Post 8: A Double Chicken Day at Angkor Wat, Cambodia



A ron suas dai!

Welcome to Cambodia! A ron suas dai is Khymer for "good morning".

Summer 2006~
What an adventure we're having!Cambodia is only a 2 hour plane ride from Kuala Lumpur but light years away economically and culturally. Our initial encounter was a bit daunting. Be sure to carry $20 cash when entering Cambodia, as upon arrival you must purchase a visa  from a very officious, rather grim-faced airport employee. Men in military uniforms looked on seriously as we got our passports stamped and our digital photos taken at immigration.(They also charge you $25 each to leave Cambodia-that's one way a poor country can make money.)

As we emerged from the new, modern airport at Siem Reap (the city next to the ancient temples), we were greeted by a young Cambodian man holding a sign with our names on it. He was grinning broadly and seemed delighted to see us, the antithesis of the airport guards. His name was Sat and he was to be our guide for the next couple of days. He escorted us to a Toyota Camray sedan with a driver named Net. The car was air-conditioned- good thing because the sun was glaringly hot.

Sat, our guide, greets us

Our driver, Net

As we got settled into the car, Sat turned to us and explained that he had killed a chicken that day for us. We were puzzled- until he said that he had prayed for good weather. Then we realized that he had sacrificed a chicken as an offering to Buddha and prayed for no rain!
After depositing us at  the City Angkor Hotel, he said he would give us time to refresh ourselves and have lunch and then would pick us up and take us to Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat! This destination has been a dream for so long, and now, here we were about to see the worlds largest religious monument!

The hotel  is architecturally beautiful and by no means the only one in Siem Reap. The main street is lined with huge luxury hotels - this is a big tourist site so in high season (starting Dec-Feb.) things fill up. But right now, we are rattling around in this large hotel and were the only ones eating lunch in the entire HUGE dining room.

City Angkor Hotel



Fin with  waiter-we were alone in a vast dining room- got great service!

In the afternoon Sat and Net picked us up and drove us to the temple area. We each had to produce another photo and $40 for a 3 day pass. The pass was made and laminated on the spot.  Every time we entered a temple we had to show these passes. We suggest you not go to Cambodia without lots of U.S. dollars. All commerce is in American money. The local currency is pretty worthless and even the Cambodians don't deal in it.
4000 Riels=$1.00. It cost $1 to take a tuk-tuk (motorcycle driven rickshaw) into town, cost $1 for a soda, and so on. If something cost $2.50 then the change will be given in riels. The ATM machines in Siem Reap give U.S. dollars.

Sat-looking silly wearing a basket hat

Sat’s entreaties apparently didn’t work, since it was pouring rain- a real deluge.  Fin said, “Sat, looks like this was a double chicken day.” Sat loved this comment and agreed that next time he should make a bigger sacrifice!

dawn at Angkor Wat - reflected in puddles 

stone lion at entrance


Our first glimpse of Angkor Wat was breathtaking. Even in the rain, Angkor Wat is a magnificent site, truly stunning. Tourists with umbrellas were walking across a causeway over a moat (I had no idea that the early Khymer built moats around their cities and temples) . This causeway is large enough for several elephants abreast to walk across and is protected by large stone lions and nagas, or mythical snakes. Angkor Wat (meaning city pagoda or temple) is the world’s largest religious monument! (495 acres)  It was built between the 1080-1175  and represents a microcosm of the Hindu universe (although now it is a Buddhist temple site) .The moat represents the mythical oceans surrounding the earth and the succession of concentric galleries and towers represent Mount Meru, the abode of the gods. The central temple is placed on a pyramid. Walking through the galleries is not easy- huge stone steps making crossing the different rooms and areas a challenge. After some research I found out that this is because Khymer temples were not built for people, rather, they are the abodes of the gods and not intended for processions or daily worship. The highest temple has steep steps, to simulate climbing a mountain, but I scaled it (in the rain) and was rewarded with an incredible vista of the temple complex below.

climbing Mount Meru-I am the lowest person cliimbing on the steps





Di in the Abode of the Gods



multi-tiered Mount Meru





looking down upon Angkor Wat from the Abode of the Gods

Sat climbed up to bring me my camera and we explored the temple top. There were many rooms. In one, a Buddhist nun sat before an altar. She offered me incense sticks. I put a dollar in the offering plate and was instructed to bow three times before the reclining Buddha.



Angkor Wat

Going inside the first gallery we found a huge statue of Vishnu- with eight arms, draped in orange and gold, with leis around his neck. Offerings of fruit, tea, money, and incense lay at his feet. Over his head hung a beautiful, multi-tiered, highly-decorated umbrella of green, orange, pink and gold.

many-armed Vishnu

offerings to Vishnu

make an offering....

celestial maidens

sunrise at Angkor Wat



Apsara maiden engraving







Angkor Wat is considered the apex of the classical Khymer style architecture. Despite the rain we were able to view some of the 2000 apsaras, ( beautiful dancing celestial maidens) carved in bas relief on the sandstone walls. How delightful to go around a corner and find real maidens & men dressed in these same costumes hoping tourists would take their photos for a tip.



modern celestial maidens

dancing Apsaras

There is a gallery called The Hall of a Thousand Buddhas- but only a few remain. They are without heads or limbs in some cases, but still magnificent. Many were removed to safety in the early 70’s, as the Vietnam war escalated across Cambodian borders, others were destroyed by the Khymer Rouge during their reign of terror. The French and the Khymer Rouge took heads and hands off the Buddhas - either as relics to keep or antiquities to sell. But plundering of these relics has gone on for ages- and continues today. (The French are also responsible for saving these temples and helping to restore them. Angkor became a World Heritage site in 1992).




hands removed



headless sitting Buddhas



headless Buddha

     



with armless Buddha

In this hall there was a complete Buddha, beautifully draped, standing inside an elaborate altar that had a golden umbrella, gold curtains, gold altar trees, golden candles, and so on.  In front of him were many offerings including flowers and fruits and 5 silver trays, each one holding a can of soda: 3 Cokes, one Fanta, and one Seven Up!

soda pop on altar


To us, Angkor in the rain was grey, mysterious and mystical. The stones were darkened by the rain, the sky was stormy, the grass very green, the many outbuildings and fallen stones lent an air of drama.

stone window columns

looking at ruins through the columns

Angkor at dawn

Naga head

gate buildings

sky reflected in the moat

We walked through a meadow area to a distant ruin- and there was our car waiting for us. Children thrust postcards at us- 10 for a $1. What’s your name?” ”Where you come from?” “America?” “The capitol of America is Washington, DC.” “You buy my postcards? 10 for a $1.00!”
Sat discouraged commerce with these children ,saying that they should be in school!This kind of conversation occurred at every temple- children and ladies sold postcards, t- shirts, silk scarves, musical instruments, Buddha heads of sandstone and wood, and so on.

We agreed to meet Sat the next morning before dawn to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat. More in Post 9!


By the way, all the photos in my posts were taken by me with an Olympus Stylus 1020 digital pocket camera.