Siem Reap Province and the Temples of Angkor

The second weekend of our stay in Cambodia I traveled to Siem Reap Province with Lauren and Christi to see the Temples of Angkor. We left Phenom Penh at 11:00 pm and traveled for six and a half hours via the night bus. The night bus is set up so each person gets a "bed," which is a reclined seat. The ride was very bumpy and I am pretty sure the road was a single lane for portions of the trip, and our bus driver might have been playing "chicken" with oncoming traffic. Once we arrived, we found a tuk tuk driver that we had booked ahead of time, dropped our bags at the hotel and went straight to the temples to try to catch the sun rise over Angkor Wat. After three hours in Angkor Wat, we had breakfast and continued exploring. As the day progressed I was not feeling so great, I was really hot, feeling dehydrated and my abdomen was distended. The next 30 or so hours were not great (see previous blog) and because of it I missed out on the National Museum, where I would have learned a lot about Angkor Wat. Therefore I have been doing the research on my own, and thus this post has taken a lot of time to complete. In addition, there are thousands of temples in Siem Reap, ranging in size from Angkor Wat (the largest) to small temples that are simply a pile of rocks in a field. We barely scratched the surface, but were able to see some amazing structures. 

Angkor Wat

This beauty is considered the largest single religious monument in the world. It is often called the temple mountain, as it was built to represent Mt Meru, the home to the gods of Hinduism. It occupies over 400 acres of land, is surrounded by a moat, and has three terrace levels. The temple was built under King Suryavarman II who ruled from 1112-1152. The temple is unique in many ways, it was the largest of the temples built during the Angkorian period, it faces west, and the bas reliefs are counter clockwise. West is considered the direction of death, most if not all of the other temples built during this time were built facing east. It is believed that the temple was built as a funerary temple for the king. The bas relief, which are sculptures that have less depth, allowing them to be viewed from many angles without distortion of the figures (another example is the face of a coin), are seen in many of the temples, most commonly in clockwise direction. The counter clockwise direction of the bas relief in Angkor Wat further supports the idea of this temple being a funerary temple. 

Ray, N., Bloom, G. (2012). Cambodia. Melbourne, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. 

Upper: Angkor Wat, with the moat surrounding it. Behind the first structure you can see the temple in the background. Lower right: Statue of the god Vishnu. Often depicted as a protector, stands in the temple of Angkor Wat. Lower left: the lions protecting one of the entrances. 

Upper left: a view of a god in the west portico from the library. The temples are designed so the gods can be seen from all directions (north, east, south, west). In this temple they were usually framed by a window or door, I think this was also common practice. Upper right: Angkor Wat viewed from the Sandstone causeway as the sun was rising in the distance. It was pretty hazy this morning, so the sun rise wasn't quite what we were expecting. Lower two photos show the intricate details of the temple. There was not a doorway, wall, or corner that did not have beautiful detail. 

Upper: some of the bas relief. Lower left: inside the actual temple. Lower right: monkeys eating fruit one of the tourists was feeding them. 

Left: from inside the temple at the very top, looking out at the main entrance. Right: the very steep stair case to enter the temple. Inside the temples it is required that the shoulders and knees are covered. In the above photo I am wearing Lauren's shirt so I could go up to the top after she did. 

Angkor Thom
Meaning "large city" or "great city" depending on the source, was the last capital of the Khmer empire, completed around 1295. Built under the rule of King Jayavarman VII in response to the surprise attack on Angkor by the Chams.  As you approach the city gate you are greeted by tower faces. There is question if these faces represent the king himself or are protectors of the city. Angkor Thom is not a single temple but instead a city of temples, covering over 10 square kilometers.

Ray, N., Bloom, G. (2012). Cambodia. Melbourne, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd.

Upper: the faces as you approach the gate of Angkor Thom. Lower left: the gate of Angkor Thom from the tuk tuk. Lower right: Bayon, the first temple we visiting within Angkor Thom. 

Bayon
This temple has over 50 towers with faces looking down in all directions. It is also in the exact middle of Angkor Thom. Many faces are visible from any place inside the temple.

Ray, N., Bloom, G. (2012). Cambodia. Melbourne, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd.

Within the temple of Bayon. 

Baphuon

The temple mountain sanctuary, was built in 1060 by King Udayaityavarman II (1056-1066).  It was in the process of being restored when the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia. Because of this many stones lay around the temple, and though they are clearly labeled, they will likely never find their places on the central structure again because all the documents associated with the restoration were destroyed. 

Upper: standing on the causeway leading up to the temple. Lower: standing in front of a closed stairway in front of the temple. 

Upper right: the view from the top. Upper left: the three of us exploring the top of the temple, there were many low archways to walk through. Middle left: resting in the shade in a window. Middle right: another shot of me in front of the stairway! Lower left: the very top, it was closed. Lower right: I enjoyed this sign, I think all of us bumped our head at least once while in this temple. 

Phimeanakas
Meaning celestial place. We walked past this temple and decided not to go in. We were out of water and it was really hot. The temple also had at least two steep stairways to climb to enter, we weren't up for it on hour six of exploring. Walking through the temples was a lot like hiking, the terrain was often unpredictable and there was a lot of climbing and descending.  This temple is within Angkor Thom and has been left mostly unrestored.

Ta Prohm
The jungle temple, is the last temple we visited and is not a part of Angkor Thom. It is called the jungle temple because over time the trees have grown into the still existing structure, and it is quite beautiful. It was built in 1186 A.D. under the rule of Jayavarman VII. Unlike many other temples, it has not been restored and has been left in the condition in which it as found. It was added to the World Heritage List in 1992 by UNESCO and is one of the most visited temples in Siem Reap.

Upper left: this massive tree was dead and was being held up by this structure. I assume the purpose was to prevent the damage that would occur to the temple if the tree fell. Lower left: approaching the temple. Right: inside the temple. 

Left: one of the trees growing into the structure of the temple. Right: many doorways.