Thailand, Laos and Cambodia Trip Report
Mar 6th, 2008, 03:52 PM
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We saw the monks down at the other end of LP near the Post Office. Almost everyone there was very respectful. In fact several mornings I was one of the only westerners in the line to donate to the monks.
Mar 6th, 2008, 06:49 PM
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gpanda: Ah. We were at the other end (close to the "blue house", or near the 3 nagas restaurant). There were a lot of tourists, so I hope it gets quieter as you go further.
I did realize bob was joking... i could not think of a nice comeback - although I thought all day long... gotta thing harder next time...
I did realize bob was joking... i could not think of a nice comeback - although I thought all day long... gotta thing harder next time...
Mar 6th, 2008, 06:58 PM
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After the Tak Baat fiasco, we made our way to JoMa bakery, to get some fresh chocolate croissants and Lao coffee. And we were not disappointed! The coffee was strong, the croissants warm and the chocolate in them divine. Now this is what I'm talking about!
The antibiotics were doing their trick and I was feeling MUCH better. But that does not mean some other ailment did not get me
We decided to continue our sightseeing of Luang Prabang. As usual, we gave ourselves an easy morning of relaxing at the hotel: reading and chatting with each other.
Around noon we headed to our first stop for the day: The Royal Palace. There is no official tour (or royalty), but the place is set up such that you guide yourself through the place and there are markings to give you enough information on the rooms and artifacts. One thing that was interesting was a series of 16 or so paintings that depicted the story of an ancient Lao Prince who gave away a royal white elephant which caused him to be banished from the kingdom for several years. After facing many hardships, but living up to his ideals, he eventually he returns to the kingdom to assume his role as the king. I promised myself I won't forget the name of that Prince, but of course, I forgot. Does anyone remember his name? Please do reply if you do recall. Note to self: Carry a digital voice recorder next time...
The palace was more “simplistic” compared to other palaces I’ve seen in India, but still, nice.
For lunch, we headed to Tamarind Laos. This place is talked about a lot in almost all guidebooks/online forums. The food is different from all other restaurants - it’s more local. We ordered the sampling platter and it was excellent: rice served with various sauces. You create a ball of the rice with your hand, and then dip it in your favorite sauce. I simply chose the spiciest. We also had some river weed, which was slightly bitter, but good! The owners, however, are very well known but were away (having a baby!!). We ended up buying some Lao coffee from this place.
Lunch done, we headed to Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang’s most famous wat! It was beautiful! I spent some time around taking pictures, but the afternoon heat was getting too much for us to continue more wat-seeing. Besides we were feeling ‘watted out’ already. I did not like that thought. Our next destination was Cambodia and it’s temples. There was no way, I could afford to be tired of temples!
Later in the afternoon, my wife wanted to visit a local village that specialized in Lao silk (the same one we visited on our fist day here), so we got a tuk-tuk to take us there. On the ride, we saw parts of Luang Prabang most visitors never venture out to. It reminded me of Jalgaon, India (but cleaner) and stirred up a lot of memories for me. Once thing we could not fail to notice was that, even though Laos was a third world country, even the outskirts were very clean.
After pottering around in many silk shops the village for a bit and a few dollars lighter, we came back and I hiked up Mt. Phousi for the sunset, while my wife got a foot massage. I took some shots but it was a zoo of tourists up there and no fun. No fun because most of them did not even look at the sun setting, but were engrossed in chatting with each other. So I headed down before the crowd realized it was sundown, met up with my wife and we had dinner at some place I can’t remember on the main street: Noodle soup and pizza - mmm!
After dinner, we walked about the streets (not the main ones) near the wats and had a quick desert of chocolate crepe at Tum Tum Cheng - VERY GOOD!
Novice Monks
As we exited the restaurant, we saw some novice monks across the street, they looked like kids “hanging out” (just like we used to hang out downstairs in our apartment building when we were kids). We walked across the street and greeted them with a “sabai-dii”. They responded back and we had a conversation with them for about 15-20 minutes. One of them spoke very good English and he told us about where he and his friends were from, what each of them was studying, how often they meet their parents. One of the monks’ parents live only 3 hours away from Luang Prabang but he had not seen them for 2 years due to financial reasons! The monk who spoke to us said he wants to become a tour guide in Luang Prabang when he finishes college (he was 18 years old). I sincerely hope he achieves his dream. They were all really good kids and very personable.
It was a perfect way to end our last day in Luang Prabang. We walked the main stretch one more time, got a papaya fruit shake and then back to our hotel.
The next day we would catch a flight in the morning to go see the monuments that started this whole trip in the first place: Angkor!
All in all, apart from the few fiascos (Mt. Phousi and Tak Baat), we simply loved Luang Prabang and would return in a heartbeat! Just walking around the place and soaking in the atmosphere (and eating those heavenly sandwiches) would be reason enough to go back. And of course, I'll devour a lot of Lao food while I'm there!
