We drove down the dusty road from Siem Reap in silence, zipping past tuk tuks and tour buses loaded with tourists going to the same destination as me. After a quick stop at the main entrance of Angkor Archaeological Park to pick up my three-day visitor's pass, we continued onwards. By the time we arrived at the bridge leading to Angkor Wat a sizable crowd had already formed. It was still dark out, and most people were walking across the bridge to see the sun rise from inside Angkor Wat's outer wall. I decided to take a seat on the opposite side of the moat and watch from there.
Angkor Wat, which translates to Temple City, is the biggest religious monument in the world. It was constructed in the 12th century and was originally a Hindu temple before being converted for Buddhist use. It has survived centuries of aging, looting, vandalism and warfare. Despite invasions by neighboring countries, civil wars, and Cambodia's descent into madness under the rule of the Khmer Rouge, Angkor Wat remains, a testament to its construction, its importance to the local people, and the combined conservation efforts of the global community. I reflected on all of this while watching the morning sun peek through the clouds and shine its radiance down on Angkor Wat, and as I caught my first glimpse of the sunlit temple spires I could scarcely believe where I was.
Only after the sun was fully in the sky did I walk across the bridge to Angkor Wat. Along the way I was approached by an old lady selling guide books. There would be countless such encounters throughout the day, with Cambodians of all ages attempting to sell me everything from post cards to mangoes to tour services to magnets. To most of these people I would say "No thank you", but I did buy that guide book. It was one of the wisest purchases I could have made; written by Claude Jacques, a distinguished scholar on all things Angkor, I found myself flipping through Ancient Angkor near constantly during my trip. It was absolutely essential to my understanding and navigation of the practically labyrinthine Angkor Wat, and without it I would have appreciated the temple half as much.
I don't want to turn this post into a discourse on Angkor Wat and ancient Khmer civilization; you would be much better off reading a book by an expert. Instead I'll lay out the basics, in order to foster an appreciation for the pictures I'm about to share. Inside the moat surrounding Angkor Wat is the large outer wall containing the city and temple. The city is gone now, erased by time and replaced by jungle, but in its place reside Khmer people who have the right to live inside the park and set up small shops and restaurants. From what I could tell, there is also a school and monastery. In the middle of the jungle is the Angkor Wat temple, three levels high, each level stacked on top of the last, with the uppermost level peaking in a series of five spires. This "temple-mountain" configuration is meant to evoke the image of Mount Meru, the absolute center of Hindu cosmology. I've never quoted a book before on this blog, but I want to share a short passage from Ancient Angkor that helped me begin to understand how truly magnificent Angkor Wat really is:
The scale of Angkor Wat enabled the Khmer to give full expression to religious symbolism. It is, above all else, a microcosm of the Hindu universe. The moat represents the mythical oceans surrounding the earth and the succession of concentric galleries represent the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru, the home of the gods. The towers represent the mountain's peaks, and the experience of the ascent to the central shrine is, maybe intentionally, a fairly convincing imitation of climbing a real mountain. (Jacques 48)My exploration of Angkor Wat was a journey through history, theology, and architectural theory all at once. I had come alone that day, and was grateful for that, as it allowed me the leisure of discovering Angkor Wat at my own pace. I would look around, reference my book, look around some more, pause for a snack, etc. By mid-morning I was starving though, and I retreated to one of the lunch stands outside the temple for some fried rice. When I returned to Angkor Wat I began touring the outer galleries, which are covered in intricately hand carved bas-relief friezes. The friezes are impressive beyond words: stretching out dozens of meters, they recite the stories of kings and gods, of ancient battles and hallowed mythology. To go into specific details here would require this post to be the length of an essay, so I will have to leave you with my photos.
I wandered around Angkor Wat for close to six hours. Afterwards I got a light lunch, then located my tuk tuk driver. He had been napping in a hammock all morning, patiently waiting for me. In Siem Reap, you hire a driver to taxi you around all day. When you make a stop to go into one of Angkor Archaeological Park's numerous temples, the driver waits outside for you until you're ready to move on. You can repeat this process as many times as you want, and at the end of the day you pay the driver a sum total of $20. I wasn't ready to return to my hostel just yet, so when the driver asked where I wanted to go next, I replied Phnom Bakheng.
Phnom Bakheng is a small temple built on top of a good sized hill to the northwest of Angkor Wat. Due to its elevation it's a famous spot for catching the sunrise over the spires of Angkor Wat, but when I arrived I found the view to be partially obscured by construction equipment. Regardless, it was pleasant on Phnom Bakheng. While Angkor Wat was utterly congested with crowds, Phnom Bakheng was practically deserted. I didn't see any other people besides the construction crews working to preserve the temple and a Khmer father playing with his daughter. I took a few minutes to enjoy the tranquility, then began heading back to my tuk tuk. It was only 2pm, but I felt I had seen enough for one day. I didn't want to burn myself out on temples this early into my trip, so I decided I'd go back to my hostel, shower, eat and take a nap before meeting my French friend for dinner.
While walking down the hill from Phnom Bakheng, I heard something peculiar: It sounded like the trickling of a stream. Looking around, I saw no water. That was when I realized the noise was coming from the trees to my right. I looked closer and saw movement, but it wasn't what I expected: That "trickling" sound was actually the clicking of thousands of giant Cambodian ants.
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