temple time

We visited 4 separate temples on the trip over 3 days. The whole complex is called Angkor Thom. They have used extensive lidar surveys to map the area, because the forest obscures some of the ruins. The entire complex was set out on a grid system with perfect straight roads.

The best temples were made of sandstone from the mountains that are 30 miles away. A system of canals were used to bring the stone and set up the 'moats' around each temple, which were used for rice field irrigation and to keep the sand foundations wet to hold up the temples. They believe that a temple was built every year and the area was occupied from the 800 to 1400s.

Angkor Wat

There has been lots of speculation about why they left the area and why after numerous battles the Khmer were defeated by Siam. The current supposition is that a prolonged drought impacted the crops, weakened the people and lead to their abandoning the area.

The most famous temple is Angkor Wat, which is centered around Hindu legend that the gods were after the elixir of life (immortality), and they were told that if you churn the sea of milk the elixir of life could be obtained. After consideration, a decision was made to wrap a naga (giant sea snake) around a mountain and then good and evil would pull tug-of-war-like moving the mountain like a blender churning the sea of milk and releasing the elixir of life.  

Bad Guys

Unfortunately the bad guys won, so Vishnu had to intervene and give the elixir to the good guys, but it was too late, the bad guys had already taken it so Vishnu used his magic disk to cut them in half. This is all played out in reliefs along the walls in very vivid detail - like so vivid it did not have to be explained to you.

This climb was not for the faint of heart

The buildings were built and then the carvings were made in finishing. Each face was different - it blew your mind. They have found some painted and writing that indicated that all the temples were painted and Angkor Wat was gilded with gold. The out buildings, including the palace were built of wood and nothing remains - termites, which we saw big mounds of throughout the area.

We also went to a tiny pink temple called Banteay Srei. This temple is apart from the main area and is older built in the early 10th century by a Brahmin priest. This one was miniature in comparison with the other, but it seemed quite intact and had been used as a library. The were several little structure with doors and the scrolls and tablets were held inside.

Our final temple was Ta Prohm, which anyone that has watched Tomb Raider has seen, assuming you weren't looking at Angelina Jolie.  

The temple is far from spectacular, but how the forest has entwined itself into the temple is stunning. There has been a lot of work done here, by the French and to stabilize things. There are a lot of jacks supporting the temple and the trees, which I guess is necessary to keep it safe for people to walk through, but it did seem a bit wrong somehow.

I told a friend as I was leaving Vietnam that I was on my way to having my mind blown in Cambodia and it was well and truly blown.  All I can say is my photos do not do this place justice.