The antibiotics were doing their trick and I was feeling MUCH better. But that does not mean some other ailment did not get me
We decided to continue our sightseeing of Luang Prabang. As usual, we gave ourselves an easy morning of relaxing at the hotel: reading and chatting with each other.
Around noon we headed to our first stop for the day: The Royal Palace. There is no official tour (or royalty), but the place is set up such that you guide yourself through the place and there are markings to give you enough information on the rooms and artifacts. One thing that was interesting was a series of 16 or so paintings that depicted the story of an ancient Lao Prince who gave away a royal white elephant which caused him to be banished from the kingdom for several years. After facing many hardships, but living up to his ideals, he eventually he returns to the kingdom to assume his role as the king. I promised myself I won't forget the name of that Prince, but of course, I forgot. Does anyone remember his name? Please do reply if you do recall. Note to self: Carry a digital voice recorder next time...
The palace was more “simplistic” compared to other palaces I’ve seen in India, but still, nice.
For lunch, we headed to Tamarind Laos. This place is talked about a lot in almost all guidebooks/online forums. The food is different from all other restaurants - it’s more local. We ordered the sampling platter and it was excellent: rice served with various sauces. You create a ball of the rice with your hand, and then dip it in your favorite sauce. I simply chose the spiciest. We also had some river weed, which was slightly bitter, but good! The owners, however, are very well known but were away (having a baby!!). We ended up buying some Lao coffee from this place.
Lunch done, we headed to Wat Xieng Thong, Luang Prabang’s most famous wat! It was beautiful! I spent some time around taking pictures, but the afternoon heat was getting too much for us to continue more wat-seeing. Besides we were feeling ‘watted out’ already. I did not like that thought. Our next destination was Cambodia and it’s temples. There was no way, I could afford to be tired of temples!
Later in the afternoon, my wife wanted to visit a local village that specialized in Lao silk (the same one we visited on our fist day here), so we got a tuk-tuk to take us there. On the ride, we saw parts of Luang Prabang most visitors never venture out to. It reminded me of Jalgaon, India (but cleaner) and stirred up a lot of memories for me. Once thing we could not fail to notice was that, even though Laos was a third world country, even the outskirts were very clean.
After pottering around in many silk shops the village for a bit and a few dollars lighter, we came back and I hiked up Mt. Phousi for the sunset, while my wife got a foot massage. I took some shots but it was a zoo of tourists up there and no fun. No fun because most of them did not even look at the sun setting, but were engrossed in chatting with each other. So I headed down before the crowd realized it was sundown, met up with my wife and we had dinner at some place I can’t remember on the main street: Noodle soup and pizza - mmm!
After dinner, we walked about the streets (not the main ones) near the wats and had a quick desert of chocolate crepe at Tum Tum Cheng - VERY GOOD!
Novice Monks
As we exited the restaurant, we saw some novice monks across the street, they looked like kids “hanging out” (just like we used to hang out downstairs in our apartment building when we were kids). We walked across the street and greeted them with a “sabai-dii”. They responded back and we had a conversation with them for about 15-20 minutes. One of them spoke very good English and he told us about where he and his friends were from, what each of them was studying, how often they meet their parents. One of the monks’ parents live only 3 hours away from Luang Prabang but he had not seen them for 2 years due to financial reasons! The monk who spoke to us said he wants to become a tour guide in Luang Prabang when he finishes college (he was 18 years old). I sincerely hope he achieves his dream. They were all really good kids and very personable.
It was a perfect way to end our last day in Luang Prabang. We walked the main stretch one more time, got a papaya fruit shake and then back to our hotel.
The next day we would catch a flight in the morning to go see the monuments that started this whole trip in the first place: Angkor!
All in all, apart from the few fiascos (Mt. Phousi and Tak Baat), we simply loved Luang Prabang and would return in a heartbeat! Just walking around the place and soaking in the atmosphere (and eating those heavenly sandwiches) would be reason enough to go back. And of course, I'll devour a lot of Lao food while I'm there!
Mar 7th, 2008, 06:33 PM
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November 29, 2007. Luang Prabang, Laos / Siem Reap, Cambodia
This morning, we left for Siem Reap on a Lao Airlines flight: As expected, the flight departed before time! Of course, we made sure we were before time too!
Our flight made a stop at Pakse airport, where we disembarked, spent about 30 minutes on the ground, while they refueled the plane (that’s how tiny the thing was!) and then were back up again. Service was excellent and for 2.5 hours of flying time we were served two meals. We just ate one.
We arrived in Siem Reap on schedule (2:40 pm) and immigration was a breeze since we had Cambodian E-Visa’s. I highly recommend using this service if you plan to visit Cambodia (and you must!) since there was practically no line and it beats having to fill out a lot of forms. A thousand stamps (some on our passport and many on the form that we had to fill) later proceeded to retrieve our bags.
As I stepped out of the hotel and onto the Cambodian soil, I could not believe I actually made it to Cambodia! After wanting to go there for more than 10 years, it felt like a dream come true!
