Siem Reap and Temples, Cambodia

We flew from Ho Chi Minh City to Siem Reap to spend a couple of days and then head down for a short stop in Phnom Penh before a tortuous 4-hour drive to Sihanoukville to meet the ship.  In this post, I’ll talk a bit about Cambodia and then focus on the temples.

I have to say that Cambodia presented somewhat of a bittersweet experience.  It appears that it has always been seen as the bastard child in Southeast Asia and have always had frictions with both the Vietnamese and Thais, who have taken (and continue to take) advantage of them.  Luckily, they have had a friend in China who has built many infrastructure projects.  But, of course, nothing comes for free…  You can read the history of the country but, after a monarchy that lasted 600 years, the country has been occupied by lots of others including the Siamese, French, and Vietnamese.  There has also been a lot of civil war which helped the Khmer Rouge come into power.   After the US left the region in 1975, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge made their move and took over the country.  Pol Pot wanted to follow Mao’s example (ala the Cultural Revolution).  In doing so, he “purified” the nation, evacuating the cities and forcing everyone into an extreme peasant Communism.  Whether through overwork, starvation, or summary execution, over 2 million people died (remember the Killing Fields?), including all teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc.  Finally, the Vietnamese invaded in 1978, deposed Pol Pot, and installed a puppet government.  While there was ultimately a peace accord and a constitutional monarchy installed, many of those who lead the country are former Khmer Rouge and corruption in the government is still rampant.

So what’s the upshot of all this?  After the Khmer Rouge were driven out, most records were gone.  Hence something as simple as land records no longer existed and squatter’s rights prevailed.  Not surprisingly the rich and connected came out on top.  Today, much of Cambodia’s growing wealth is held by those in government and the leaders of business who are quite cozy with the government.  The rest of the people are generally quite poor.  And yet, they are some of the happiest, friendliest people I have ever met.  To them, this is a matter of karma and they deal with things that are dealt to them.  But on to the temples…

There are over 5000 temples/monuments in Cambodia, built during the Khmer Empire.  The most famous is Angkor Wat (which was fabulous), but we also visited Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, and Beng Melea.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world.  It was built in the early 12^th century as a temple and mausoleum.  It was dedicated to Vishnu and has always been a religious center – first Hindu and ultimately Buddhist.  In fact, India contributed a lot for the restoration of the temple complex. The wall decorations are very well preserved and show a number of historical scenes as well as a whole lot of devas (goddesses).  It is the number one tourist destination in Cambodia with over 2 million visitors last year.  It’s even depicted on Cambodia’s flag.

Angkor Thom was built in the late 12^th century.  It was the last (and longest lasting) capital city of the Khmer empire.  It actually sits adjacent to Angkor Wat.  If you are a fan of the “Tomb Raider” movie, you have seen Angkor Thom.  What makes it neat (and kind of spooky) are all the entry towers that each have faces pointing in all four cardinal directions.  There are also lots of other wall decorations that depict a lot of everyday life at the time.

Ta Prohm was built in the early 13^th century.  It’s probably the easiest to remember because it is the one that has all the trees growing out of and around the ruins.  While most restoration took place in the previous two temples, it was only recently that they have started work here.  The trees are seriously undermining the temple and they are having to cut some down (or back) to preserve the temple.  It is smaller and flatter than the other temples.  BTW, “Tomb Raider” was also filmed here.

Beng Mealea was also built in the early 12^th century in a style similar to Angkor Wat, but not a lot is known about it.  It is 40 km from the main Angkor Wat complex and it is not highly visited.  It has not been restored and so you see it much the way the explorers did.  For part of the complex, you have to scramble around the rocks.  Recently a wooden walkway has been put in.  BTW, one of the reasons this temple hasn’t been restored is because it has lots of mines around it.  This was in the area of one of the major Khmer Rouge battles and both sides set up elaborate mine fields that were later abandoned.  One thing you find out about Cambodia – 5 people a day are killed (and countless others wounded) by stepping on mines.  Unfortunately a lot of them are children…

A view from the upper gallery

 

A very organic “feel”

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Glen Bruels

I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.

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