Indochina Express - Day 14 (Siem Riep)

March 16

Sorry for the delay in completing this blog. When we set up this trip, this was the key day for me. But to explain why, I have to go back to 1995. I was in Cairo to do some customer training for my job and remember being quite disappointed when I saw the pyramids. All of the pictures I'd ever seen show these huge monuments out in the middle of the desert, but that was not what I saw. Instead, I saw that the Giza plateau was almost surrounded by the city of Cairo. So much so that it was quite difficult to find an angle to photograph the pyramids without the city getting into the picture. Since then, we've visited a lot of UNESCO world heritage sites and while I've enjoyed almost all of them, the ones that I've enjoyed the most were the ones that were in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps it is the sense of mystery in finding this lost temple in the middle of the jungle. I certainly felt that way when we visited Chichen Itza on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, and I was really hoping that I'd experience the same feelings here.

But first, here is a brief history of Cambodia. There is evidence of habitation in Cambodia for about 5,000 years. But the first organized civilizations appeared in the 1st century. The fact that these early civilizations were Hindu indicates that groups had engaged in maritime trade from as far away as India and Sri Lanka. The Khmer Empire that built Angkor Wat started in the 9th century. The early Khmer Kings were Hindu, but in the 11th century, a new line of Kings introduced Buddhism. This continued into the 14th century. Then things started to go downhill. The new leaders were weak, which gave leaders in both Thailand and Vietnam the opportunity to invade Cambodia. By the mid-15th century, the Angkor complexes were abandoned. The alternating Thai and Vietnamese influence continued until the 19th century when the French arrived and established Indochina as a new colony. Thailand managed to escape this fate because the French wanted a buffer area between themselves and the Chinese, but Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam were all subjugated. This continued until the French were driven out and the Japanese took over during World War II, followed shortly by the war in Vietnam. Cambodia tried to avoid being drawn into the war, but the fact was that the Viet Cong used Cambodia in order to avoid US bombing and to facilitate supply routes into southern Vietnam sealed their fate. The end of the Vietnam War resulted in a civil war from 1970-1975 and the rise of the Khmer Rouge. This period was described in the movie The Killing Fields. In order to "purify" Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge massacred all of the Cambodian minorities. In addition, educated people were considered a threat to the Government. They decided that the use of eyeglasses was a sign of intelligence, and they executed anyone who wore them. And if that were not enough, the agricultural reforms the Khmer Rouge tried to implement (and that were based on similar reforms of Chairman Mao in China) resulted in mass starvation.  This period ended when a former Khmer Rouge leader changed sides and was chased into Vietnam. This incursion brought Vietnam into the conflict and ultimately led to the defeat of the Khmer Rouge and installation of the Vietnam-backed government that has been in control of Cambodia ever since. Altogether, about 2 million Cambodians died. Sarnak (our guide) tells us that this is why the average Cambodian is now 25 years old. 

When Sarnak picks us up for the short ride to Angkor Wat at 8 AM, it is already 80 F with highs projected to be 96 F. One of the first things we notice is how many Toyota Prius cars there are here. When we ask, Sarnak explains that the Cambodians have figured out how to repair the battery packs on older Prius'. This allows them to buy cars in the US & Canada that are cheap because new owners in these countries would have to pay something like $10,000 for a new battery pack. He says that cars from California are especially desirable because they know that there will not be a lot of rust damage caused by the salt put on roads in colder areas.

We start at the Ta Prohm temple built in the late 12th century. This temple was the scene of the Tomb Raiders movie, and we can see why. It really gives me that lost city vibe. Ta Prohm was built in the Buddhist style in 1186 CE by King Jayavarman VII and dedicated to his mother as a center of learning. Jayavarman was about 60 when he undertook this construction which explains the use of smaller, poorer quality stones instead of some of the massive stones used at other sites in the Angkor complex. He didn't have time left to get the bigger, better cut stones and settled for the rubble left from previous construction. While it took much time to build, this also made it much easier for the temple to become ruins. Here are some pictures:

Notice the four arch-shaped areas in the last picture. I mentioned that while the original Khmer Kings were Hindu, the later ones were Buddhist, but there was a period where the religion shifted back and forth. These little arched areas originally had small Buddhas, but they were erased by a later king. This also happened in modern times, but for different reasons. This area was one of the strongholds of the Khmer Rouge and during their time in power, it was common for people to raid these temples, saw off a Buddha head and sell it to rich overseas collectors as a way of raising money. Sometimes, like in the four faces of Buddha in the 2nd row, the object was simply too large to deface.

Apparently, no trip to Ta Prohm is complete without a picture besides the "Tomb Raider" tree because there is a waiting line to get this picture:

The interesting thing is how this huge fig tree grew. The seeds are dispersed by birds. The ones that land on the ground are likely to be consumed, but often the birds poop in the trees and the seeds sprout. They send out long roots hoping to find the ground. If one of these roots does find the ground, then the tree will grow out of the ground and eventually strangle the tree that had been its host. The trees are particularly good at destroying temples because the roots will grow down through crevices between stone blocks and then push the stones apart until the walls buckle and the roof collapses.

This site was essentially untouched for perhaps 400 years until the French arrived. They decided that the Cambodians should not ignore and forget their cultural heritage and sent teams of archeologists out into the jungle to recover sites like Ta Prohm. They particularly liked the fact that Ta Prohm had merged with the jungle but had not yet been consumed by it and decided that it should be left the way they found it. Restoration has occurred to stabilize the ruins and allow access and give it the look of apparent neglect.