We found the tuk-tuk driver from our guesthouse: The Two Dragons. The ride to the hotel was uneventful, but quite dusty. But I kept telling myself - I’m here! I made it! It was exciting!
We had booked Dara as our guide to the temples and arranged for a driver to come take us to see the temples today. Alas, no one came at the scheduled time and so I called Ponheary (Dara’s sister who handled the booking). There was a miscommunication and Ponheary was very apologetic. However, she lives only 2 minutes from where we were and she came by and we chatted for almost an hour about the work she does for the children through the Ponheary Ly Foundation. I really admire this lady and what she does for the kids. She is very committed.
Not going to the temples today was a blessing in disguise. Remember my cold? Well I was fine now, but my wife had she took a nap which helped her tremendously. In the evening, we took a tuk-tuk to pub street and had dinner at a place called Delhi Darbar. The food was really tasty, but I think the chef thought we’re Indians so lets cook our meal spicy! I have a high tolerance for chillies, but this was beyond me! I have no idea how my wife ate any of that. But… we were hungry … and it was tasty… Just like home!
We walked about a bit. Most of the area is simply restaurants, pubs and shops catering to tourists. It was nothing to admire or remember.We went back to our hotel to sleep a bit early.
Our excitement for the next day knew no bounds; we were going to see temples of Angkor with Dara…!
This morning, we left for Siem Reap on a Lao Airlines flight: As expected, the flight departed before time! Of course, we made sure we were before time too!
Our flight made a stop at Pakse airport, where we disembarked, spent about 30 minutes on the ground, while they refueled the plane (that’s how tiny the thing was!) and then were back up again. Service was excellent and for 2.5 hours of flying time we were served two meals. We just ate one.
We arrived in Siem Reap on schedule (2:40 pm) and immigration was a breeze since we had Cambodian E-Visa’s. I highly recommend using this service if you plan to visit Cambodia (and you must!) since there was practically no line and it beats having to fill out a lot of forms. A thousand stamps (some on our passport and many on the form that we had to fill) later proceeded to retrieve our bags.
As I stepped out of the hotel and onto the Cambodian soil, I could not believe I actually made it to Cambodia! After wanting to go there for more than 10 years, it felt like a dream come true!
We found the tuk-tuk driver from our guesthouse: The Two Dragons. The ride to the hotel was uneventful, but quite dusty. But I kept telling myself - I’m here! I made it! It was exciting!
We had booked Dara as our guide to the temples and arranged for a driver to come take us to see the temples today. Alas, no one came at the scheduled time and so I called Ponheary (Dara’s sister who handled the booking). There was a miscommunication and Ponheary was very apologetic. However, she lives only 2 minutes from where we were and she came by and we chatted for almost an hour about the work she does for the children through the Ponheary Ly Foundation. I really admire this lady and what she does for the kids. She is very committed.
Not going to the temples today was a blessing in disguise. Remember my cold? Well I was fine now, but my wife had she took a nap which helped her tremendously. In the evening, we took a tuk-tuk to pub street and had dinner at a place called Delhi Darbar. The food was really tasty, but I think the chef thought we’re Indians so lets cook our meal spicy! I have a high tolerance for chillies, but this was beyond me! I have no idea how my wife ate any of that. But… we were hungry … and it was tasty… Just like home!
We walked about a bit. Most of the area is simply restaurants, pubs and shops catering to tourists. It was nothing to admire or remember.We went back to our hotel to sleep a bit early.
Our excitement for the next day knew no bounds; we were going to see temples of Angkor with Dara…!
Mar 8th, 2008, 05:59 PM
#71
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So, I've been meaning to wrap up my report with the last leg - Cambodia. Would you guys like to read details of each temple we visited or does it get boring? If you like, I can sum it up in a post. OR. I can subject y'all to grueling details. What do you prefer?
Mar 9th, 2008, 11:56 AM
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rahulm, I'm really enjoying your report. I'd love to hear all the details. I'm always fascinated by how people respond differently to different temples. A friend of mine who is Indian felt the highlight for him was seeing the carving of the churning of the sea of milk. I understand it is the only such depiction outside of India. I, on the other hand, stumbled across the carving, enjoyed it (was impressed that I recognized it!) and moved on.
Mar 9th, 2008, 12:49 PM
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Details it is! Thank you all for the encouragement.
Kathie: We felt the same way about the depiction, as your friend. However, on the whole we were completely fascinated by all the temples. Having grown up in India, amidst the culture, all this seemed so close to us.
Kathie: We felt the same way about the depiction, as your friend. However, on the whole we were completely fascinated by all the temples. Having grown up in India, amidst the culture, all this seemed so close to us.
Mar 9th, 2008, 12:51 PM
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Here is the itinerary we followed for the three days we toured the temples.
We followed the most recommended three days to see the main temples, but found that three was just not enough. We've decided that every time we go to Asia, a hop to Cambodia is a must to see more temples. And a hop to Bangkok as well... and I really want to see Singapore... and.. oh well.
