Day 248: The Temples of Angkor (Part 1)

Siem Reap, despite not being especially big, is the most popular destinations in Cambodia for a single reason: the Angkor Temples. The area was the heart of the Khmer empire for almost 600 years, during its peak, and they loved building temples. During a long period of instability from wars with neighbors, occupation and civil war all the temples fell into extreme neglect and became ruins, but during their occasional periods of stability in the last hundred years the temples have slowly been pieced back together.

We got up early in the morning to watch the sun rise at the famous Angkor Wat. Before visiting the site we had to get our photos taken and stamped onto badges for a 3 day pass to all the temples in the area. The area was a bit busy as coming to watch the sunrise is a popular tourist draw, but we were only staying for the sunrise and then coming back later in the day to really explore the place. Randomly I came across one of my group members from my India/Nepal tour who was also in Cambodia on further travels, and we caught up a bit. It's a bit strange how you keep running into people unexpectedly you last saw thousands of kilometers away.

After returning back to the hotel for some breakfast and a short rest we headed back to Angkor Wat for a more thorough visit. While the thick stone stairways and towers of the iconic structure are impressive enough, the best part of the temple are the long bas-relief friezes showing scenes from Hindu mythology.

During our visit at Angkor Wat our local guide gave us a constant stream of lessons on both the temple in general, Khmer history, and different aspects of modern Cambodian life. He showed a special interest in Cambodian astrology, which he picked up some of during a brief stint as a monk acolyte in his childhood, and how it's roll in romantic matchmaking. Even more important than the astrological compatibility of the couple, however, is the size of the dowry the husband is able to pay the wife's family. Or, as our guide eloquently summed it up for us, "No money, no honey!"

We had lunch at one of the many nearby outdoor restaurants. I had a tasty Cambodian dish called amok, which is only especially of note this time because it was served in a green coconut. I also had a lychee Fanta, which is especially of note because it's lychee Fanta.

The next temple was Bayon in the Angkor Thom complex. Bayon is another very famous piece of architecture, primarily for its collection of 216 Buddha faces spread across the towers. I had been afraid that I'd get bored by the similarity of all the temples in the area, but each one seemed to have its own unique personality.

The third and final temple of the day was Baphuon. It had a step pyramid shape, and in my opinion the least personality of the three. On the backside of the temple there is a giant reclining Buddha statue that they are still working on putting back together.

After getting down from the temple on the opposite side and walking around a bit I came upon a tree that was just too tempting to pass up. The few moments distraction is caused led to me getting briefly separated from the group and lost, and upon reuniting got me a short lecture ("Does your insurance cover climbing up trees??"). Ultimately though, the risks of walking around in the Cambodia traffic are more likely to get me hurt than climbing a tree, and if I can't do the things that I find fun, what's the point?

We had a few more quick stops at the various ruins along the way back to the bus, at the Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King.

We had all been up since very early in the morning, and the day was hot and very humid, so were were all pretty exhausted by this point. We went on back to the hotel and mostly spent the evening relaxing.