we visited 5 more temples – Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean and Preah Kahn. That made 8 temples in one day.

PRE RUP - was built in 961 under the reign of Rajendravarman

Apsara Dancers at Pre Rup

 

Grace and Salle at Pre Rup

 EAST MEBON - was built in 953 under the reign of Rajendravarman. This was used as a water supply as it held water all around the temple. It was originally capable of holding 55 million cubic meters of water. It is now dry.

East Mebon

Elephant at East Mebon

TA SOM was built in the late 12th and early 13th century by Jayavarman VII.  This small temple is like a miniature version of Ta Prohm and owes its charm to a combination of remoteness, semi-ruined state, and face-towers.

Grace at Ta Som

NEAK PEAN was built in the late 12th century by Jayavarman VII. It is a small monument in a cruciform arrangement of ponds with a sanctuary tower on a circular island in the middle.

Grace at Neak Pean

PREAH KAHN was finished in 1191 by Jayavarman VII.  This one one of Jayavarman VII's largest projects.  It was more than a temple with over 1,000 teachers it appears to have been a Buddhist university and a considerable city.

Grace at Preah Kahn

Salle Stemmons, Deena Behnke and Grace in Rickshaw on the way to the Hotel de la Paix for dinner



Sooo Good - Great Bread at the Hotel de la Paix




One of the dishes in the Special Gourmet Dinner at the Hotel de la Paix

The next morning we headed out to Tonle Sap Lake.  The lake is huge and goes for some 140 kilometers.  It is the home for fisherman and their families who live on the lake.  There are several water villages and many Vietnamese who came to avoid the various wars between Cambodia and Vietnam or other wars that have occurred over the years.

           Fishing Village on Tonle Sap Lake - one could easily feel like they are in South Louisiana

Area for entering and returning from the lake

While we were cruising on the lake there were several speed boats that pulled alongside and young girls would either jump on our boat which held 35 of us to sell us snacks and soft drinks or would have a python wrapped around their necks and ask for money to take their picture.

Snake Girl - note the Python around the little girl's neck

Family working in their home that morning

When we left Tonle Sap Lake we had lunch and then went to the Artisans d'Angkor in Siem Reap.  There the government sponsored a training center for crafts.  Older crafts people were teaching the younger generation their various crafts - painting, woodworking, lacquering, sculpting, gilding, etc.  We bought a gilded lacquer piece of the Apsara dancers.

We thought that Cambodia was the biggest surprise - so interesting and fun.  Grace hardly knew where Cambodia was and we were both surprised at how advanced the civilization was so many centuries ago.  A part of history we knew nothing about.  It was really overwhelming.

Next stop Hong Kong.