Day 1: Friday November 30, 2007
Morning:
* Angkor Thom
o Bayon Temple
o Baphuon
o Phimeanakas
o Preah Pali Lai
o Terrace of Leper King
o Terrace of Elephants
Evening:
* Angkor Wat
* Phnom Bakheng
Day 2: Saturday, December 1, 2007
Morning:
* Preah Kahn
* Neak Pean
* Ta Som
* East Mebon
Evening:
* Bantey Kdei
* Ta Prohm
* Pre Rup
Day 3: Sunday, December 2, 2007
* Kbal Spean (added as a bous later, Thank you Dara!)
* Bantey Srei
* Beng Mealea
* Rolous group of temples
o Lolei
o Preah Ko
o Bakong
We followed the most recommended three days to see the main temples, but found that three was just not enough. We've decided that every time we go to Asia, a hop to Cambodia is a must to see more temples. And a hop to Bangkok as well... and I really want to see Singapore... and.. oh well.
Day 1: Friday November 30, 2007
Morning:
* Angkor Thom
o Bayon Temple
o Baphuon
o Phimeanakas
o Preah Pali Lai
o Terrace of Leper King
o Terrace of Elephants
Evening:
* Angkor Wat
* Phnom Bakheng
Day 2: Saturday, December 1, 2007
Morning:
* Preah Kahn
* Neak Pean
* Ta Som
* East Mebon
Evening:
* Bantey Kdei
* Ta Prohm
* Pre Rup
Day 3: Sunday, December 2, 2007
* Kbal Spean (added as a bous later, Thank you Dara!)
* Bantey Srei
* Beng Mealea
* Rolous group of temples
o Lolei
o Preah Ko
o Bakong
Mar 9th, 2008, 04:46 PM
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November 30, 2007 (morning).
Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We woke up and got ready fairly early because Dara, our guide and Hong, our driver, were at the hotel at 7:30 AM. We exchanged introductions and we were off in a green Toyota Camry.
Our first stop was the ticket center, run by the Sokha Hotel Group (and they make it quite clear on the ticket. Interestingly, the Sokha group is Vietnamese, not Cambodian). You can buy various types of tickets to see the temples: $20 for 1 day. $40 for 3 days and $60 for a weeks’ worth of entry. We opted for the three day pass. The tickets are checked regularly, even at remote temples.
Before I start a drivel on each temple, here is the list of temples we saw in the morning:
* Angkor Thom
o Bayon
o Baphuon
o Phimeanakas
o Preah Pali Lai
o Terrace of Leper King
o Terrace of Elephants
After getting our tickets, we proceeded towards Angkor Thon. Although I had studied the maps many times before getting there, I wasn't sure which route we were really on (or did not care since I was too excited). But we drove right past Angkor Wat! Wow!! After waiting and dreaming (and feeling it is a distant dream), we finally saw it! Our excitement knew no bounds and we knew that the next three days are going to be absolutely thrilling – and they were!
We then continued our journey to Angkor Thom through the forest (at least it looked like a forest). We entered through the famous Angkor Thom south-entrance gate. The sides of the bridge that leads up to this gate has a depiction of the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan) with the gods and the demons on either side, tugging a naga (snake). A lot of the heads of the gods and demons have been stolen/broken off and most of the ones you see today are replicas. Angkor Thom was surrounded by a moat, but today it’s a green patch of water. So green that we could barely tell it existed until Dara pointed patches out to us which were liquid-like.
Bayon
Our first stop was the Bayon temple. Anyone who has read even a bit about Angkor knows the Bayon. We had read raves about it and it was spectacular! From afar it looks like a pile of stones, but as you keep getting closer, slowly the faces appear and disappear. We entered the Bayon from the east side. Along the way, Dara explained the reliefs on the wall, that depicted scenes from the daily life of people who lived in those times – wars against Siamese and Cham, celebrations, feasts, new life (birth) etc.
The architecture of the temple was completely designed by the king himself. This is quite commendable because the king did not only have to build these magnificent temples, but also take care of the day to day administration of his kingdom, fight wars, advance agriculture (by building a proper canal system and reservoirs) and attend to his many wives and children – Superman!
We got inside the temple and saw a lot of images of ascetics on the wall. But… wait, there was something weird about them. At that moment, Dara popped a question:
Dara: When was the computer invented?
Me: 1940’s.
Dara: And Photoshop?
Me: Late 80’s
Dara: OK, now turn around and see my Photoshop.
On closer inspection, the ascetics were modified carvings on the wall, of what had initially been Buddha carvings. The Buddha legs are supposed to be flat and the face simple, but the ascetic had a bunch of hair tied on his head, a beard and his legs were elevated. The reason for this was that the temple was originally built by Jayavarman VII, who was a Buddhist. However, his son, Jayavarman VIII was a Hindu and went about changing Buddha images to look like Hindu images - obviously, he had more time on his hands than his dad...
