I awoke on the morning of August 14th with one thought in my mind......"where the hell am I?"
I thought when I left Phenom Penh a few hours ago I was on the Mekong River. This feels like I'm in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Apparently the Mekong river stretches several kilometers wide in some spots. I must have done something right on this trip because the weather was beautiful and it turned what could have been a really uncomfortable 5 hour journey into an afternoon of sunbathing, reading, and writing all the things in my journal that my mom won't let me put on this blog.
Siem Reap is most famous for the Temples of Angkor. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, the god-kings devoted much of their efforts to better their ancestors by building massive Wat's. Proving once and for all that size DOES count!
The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat. This massive structure was built by Suryavarman II to honour Vishnu his patron Deity.
I'm not kidding, this thing is enormous!!!! It kind of felt like walking onto the movie set for Mortal Combat.
All of the hundreds of temples in the area are a testament to just how vast the political, religious, and social structure was at that time.
I am Will. God of sweaty hangovers.
Many of the temples are under constant construction and restoration projects, most of which are paid by the Cambodian and French governments. I couldn't figure out what angle the French are playing at here but there has GOT to be one as this would cost a fortune!
I tried to get a picture of just how steep the stairs were on the way up to the central tower but I don't think I did them justice.
I did spend about twenty minutes watching fat chicks try to make the summit though! Keep reaching for that rainbow (sherbet) sweetheart!
On the outside of the central temple complex is a series of bas-reliefs that depict 88 demons and 92 gods churning the sea to extract immortality.
I don't think that the slaves depicted pulling the chariot got any of that immortality though.
Here's a picture of me relaxing on the southern wall.....all tuckered out at 11 in the morning.
The middle tower is supposed to represent Mt. Meru, a Hindu mythological reference to the center of the universe.
The whole Wat is surrounded by a moat and on each side of the walkway leading up to the temple are multi-headed serpents that leer at you from all angles.
If Angkor Wat is the house in Rosedale than Angkor Thom is the Muskoka getaway.
More rustic than it's predecessor, this fortified city was built by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII (r1181-1219.)
The inside the main building are several Buddha's that are still worshipped by throngs of Cambodians every day.
OOoooooohhh!!!.......
That shirt went straight into the wash.
Baphuon is a bit of a sad story. This temple was taken apart by archaeologists before the civil war but one the war broke out the Khmer Rouge destroyed all of the records. Now it's turned into the most ambitious restoration project in all of Angkor.
This is the "Terrace of Elephants." It was originally used as a reviewing stand for the king during parades and ceremonies.
This is the "Terrace of the Leper King." Even though he had lepercy, I'm pretty sure he still had a head.
These freaky looking figures were only discovered a few centuries ago when the original terrace was enlarged.
After you stare at them awhile in the sun your eyes begin to play tricks on you and it looks like they're moving!
This is a horse. I'm sure you've seen one of these before.
I forgot which temple this one was. I think it might have been Phnom Bakheng but I'm not sure...
To be perfectly honest they were all starting to blend together at this point!
The last temple I visited that day was Ta Prohm. This 12th-century Mayan Buddhist temple has been used as a set for the movies Tomb Raider and Two Brothers, and one can't help but hum the Indiana Jones theme song when walking through the ruins........okay, okay.....I couldn't help humming the Indiana Jones theme song.
According to the inscriptions it took 80 000 people to maintain the building at the height of its time.
What I really liked about this temple is that while unlike the other buildings in the area, this one has been left to get devoured by nature and overgrown roots and trees are constantly dismantling the place stone by stone.
It also makes for some really cool pictures!
Come to think of it, if Bruce Willis can make Die Hard 4 why can't Harrison Ford get off his ass and make another Indiana Jones movie?
My last stop that day was the land mine museum. While I did know that Canada spearheaded the effort to ban landmines had no idea of the involvement our country had with the Cambodian Land Mine Relief Fund.
The museum is run with the help of a Canadian NGO which educates tourists and locals alike as to the dangers of these devices and the ongoing struggle to remove them from fields around the country. It's an interesting debate. Some countries such as Vietnam, China, and the Untied States refused to sign the treaty claiming that mines are needed in places like the demilitarized zone in South Korea. Other countries point out that mines often stay in the ground unexploded decades after the war they were intended for is over. Pro-mine countries argue that "smart" mines are now available that deactivate themselves after a set period of time. Proponents of the treaty point out that this is not always the case. You decide.
The museum's owner Aki Ra was a former child-soldier for the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese. To this day he still works to remove some of the mines he was forces to lay with just a screwdriver and his hands. One thing I did learn is that mines are not intended to kill their victims, only to maim them. The idea being that if a person is injured on the battlefield, you need to get a medic over to them, use a vehicle to transport them, and spend money to help the victim recover. "An injured soldier in a hospital is better than a dead one on the battlefield." (Not because of any moral standing, it just drains more resources.)
While mine-removal organizations charge upwards of US $1000 to remove a mine, Aki Ra charges only pennies! The museum also doubles as a recovery center for children who's lives have been altered as a result of a confrontation with an unexploded ordanance.
