I have been raring to go to Cambodia. The reason is very obvious: to see the Angkor temples!
So much so that when I was invited to attend an international conference in Siem Reap, I immediately accepted the offer. After all, the Angkor Wat and other temples are very near the city.
Since we—Imelda Abano, Rhaydz Barcia and myself—arrived a day earlier of the conference, we decided to do a day tour to the Angkor temples. We hired a tour guide and vehicle (for $72). Entrance fee was $20 per person.
The first we visited was the Angkor Thom, which means “the great city” in Khmer. The 12th-century royal Buddhist city is especially famed for its grand Bayon Temple, whose most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and massive stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak.
The Japanese Government Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor has described the temple as “the most striking expression of the baroque style” of Khmer architecture, in comparison to the classical style of Angkor Wat.
After taking some photos, we decided that it was time to visit another temple. But we thought it was just near. We were wrong. We hiked for almost a kilometer before we located our vehicle. We were tired and it was good that our driver brought some water.
A few minutes, we were on our second temple: the Ta Prohm, which as seductive as Lara Croft. Yes, this was the place where Tomb Raider was filmed. The Lonely Planet described it in these words: “It is a series of dark galleries and pillars held hostage under the iron clasp of gigantic roots. The walls are decorated with carvings of sensuous celestial nymphs with smaller roots crawling across them like a rash.”
The Sanskrit inscriptions on the walls said the temple held thousands of pearls, precious stones and golden dishes weighting more than 500 kilograms. But unfortunately, this temple has been neglected and largely left to the clutches of the living jungle. You see great trees tower the temple with leaves filtering the sunlight.
It was almost lunch time when we finished marveling the temples of Ta Prohm. “It’s time for us to walk a long distance again,” our guide told us. “You mean another hike?” I inquired. He nodded.
“Can we have lunch first?” I answered. “I think we are running out of energy.” Imelda agreed. “We can rest at the restaurant while waiting for our food,” she suggested.
And that was what we did—for almost an hour.
“I think we need to go now,” our guide said. “Angkor Wat is not crowded right now. In fact, there may not be people around so we can enjoy the temple in its glory.”
Although we were tired, we agreed.
Yes, it was very hot to walk but not a few souls were at the temple. It was ours!
“[Angkor Wat] is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of.” That was what Antonio da Madalena, a Portuguese and one of the first Western visitors to the temple.
Henri Mouhot, the French naturalist and explorer who popularized the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, wrote: “One of these temples—a rival to that of [King] Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.”
Our guide said that Angkor Wat was first a Hindu and then subsequently a Buddhist. Today it is the largest religious monument in the world. So famous is this landmark that it has become a symbol of Cambodia and even appearing on its national flag.
It is no wonder that foreigners flock to see Angkor Wat (which means “Temple City” or “City of Temples” in Khmer). Most of our visitors are Koreans, our guide said. Chinese is next, then Japanese, and finally Europeans — in that order.
The tourism office of Cambodia describes Angkor Wat in these words: “…In its beauty and state of preservation, [Angkor Wat] is unrivaled. Its mightiness and magnificence bespeak a pomp and a luxury surpassing that of a pharaoh or a shah jahan, an impressiveness greater than that of the Pyramids, an artistic distinctiveness as fine as that of the Taj Mahal.”
At 2:30 in the afternoon, we ended our tour. “Don’t you want to see the sunset?” our guide asked. I think we were too tired already that despite the fact that we were interested to see sunset (which a friend told me was magnificent), we decided to forego it.
“We just want to take a rest in our hotel,” we chorused.
And that was what we did when we hit our beds!
Image credits: Henrylito D. Tacio