This was one of the firsts of many of Dara’s funny quips!
We walked around the Bayon being fascinated by the many faces and taking photos of the faces with varying light falling on them. While walking around, we saw a guy drawing pictures of the Bayon. His drawing was super amazing and he sold them for $10-15. We thought we'll find him again after we make a quick round of taking photos and Dara said he should still be there when we get back, but alas he was gone and we could not find him again in the next three days, although we tried. We really wanted to get a picture or two from him... Hopefully I'll bump into him the next time we visit
Afterwards, at the bottom of the temple, Dara showed us a pile of rubble that was being sorted out and since there were no blueprints, they were going to somehow figure out where each piece went and reconstruct these lovely monuments. We also saw a depiction of Krishna holding the Gordhan mountain to protect the villagers from the wrath of Indra. This is a story I have heard hundreds of times from my grandmother and we were quite excited to see. Here we were, in a land so far away from India, and yet felt very close.
Baphuon
After the Bayon, we walked by the Baphuon. It was being restored, and hence we could not go inside. By the Baphuon we saw some monks smoking cigarettes and talking on cell phones! Are they allowed to do that (smoke)?!? Dara said, yes. I was slightly taken aback since I did not think it was allowed. Later, Dara told me that nowadays, people do not take Buddhism as seriously so all these “modern amenities” are adopted my monks as well (Isn't the whole idea to give up wordly things as a monk and live simple? I guess it would depend on how you define simple...)
Phimeanakas
Walking further, we arrived at the Phimeanakas. This temple is mostly a ruin, but there are wooden steps to help you go up if the Khmer style steps are too hard. I chose the Khmer steps for now. It was fun but, I knew I was going to tire of them soon We went up the temple, took a few photos, sat in one of the many windows and just admired the view for a while.
Preah Pali Lai
We then walked past Preah Pali Lai. This temple is a almost taken over by trees and it even had three trees on its steps. Tree leaves have fallen and not been cleared so we could not go in. While walking past this temple, we saw a green snake slither away! Suddenly, another couple came running to Dara saying that they saw a brown snake. Uh, two snake sightings in less than a minute. I'm glad we were not going in...
We walked past many large Buddha statues that were old, but were put together using concrete and were still in use today. There were even some monk cottages close by.
Terrace of the Leper King
Next, we arrived at the Terrace of the Leper King. There are many stories on why this terrace was built. I had read that legend has it that the king who built it (Jayavarman VII) must have had leprosy and hence he built this temple to appease the Gods. However, no where in this temple is a figure of a person with any disease, but only bas reliefs and a statue of Yama – God of Death and Justice on the terrace itself. This statue is almost in a perfect form. Dara mentioned that he thinks that instead of being a leprosy monument, this was more likely a court house, where justice was served and it made more sense than the leprosy theory. This terrace has two walls and in between these walls is a walkable area with a lot of bas reliefs of Yama with his consorts and his army. At almost every corner is the image of a multi-headed serpent.
Terrace of Elephants
Right next to the Terrace of the Leper King is the Terrace of the Elephants. While there is not much on the terrace itself, but standing on the field, slightly away from the wall, we saw lovely structures on the wall.
Opposite the terraces are 12 towers and a playground (where Dara said he brings his family on days’ he does not work to have a picnic). The towers were used to tie ropes and have acrobats perform acts on those ropes.
It was nearing lunchtime and we were all famished. It was also getting a bit hot. We headed to the car (that had driven around to be positioned right in front of the terrace of the elephants) and drove back to our hotel.
Siem Reap, Cambodia.
We woke up and got ready fairly early because Dara, our guide and Hong, our driver, were at the hotel at 7:30 AM. We exchanged introductions and we were off in a green Toyota Camry.
Our first stop was the ticket center, run by the Sokha Hotel Group (and they make it quite clear on the ticket. Interestingly, the Sokha group is Vietnamese, not Cambodian). You can buy various types of tickets to see the temples: $20 for 1 day. $40 for 3 days and $60 for a weeks’ worth of entry. We opted for the three day pass. The tickets are checked regularly, even at remote temples.
Before I start a drivel on each temple, here is the list of temples we saw in the morning:
* Angkor Thom
o Bayon
o Baphuon
o Phimeanakas
o Preah Pali Lai
o Terrace of Leper King
o Terrace of Elephants
After getting our tickets, we proceeded towards Angkor Thon. Although I had studied the maps many times before getting there, I wasn't sure which route we were really on (or did not care since I was too excited). But we drove right past Angkor Wat! Wow!! After waiting and dreaming (and feeling it is a distant dream), we finally saw it! Our excitement knew no bounds and we knew that the next three days are going to be absolutely thrilling – and they were!
