We woke up at 7am today and headed to breakfast at the hotel restaurant. The restaurant is quite cool. They have these hanging beds in the courtyard as tables, and we snagged a couple of them. They are more cool than functional. I don’t think a lot of us liked the swinging while eating our breakfast.
Wes writing now:
Today was a history lesson of sorts. We hired a tour guide for our trek through the ample temples. His name was Kaem, and his English was very good, except we could barely understand him through his thick accent. It definitely took a lot of concentration listening to him. After a while though, you get kind of used to it and start to understand him through his thick local accent. This can’t be said for everyone though, because Terry, Tammy, Jimmy T, Christina, and Lisa didn’t really pay too much attention to him because his accent was so difficult to decipher. Anyhow, they were able to make good use of their time taking photos, etc. Becky, Darren, Anth, and I did listen to Kaem however. Cambodia sure has been through a lot of hardship in its history. In fact, as recently as 1975-1979, historians estimate that 2 million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge… it’s very tragic and sad. With all that said, despite Cambodia struggling through centuries of war, civil war, and selfish and destructive rulers; the local people are very happy and content people. It really is a testament to the people here. After all they’ve been through, they are still able to keep their chins up and be happy. A lot of it has to be contributed to their Buddhist religion, with an emphasis on peace, divinity, spiritual cultivation, and ultimately nirvana/enlightenment. I admire the country, and the people here. Their attitudes are very different compared to that of other countries that have been through centuries of war, starvation, political strife, and conflict. With that said, though I admire the locals, I am disheartened by the existing government and regime. There are ample politicians that pilfer and embezzle monies from the government coffers, instead of filtering that money to the local people. I realize that this is an ongoing occurrence in governments all over Asia, and other parts of the world, but it doesn’t lessen the significance of this problem. It really makes me appreciate life in Canada, feel grateful for our political systems (though not near perfect in any way), be glad about our peaceful way of life, and value everything about Canada which makes it the best place to live in the world.
Today has brought me back down to earth in terms of leveling myself… it really takes real life experiences to realize what I have and how lucky I am to have it. Life is good, no it’s great.
Angkor Wat
Now, to the temples... They really are quite amazing. You really do see it from a different perspective by actually seeing it in person. Pictures don’t do it justice. These temples were built about a thousand years ago in the 12th century. They were built for King Suryavarman II to house his state and to represent his capital city. There was a significant Hindu and Buddhist inspiration and influence when the temples were constructed. There are Buddhist and Hindu stone carvings scattered throughout the temples. How they built these amazing structures centuries and centuries ago with pure man power alone is astonishing to me. It’s simply magnificent.
This is Jimmy T and I on the stairs heading up to the top of Angkor Wat (steep!):
Here's Anth navigating his way down the stairs... he looks scared!!! (you can blow up the photo by clicking on it)
Here's and idea of how steep it was:
Christina and James halfway up the temple:
Us waiting for Tammy and Terry, hehe:
Darren and Becky outside Angkor Wat:
We went to multiple temples, but the largest was Angkor Wat. In fact, according to Guinness World Records, it is the largest religious structure in the world. Angkor Wat is located 5.5 KM north of Siem Reap (where we’re staying). Unfortunately, construction of the Angkor Wat temple stopped after King Suryavarman II’s death in 1150. Here is a description of Angkor Wat (source: wikipedia)
One of the first Western visitors to the temple was Antonio da Magdalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of".[4]
However, the temple was popularised in the West only in the mid-19th century on the publication of Henri Mouhot's travel notes. The French explorer wrote of it:
One of these temples—a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honourable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged.[5]
Here is the sunsetting at Angkor Wat:
And in 1177, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer people (Cambodian people). The Chams ruled for 4 years before the Khmer people lead by by a new king, King Jayavarman VII, restored the empire. He also established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) which lie a few kilometres to the north.
Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom (Great City) was established as the capital of Jayavarman VII's empire, and was the centre of his massive building program.
Excerpt from Wikipedia: The faces on the 23 m towers at the city gates (which are later additions to the main structure) take after those of the Bayon, and pose the same problems of interpretation. They may represent the king himself, the
bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, guardians of the empire's cardinal points, or some combination of these.Here’s a photo:
A causeway spans the moat in front of each tower: these have a row of devas on the left and asuras on the right, each row holding a naga in the attitude of a tug-of-war. This appears to be a reference to the myth, popular in Angkor, of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. Here's a photo of the statues Churning the Seas of Milk:
Bayon
Angkor Thom houses Bayon temple. Bayon’s most distinctive feature is the multitude of smiling faces on the towers which rise up to its central peak. Here are some photos of Bayon:
Here is a photo of the carvings found in Bayon. This a photo depciting Chinese soldiers (The Chinese were peddlers who sold goods to the local people) who were actually allies (because they did business together) with the Khmer people and helped them fight against the Cham people. You can tell these are carvings depicting the Chinese because of the smaller eyes on these soldiers and different uniforms.
King Jayavarman VII was a believer in both Hinduism and Buddhism. He was the first King to introduce Buddhism to the Khmer people. Largely a Hindu country at the time, King Jayavarman VII got his people to carve and create many Buddhist influenced pieces of art, (Buddha’s for example) and installed them all over the temple. Unfortunately at the end of his reign, the ensuing King, King Jayavarman VIII, who was a non-believer in Buddhism, destroyed all Buddhist artifacts, relics, sculptures and pieces of art. In fact, he went so far as to get his people to be-head all Buddha sculptures in the temple. Hence, scattered around the entire temple are beheaded Buddha’s and malformed Buddha’s.
Here is a photo of one Buddha carving that survived! This survived because it was originally covered by stone, and the people never discoverd it:
Anyhow, that’s your history lesson for the day. I presume you’re bored as heck now!
Here are some more photos that I took:
That was our day at Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat. It really was a great experience. Tiring indeed, but well worth it. With that said, I'm kind of 'templed' out. Tomorrow, Anth, Dar, and Becky are going to be heading back to the temple that Tomb Raider was filmed at. It's the temple that is dedicated to King Jayavarman VII's Mother when she passed away. (Basically a place for worship in honour of the King's mother)
We headed back to the hotel after an exhausting, hot day of tourist activity. Lisa and I took another bath in the tub. We were all lathargic and tired, so we just went downstairs to the lounge for a drink. We were going to eat at the restaurant at the hotel, but it was a little pricey. They had an enticing 7 course meal with 3 glasses of wine for $45 US. The problem with that? We fed all 9 of us at lunch today for $45 US. Sooooo, I walked to the cafe just beyond the lounge. And low and behold they had excellent food! Club sandwiches, pomello salad, potato salad, egg plant salad, fish burger, ham & cheddar baguette with pineapple, comte cheese sandwich, ham and cheese croissant, tom yumm soup, and a croque monsieur sandwich. Everything was 50% off too, because they had to clear out the rest of their food. Our dinner came to less than $5 US. It was great. Here are some pics:
After dinner we went back upstairs to Christina and Jimmy T's room and chilled there. They played cards, I read the Cambodia Lonely Planet, and we called it a night at about 1am. I'm sleeping in tonight!
Nite nite
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