The second stop for the day is the Angkor Thom, the Royal Palace which was built by King Suryavarman I in the 11th century and was used continuously until the Khmer dynasty abandoned the area in the 16th century. It was surrounded by a five-meter (16 feet) high wall containing five gates known as gopuras. Here is the one we went through:

The causeway leading to the gopura goes over the moat that surrounds the grounds and was part of the Khmer's extensive water management system that provided water for agriculture. It was not until researchers started using LIDAR that they realized that the Angkor complex at its peak in the 13th century was home to about 700,000 people. This would have made it about the same size as Rome at the time!

Inside the wall is the victory square commemorating wars that the various kings won:

Beyond the victory square are two large ponds. The first was for the king and the second, slightly smaller one was for his 1,000 or so ladies. Here are a couple of pictures along with our ladies:

Our next stop in the palace complex is Phimeanakas. Constructed by King Rajendravarman II in the late 10th century, it predates the rest of the palace complex. The tower was originally capped in gold, but that is long gone:

In the forest near Phimeanakas, we come upon across a troop of macaque monkeys. This troop looks like they live off of tourists and Sarnak tells us to be careful with snacks, sunglasses and water bottles because these monkeys will take them right out of our hands. Here is a picture:

Beth is carrying a bottle of water in one hand close to the ground and one of the monkeys starts to approach. Beth sees the monkey coming and raises the bottle up toward her face.  The monkey, who would rather snatch and run than go face-to-face, backs off. Nearby, a male looks like he has been elected to monitor kindergarten because he is watching a group of 5-6 juveniles and occasionally intervening in the rough housing when things are getting out of control.

Across the street from Phimeanakas is the Bayon temple. This temple was built in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII, the same guy who built Ta Prohm. Jayavarman VII took the throne at an early age and ruled for 37 years so he had a lot of time to build things. He was also responsible for the walls around the Royal palace, hundreds of hospitals and rest areas around many of the major roads.

I really enjoyed this temple. It is much more compact than Ta Prohm and gives you the feeling that Jayavarman VII was trying to stuff 10 lbs of stuff into a 5 lb bag. There is a huge bas-relief that stretches all the way around the outer gallery and depicts battles on land and sea between the Khmer and their Chinese allies and the Cham people from Vietnam as well as some scenes of life in Cambodia at the time. Here are some of the pictures:

Can you see the crocodile eating one of the soldiers? Or the King riding on a war elephant? Anyway, by this point, we were all cooked so we are happy to head back to the van and get iced towels from the driver. We go back into Siem Riep for lunch at a nice restaurant quite close to our hotel. Sarnak orders much too much food, especially since Beth loses her appetite when she is overheated, but everything is great. The most interesting of the dishes was a minced fish dish called Fish Amok which I later learn is the considered the Cambodian national dish. It is made by steaming a coconut-based curry in banana leaves along with lemongrass, turmeric and kaffir lime leaves.

Our plan for the afternoon is to enter Angkor Wat from the east and hope to capture the sunset on the western side of the temple. Angkor Wat was built at the direction of King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. It was originally designed to be the state's primary temple, but was also planned to be converted into Suryavarman II's mausoleum when he died. Here is the view of the East gate:

Unlike Ta Prohm, Angkor Wat and the surroundings have been extensively repaired and cleared. The whole complex is enclosed by 5.1 km (3+ miles) long moat and the walls that surround the temple are 3.6 km (2.2 miles) long. Inside the walls is a three-level rectangular platform with some seriously steep staircases:

By the time we've climbed to the top, the weather is going seriously downhill. We hear thunder in the background, and it looks like rain in imminent. Sarnak says that due to the steepness of the staircases, if it starts raining, the security people will prevent anyone from going up or down so that no one gets hurt. As we walk through the top level, the rain starts pouring down. Here are some of the pictures that I took:

The last picture is a bas-relief of King Suryavarman II. Once we've worked our way around most of the top level, the rain has died down and the guards are letting people go up and down. The line waiting to go down reminds me of the line of climbers on Mt. Everest waiting to clip onto the safety line. But there is no safety line here and the climb down is a little of a white-knuckle affair due to the slippery conditions and significant wind. When we get down to the 2nd level, we've discovered that some of the scaffolding and one large 500-year-old tree have blown over in the storm:

Sarnak tells us that local people used to hide their valuables under trees to keep the Khmer Rouge from finding it, so it is common for people to check whenever a large tree falls. We wait around for a little while in the hopes that they sky will clear enough for a good picture of the west face of the temple, but luck is not with us. Here is the best of the pictures I took:

It took a while for our driver to pick us up because another large tree had fallen, blocking the main road to the pickup point and causing our driver to have to drive the long way around to get to us. Along our ride back to the hotel, we pass a place where a local group is training rats to find the millions of land mines planted in the area during the time when the Khmer Rouge were in charge. We have heard of small dogs being trained to do this, but this is the first time we've heard of using rats. All along the ride to the hotel, we see signs of damage from the storm.

We are really tired by the time that we get back to the hotel, so we decide to eat at the hotel instead of going back out into the heat. We have a choice of eating inside a refrigerated glass room or by the pool. The cool room looks a little too much like the smoking rooms that some airports have so we opt for a table next to the pool. It has been a good day!