We then continued our journey to Angkor Thom through the forest (at least it looked like a forest). We entered through the famous Angkor Thom south-entrance gate. The sides of the bridge that leads up to this gate has a depiction of the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan) with the gods and the demons on either side, tugging a naga (snake). A lot of the heads of the gods and demons have been stolen/broken off and most of the ones you see today are replicas. Angkor Thom was surrounded by a moat, but today it’s a green patch of water. So green that we could barely tell it existed until Dara pointed patches out to us which were liquid-like.
Bayon
Our first stop was the Bayon temple. Anyone who has read even a bit about Angkor knows the Bayon. We had read raves about it and it was spectacular! From afar it looks like a pile of stones, but as you keep getting closer, slowly the faces appear and disappear. We entered the Bayon from the east side. Along the way, Dara explained the reliefs on the wall, that depicted scenes from the daily life of people who lived in those times – wars against Siamese and Cham, celebrations, feasts, new life (birth) etc.
The architecture of the temple was completely designed by the king himself. This is quite commendable because the king did not only have to build these magnificent temples, but also take care of the day to day administration of his kingdom, fight wars, advance agriculture (by building a proper canal system and reservoirs) and attend to his many wives and children – Superman!
We got inside the temple and saw a lot of images of ascetics on the wall. But… wait, there was something weird about them. At that moment, Dara popped a question:
Dara: When was the computer invented?
Me: 1940’s.
Dara: And Photoshop?
Me: Late 80’s
Dara: OK, now turn around and see my Photoshop.
On closer inspection, the ascetics were modified carvings on the wall, of what had initially been Buddha carvings. The Buddha legs are supposed to be flat and the face simple, but the ascetic had a bunch of hair tied on his head, a beard and his legs were elevated. The reason for this was that the temple was originally built by Jayavarman VII, who was a Buddhist. However, his son, Jayavarman VIII was a Hindu and went about changing Buddha images to look like Hindu images - obviously, he had more time on his hands than his dad...
This was one of the firsts of many of Dara’s funny quips!
We walked around the Bayon being fascinated by the many faces and taking photos of the faces with varying light falling on them. While walking around, we saw a guy drawing pictures of the Bayon. His drawing was super amazing and he sold them for $10-15. We thought we'll find him again after we make a quick round of taking photos and Dara said he should still be there when we get back, but alas he was gone and we could not find him again in the next three days, although we tried. We really wanted to get a picture or two from him... Hopefully I'll bump into him the next time we visit
Afterwards, at the bottom of the temple, Dara showed us a pile of rubble that was being sorted out and since there were no blueprints, they were going to somehow figure out where each piece went and reconstruct these lovely monuments. We also saw a depiction of Krishna holding the Gordhan mountain to protect the villagers from the wrath of Indra. This is a story I have heard hundreds of times from my grandmother and we were quite excited to see. Here we were, in a land so far away from India, and yet felt very close.
Baphuon
After the Bayon, we walked by the Baphuon. It was being restored, and hence we could not go inside. By the Baphuon we saw some monks smoking cigarettes and talking on cell phones! Are they allowed to do that (smoke)?!? Dara said, yes. I was slightly taken aback since I did not think it was allowed. Later, Dara told me that nowadays, people do not take Buddhism as seriously so all these “modern amenities” are adopted my monks as well (Isn't the whole idea to give up wordly things as a monk and live simple? I guess it would depend on how you define simple...)
Phimeanakas
Walking further, we arrived at the Phimeanakas. This temple is mostly a ruin, but there are wooden steps to help you go up if the Khmer style steps are too hard. I chose the Khmer steps for now. It was fun but, I knew I was going to tire of them soon
We went up the temple, took a few photos, sat in one of the many windows and just admired the view for a while.Preah Pali Lai
We then walked past Preah Pali Lai. This temple is a almost taken over by trees and it even had three trees on its steps. Tree leaves have fallen and not been cleared so we could not go in. While walking past this temple, we saw a green snake slither away! Suddenly, another couple came running to Dara saying that they saw a brown snake. Uh, two snake sightings in less than a minute. I'm glad we were not going in...
We walked past many large Buddha statues that were old, but were put together using concrete and were still in use today. There were even some monk cottages close by.
Terrace of the Leper King
Next, we arrived at the Terrace of the Leper King. There are many stories on why this terrace was built. I had read that legend has it that the king who built it (Jayavarman VII) must have had leprosy and hence he built this temple to appease the Gods. However, no where in this temple is a figure of a person with any disease, but only bas reliefs and a statue of Yama – God of Death and Justice on the terrace itself. This statue is almost in a perfect form. Dara mentioned that he thinks that instead of being a leprosy monument, this was more likely a court house, where justice was served and it made more sense than the leprosy theory. This terrace has two walls and in between these walls is a walkable area with a lot of bas reliefs of Yama with his consorts and his army. At almost every corner is the image of a multi-headed serpent.
Terrace of Elephants
Right next to the Terrace of the Leper King is the Terrace of the Elephants. While there is not much on the terrace itself, but standing on the field, slightly away from the wall, we saw lovely structures on the wall.
