Day #7. Angkor Wat, Pre Rup, Ta Prohm, plus some more. Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Right now I am sitting on top of Pre Rup, one of the ancient temples surrounding “the mother of all temples,” Angkor Wat. I rented a bike from my guesthouse and biked the five kilometers to the temples. I am going to bike around for the next two days instead of hiring a tuktuk driver. Much cheaper and I get exercise! Today I am estimating that I will end up biking about 35 kilometers in order to get to all my destinations. Lets go one-gear-bike! It is 1:30 p.m and I have been “templing” for far too long. I figured it was time to sit down and just enjoy this beautiful place. I started the day off at Angkor Wat, and to be honest was in a bad mood while exploring. There were just so many tourists. What is the most frustrating is that they are in huge groups, making it impossible to maneuver around. I also was disappointed to see they were doing maintenance on the front entrance of the main temple, really ruining my photo opportunities, but on the bright side at least they are restoring the entrance so it can be enjoyed by future visitors for decades to come.

Angkor Wat. blargh green tarps and repairs.

bas relief that stretches on forever!

I found that once I escaped the main attractions of the temple and found a shady place to sit and read my guide book to figure out what everything meant- there was a lot to see! Probably what I found most interesting was the bas relief around the central temple complex. It is about 800 meters long and is completely covered with the most beautiful and intricate carvings. On the East wall is the “Churning of the Ocean of Milk” carving. It depicts the Gods and the demons in a tug-of-war over the serpent Vasuki, who is coiled around Mt. Mandala. The gods are holding the head and the demons have the tail. The tugging on the serpent from both ends constantly twists Vasuki around Mt. Mandara, therefore churning the sea. It really is an incredible carving and I like the story line behind it. Another section I particularly liked was “Heaven and Hell” on the Southern wall. This was divided horizontally into three sections. The lowest tier depicts the demons dragging the wicked to hell and the upper two tiers display people proceeding to heaven. There are 37 heavens and 32 hells, all represented in the carving. Again, I think I liked that I was really able to follow the storyline in the carvings.

The center of the bas relief "The Churning of the Ocean
of Milk."

After about 2.5 hours spent in Angkor Wat I had had enough of the tourist groups and decided to get an early lunch since I didn’t eat breakfast. Then I biked 2 miles over to Prasat Kraven, a very small set of five towers built for Hindu Worship; royalty didn’t construct it making it very different from the other temples. Then I went to Banteay Kdei, a huge monastery that just seemed to go on forever. I really, really, enjoyed this set of ruins because there weren’t a lot of people and the whole complex is in a bit of a ruinous state making it really fun to explore! Ever since I have left the hectic commotion of Angkor Wat I really have been able to take in the beauty of the ruins. I can’t get over how BIG everything is and how much detail is on every stone, regardless if it is a simple supporting pillar. I cannot imagine having the drive to commence such an enormous project of building this complex.

LATER THAT DAY:
Okay, so following Pre Rup I went to Eastern Baray, a temple that looks pretty similar to Pre Rup, only smaller. At this point I realized that my camera was dying, well only had 1 bar left on the battery, so I was extremely cautious.  I realized that when I’m not taking photos I’m not as likely to take my time and explore the whole site. I hopped back on my back and went to Ta Som. This temple, like the other ones I had been exploring was not nearly as crowded which was great. This temple had a huge tree that has completely taken over the eastern gopura. This was pretty cool to see.. but after a later temple I visited… it’s got nothing on it! Still very beautiful though.

Then I went to Preah Neak Poan, a very small temple that stood out from the rest of temples I visited. This temple sat in the middle of a man made lake, surrounded by four other pools, all in the shape of a square. It used to be a fountain but alas, no longer. The spouts were in the shape of a lion head, human head, elephant head, and horse head I was facing towards the lion head, or well I suppose everyone was because the rest was fenced off, but I couldn’t see it because it was in a building in the dark. In order to reach the temple I had to walk on a boardwalk over a pond/swampy area.

At this point it was time for me to turn around and backtrack. First I ate a coconut and got a very ice cold coke- I needed a snack break. Now I was onto Ta Prohm. This was amazing. I think I might return tomorrow morning to get some photos in a different (and better) light. The temple was built in 1186 and its age shows in the dilapidated state of the temple- but that is what makes it so magical! This was a ruin that has been left almost untouched, it looks like it did when explorers first discovered it. There are trees actually growing on top of the ruins- it’s amazing. Again, I am flabbergasted by the amount of detail in every stone, even the ones that have been knocked down for centuries, have detailed carvings covering them. Angelina Jolie had some role for a movie shot in Ta Prohm where she fell through a tree and temple shot at Ta Prohm. Just a fun fact

Then, it was time for me to return to Pre Rup for sunset, because my guidebook told me to. Well, I guess everyone else’s guidebook also told them as well. It was so crowded but it really was beautiful! I didn’t stick around for the actual sunset because my bike had no lights and my hotel was about 12 kilometers from the ruins. So I made friends with four people from Czech Republic and biked home in the dark with them after having an encounter with a crazy monkey who stole our food and hissed. Anyways, now I’m back and completely exhausted from my long day out in the sun. Bedtime at 8:00 so I can wake up super early tomorrow to watch the sunrise. 

the crazy monkey.