Day 79: Angkor Day 2 – Grand Tour
After a rest day, I headed out for my second Angkor excursion. This time on a tour.
In addition to AC comfort, the minivan provided some interesting characters as companions. There was a sweet retired couple from Brittany who humored my fractured and gap-ridden French. A quiet Indian couple from Gujarat. And lastly a worldly ethnic Chinese couple, Canadian citizens living in Seoul. She grew up in Peru (of all places) and he came from East Malaysia. It was fun commiserating about the incomprehensibility of Troi-Rivières French and the beauty of Vancouver with my fellow tourists.
In a remarkable coincidence, all the men were engineers of some kind. The Frenchman was a mechanical engineer and the other two were chemical engineers working in the petroleum industry. And I of course am a software engineer… or maybe I was a software engineer.
However the standout character in this cast was King, our Khmer guide. He had a lot of interesting things to say, many of which were about religion and most of which were not politically correct. In King’s theology, all gods, heavens and hells, all of it is in your head. “Have you ever seen a man with four faces like Brahma? Never in the whole world.” “Buddhism and Hindu are the same thing” — addressed to our Gujarati.
On politics, his views were likewise unambiguous: “You have demons like Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush who just want to kill people”.
It was fascinating and refreshing to hear someone completely unafraid of expressing his views on such touchy subjects. Hugely entertaining to imagine him running around the States saying such things.
At Banteay Srei King showed us a map and pointed to his favorite temples, away from the heavily touristed Angkor area: Boang Mealea, Phnom Sandak and Prasat Preah Vihear. When he got to the last he explained about the border war concerning this temple. He served in as a captain in charge of a 115mm gun and a T55 tank that skirmish. He said he didn’t want to kill anyone. He talked poignantly about praying to his gun, trying to make a deal with it so that it wouldn’t harm anyone should shooting erupt. Praying that the Thais wouldn’t chose his little encampment for a fight.
Didn’t get anything like that on my e-bike.
Pre Rup
After rounding us all up from our various guesthouses we were on the road to Angkor. Pre Rup was the first temple we visited. This temple was built in 940 CE out of laterite and stucco (see what happens when I have a guide!) for a single purpose: funerals. Royal funerals. Deceased nobles would be taken there to lie in state, be cremated and then installed in the mausoleum.
The moke, or stand for viewing the body sat in main courtyard. To the southeast was the crematorium and shine to Agni, the Hindu god of fire and messenger from humans to the gods. In the northeast corner — just like Balinese temples — sat the shine to Shiva.
King lectured further: the temple was used less and less as the royalty converted to Buddhism. Buddhism brought with it a different philosophy for dealing with the deceased: give the body to the fish in the ocean. Or the animals in the forest. It’s always considered better to give the flesh back to the world in death rather than to burn the body.
Pre Rup itself was an austere place. Fewer intricate carvings. The towers were imposing. Form followed function unhappy function here.
Central Courtyard and Steps of Pre Rup
Center courtyard and steps at Pre Rup. King is playing ‘where’s Waldo’, standing at attention in a light polo and dark slacks.
Aerial view of Pre Rup Entrance
Aerial view of Pre Rup entrance.
View From Upper Platform of Pre Rup
View From the upper platform of Pre Rup towards the Shiva shrine.
View of Agni Shrine at Pre Rup
View from the upper platform of Pre Rup towards the crematorium and Agni shrine.
Ta Som
After the imposing grandeur of Pre Rup, Ta Som was a nice, detailed change of pace. It’s a small temple built by Jayavarman VII to honor his father and is not much larger than a large house.
Entryway to Ta Som
Ta Som’s entrance.
Inner Courtyard at Ta Som
Inner courtyard at Ta Som showing Apsara carvings and pieces of ruins.
Ta Som Inner Courtyard
Elevated view of the inner courtyard at Ta Som.
Neak Poan
Neak Poan is very unlike the other temples. First, it’s more of a ‘site’ than a building per se. It consists in four pools representing the four elements, arranged in beautiful symmetry, with a small temple in the middle. Naga and various large animal (bull, horse, elephants, etc..) statues were spread placed around the pools.
We could only look at the the picturesque temple and it’s prominent statuary from across the water. Apparently this place was used as a hospital under Jayavarman VII, for whom building hospitals and temples was a crucial part of his kingship and faith. Since he was a a god-king, these two aspects were part of the same thing.
Neak Poan
Central Shrine of Neak Poan
A view into the central shrine of Neak Poan.
Swamp Outside of Neak Poan
Swamp Outside of Neak Poan. To get to Neak Poan from the road, you travel a long boardwalk over this marshy area.
Preah Kahn
Preah Kahn was the center of government under Jayavarman VII and was built atop the site of his key victory over the Cham (from what’s now Southern Vietnam). From here his edicts ran out on royal roads all across the Khmer empire, which consisted of Cambodia and huge chunks of present-day Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
These royal roads leading out from Preah Kahn and Angkor Thom more generally remind me again of Mexico; the sacbe of the Mayans. For the Khmer these lines of communication were connected to the myth of the Churning of the Sea of Milk, the idea that the whole nation was bound together by the naga serpent and those ties were the root of their prosperity.
Main Entrance to Preah Kahn
Entrance to Preah Kahn with Garuda statues not surviving well the tests of time.
Presumably Shiva Feet
Either Shiva’s feet or some kind of deity of podiatry.
Tree Invading Wall at Preah Kahn
See! Ta Prohm doesn’t have the monopoly on beautify tree damage!
Walkway Inside Preah Kahn
Walkway inside Preah Kahn.
Stupa in Preah Kahn
Stupa in Preah Kahn.
Preah Kahk Statue
Preah Kahk statue.
Archway in Preah Kahn
Crumbling archway being given the most basic support (see the cross timber in the middle of the image)
Outer Counrtyards of Preah Kahn
Outer Courtyards of Preah Kahn
Tree Crushing an Interior Courtyard Wall in Preah Kahn
Tree Crushing an Interior Courtyard Wall in Preah Kahn
Ruins in the Outer Courtyards of Preah Kahn
Ruins in the Outer Courtyards of Preah Kahn
Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei captured my attention instantly when I started reading about Angkor. It’s the only major temple not built by a king, and I guess that explains its diminutive size. But it is extraordinary in at least two other ways: it’s built of red sandstone and the bas relief carvings are especially deep, going 10 cm (4 inches) into the rock.
This citadel of women (literally the translation) is a beautiful, captivating site. It’s popular, but its remote location makes that manageable. I’d love to return in the early morning in the future.
Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei
Inner Courtyard at Banteay Srei
Inner Courtyard at Banteay Srei
Bas Relief in Banteay Srei
Bas Relief in Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei Window Columns
Banteay Srei Window Columns
Lintel Bas Relief at Banteay Srei
Lintel Bas Relief at Banteay Srei
Doorway at Banteay Srei
Doorway at Banteay Srei
Lintel Bas Relief at Banteay Srei
Lintel Bas Relief at Banteay Srei.
Inner Courtyard at Banteay Srei
Inner Courtyard at Banteay Srei.
Inner Courtyard at Banteay Srei
Inner Courtyard at Banteay Srei.
View From The Rear of Banteay Srei
View From The Rear of Banteay Srei.
Picture of me at Banteay Srei
Taken by King, the guide.
Selfie at Banteay Srei
Selfie at Banteay Srei
Tour
The tour turned out to be a far superior experience to the e-bike I used in day 1. Not only was it more comfortable, leaving me with more energy to explore the sites, but it provided some great characters to talk with.
The sites we visited, curated by King, were more diverse and more interesting with his narration. Day 2 was much better than day 1.