Opposite the terraces are 12 towers and a playground (where Dara said he brings his family on days’ he does not work to have a picnic). The towers were used to tie ropes and have acrobats perform acts on those ropes.
It was nearing lunchtime and we were all famished. It was also getting a bit hot. We headed to the car (that had driven around to be positioned right in front of the terrace of the elephants) and drove back to our hotel.
Mar 15th, 2008, 05:50 PM
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Siem Reap, Cambodia.
December 1, 2007
I woke up to a stomach ache and really bad diarrhea, but decided to take it in my stride. I just figured that not eating anything would cause no trouble. Not a smart idea since I was going to be walking for four hours in the sun with no food in my stomach, but this time it seemed to do the trick.
Dara was unavailable for the day, since he had to take a large tour group out for a day. Ponheary had told us that the temples we were going to see today did not really need a guide so we could tour them ourselves.
The driver was there promptly at 9 AM and we were on our way.
Preah Kahn: The sacred sword
Our first stop was the Preah Kahn temple. Also called the “Sacred Sword”. Hong (our driver) dropped us at the opposite end than what our guide book suggested and he could not understand east or west in English. So we just assumed we were on the right side of the temple and tried to follow the guide book. Surely, nothing made sense. Eventually, we figured out where we were and it made sense.
Preah Kahn is famous for the 72 Garuda’s on its outer wall, that hold the temple up towards the heavens. The temple is a straight row of galleries, and there is no climbing involved here. It was built by Jayavarman VII and used primarily as an educational center for the arts.
One of the interesting things here was the construction of roman style two-storied galleries with round columns. These are not seen anywhere else and are certainly not a part of Khmer architecture. The reason for the existence these galleries is yet, unknown.
Neak Peahn
Next, we went to Neak Peahn. This temple was built in the middle of a now-defunct reservoir. The Khmer built a lot of reservoirs for water supply and then in the middle put a temple. We walked across the reservoir, and spent time there looking at the carvings on the wall on the outside of the temple. They’re really beautiful and I can imagine myself spending hours in each temple admiring the reliefs.
We sat at the steps of this temple, in the middle of the reservoir, admiring the beauty of this place and soaking in the feeling of being in Cambodia. To us, this place felt very alive. We had dreamed about coming here for such a long time…
Ta Som
Next was Ta Som. This temple is built in the Preah Kahn style - a row of galleries. It is much smaller that most other temples and we were done in about 15 minutes. One thing nice about Ta Som is that most tourists do not take the trouble to stop there so you get more quiet time and the place to yourself.
The vendors outside of Ta Som were aggressive, but not irritating, trying to involve me into a conversation with the hope that I’d buy something. As we entered the temple, they tried to get me to promise that I’d buy a drink when I would come out. I said “I’ll think about it when I come back.”. As soon as I walked out, they were there (with a smile): “So you thought about it and let me guess you’re getting a drink and a t-shirt!”. Wait! There was no talk about a t-shirt. It turns out they did not have my size, and I did not want a drink, lest I need to rush back to the hotel because of my stomach...
East Mebon
It was almost 12:30 pm by the time we headed to our last temple for the morning: East Mebon. Since it was so hot, the temple was almost empty and we climbed up to the top. This temple is not decorated with sandstone like all other temples, but the laterite rock is exposed. We did not bother reading the guide book, but found a shaded spot and soaked in the feeling of this temple.
At these temples, as we we sat, admiring the artisans’ work, the architects’ vision and the laborers’ efforts we could not help but imagine the people who must lived here more than a thousand years ago, what they must have thought, how their culture must have taken shape and how their life must have been… Together, they produced some finest, fascinating and beautiful monuments in the world.
After a quick lunch at some place across the street (that had the best noodle soup in the country and the worst pizza in the world), Hong picked us up at 3 pm and we headed to see Bantey Kdei. We walked about quite fast since its small and the only thing to notice here were 2 concentric galleries.
Ta Prohm: The Ancestor Brahma
This is the most famous of all Angkor Temples. The jungle growth has not been entirely cleared, compared to other temples, which allows visitors to feel and get a glimpse of what the early European explorers must have felt and seen when they first came here. Outside the temple, we saw there was a sign that mentioned this temple was being supported by India and we could not suppress a wide grin. Having lived in India, Canada(where I was born and went to college) and the US, I feel proud when I see anything nice about these places in the world. We entered the complex we saw giant trees that were growing on the temples (and in many cases crushing the walls). In order to protect these crushing walls without cutting the tree down, additional support was added to the buildings to hold the weight of the tree.
As we walked around the temple, we noticed that hardly any light makes it inside the corridors and it gives quite an eerie feeling to be there. There are a lot of quiet nooks that we found where we could admire the architecture and carvings, despite the large amounts of crowd that comes here. And they're not AT ALL considerate. They'll push, scream in your ears, make sure they walk across the yard JUST when you plan to click a photo...
Pre Rup
After Ta Prohm, we headed to Pre Rup, for another sunset. We climbed up the already full top of the temple and saw a lovely ball of orange sink into the horizon.
Later, back at the hotel, we had a quick dinner (sandwiches) and, exhausted, went to sleep, watching some Indian channel on tv...
December 1, 2007
I woke up to a stomach ache and really bad diarrhea, but decided to take it in my stride. I just figured that not eating anything would cause no trouble. Not a smart idea since I was going to be walking for four hours in the sun with no food in my stomach, but this time it seemed to do the trick.
Dara was unavailable for the day, since he had to take a large tour group out for a day. Ponheary had told us that the temples we were going to see today did not really need a guide so we could tour them ourselves.
The driver was there promptly at 9 AM and we were on our way.
Preah Kahn: The sacred sword
Our first stop was the Preah Kahn temple. Also called the “Sacred Sword”. Hong (our driver) dropped us at the opposite end than what our guide book suggested and he could not understand east or west in English. So we just assumed we were on the right side of the temple and tried to follow the guide book. Surely, nothing made sense. Eventually, we figured out where we were and it made sense.
Preah Kahn is famous for the 72 Garuda’s on its outer wall, that hold the temple up towards the heavens. The temple is a straight row of galleries, and there is no climbing involved here. It was built by Jayavarman VII and used primarily as an educational center for the arts.
One of the interesting things here was the construction of roman style two-storied galleries with round columns. These are not seen anywhere else and are certainly not a part of Khmer architecture. The reason for the existence these galleries is yet, unknown.
Neak Peahn
Next, we went to Neak Peahn. This temple was built in the middle of a now-defunct reservoir. The Khmer built a lot of reservoirs for water supply and then in the middle put a temple. We walked across the reservoir, and spent time there looking at the carvings on the wall on the outside of the temple. They’re really beautiful and I can imagine myself spending hours in each temple admiring the reliefs.
We sat at the steps of this temple, in the middle of the reservoir, admiring the beauty of this place and soaking in the feeling of being in Cambodia. To us, this place felt very alive. We had dreamed about coming here for such a long time…
Ta Som
Next was Ta Som. This temple is built in the Preah Kahn style - a row of galleries. It is much smaller that most other temples and we were done in about 15 minutes. One thing nice about Ta Som is that most tourists do not take the trouble to stop there so you get more quiet time and the place to yourself.
The vendors outside of Ta Som were aggressive, but not irritating, trying to involve me into a conversation with the hope that I’d buy something. As we entered the temple, they tried to get me to promise that I’d buy a drink when I would come out. I said “I’ll think about it when I come back.”. As soon as I walked out, they were there (with a smile): “So you thought about it and let me guess you’re getting a drink and a t-shirt!”. Wait! There was no talk about a t-shirt. It turns out they did not have my size, and I did not want a drink, lest I need to rush back to the hotel because of my stomach...
East Mebon
It was almost 12:30 pm by the time we headed to our last temple for the morning: East Mebon. Since it was so hot, the temple was almost empty and we climbed up to the top. This temple is not decorated with sandstone like all other temples, but the laterite rock is exposed. We did not bother reading the guide book, but found a shaded spot and soaked in the feeling of this temple.
At these temples, as we we sat, admiring the artisans’ work, the architects’ vision and the laborers’ efforts we could not help but imagine the people who must lived here more than a thousand years ago, what they must have thought, how their culture must have taken shape and how their life must have been… Together, they produced some finest, fascinating and beautiful monuments in the world.
After a quick lunch at some place across the street (that had the best noodle soup in the country and the worst pizza in the world), Hong picked us up at 3 pm and we headed to see Bantey Kdei. We walked about quite fast since its small and the only thing to notice here were 2 concentric galleries.
Ta Prohm: The Ancestor Brahma
This is the most famous of all Angkor Temples. The jungle growth has not been entirely cleared, compared to other temples, which allows visitors to feel and get a glimpse of what the early European explorers must have felt and seen when they first came here. Outside the temple, we saw there was a sign that mentioned this temple was being supported by India and we could not suppress a wide grin. Having lived in India, Canada(where I was born and went to college) and the US, I feel proud when I see anything nice about these places in the world. We entered the complex we saw giant trees that were growing on the temples (and in many cases crushing the walls). In order to protect these crushing walls without cutting the tree down, additional support was added to the buildings to hold the weight of the tree.
As we walked around the temple, we noticed that hardly any light makes it inside the corridors and it gives quite an eerie feeling to be there. There are a lot of quiet nooks that we found where we could admire the architecture and carvings, despite the large amounts of crowd that comes here. And they're not AT ALL considerate. They'll push, scream in your ears, make sure they walk across the yard JUST when you plan to click a photo...
Pre Rup
After Ta Prohm, we headed to Pre Rup, for another sunset. We climbed up the already full top of the temple and saw a lovely ball of orange sink into the horizon.
Later, back at the hotel, we had a quick dinner (sandwiches) and, exhausted, went to sleep, watching some Indian channel on tv...
