Angkor - Day 1, Morning

Those three days I will never forget. Looking back on it, Lap Tek worked magic, showing us everything at the right times, and like a master film director, he tempted us a few times with the ultimate prize – Angkor Wat, but ultimately saved it until the end of the second day to actually set foot on the beautiful temple.

After getting organized, we hopped on the backs of our bikes, and drove about twenty minutes north of the city and soon arrived at the entry checkpoint. The guard looked surprised to see us, and quickly waved us through. As we rolled along the road that led around the moat surrounding Ankgor Wat, we caught our first glimpse of the imposing structure – tears welled in my eyes. But we didn’t stop, and continued on to the south gate of Angkor Thom, a three kilometer square walled in area built during the Angkor Period (802AD – 1432AD). Each of the 5 gates (the east side had two) had a causeway over the surrounding moat, lined on each side by 54 statues, gods on one side (left), demons on the other side, holding a giant, five-headed cobra or “naga”. Most of the intact heads had either been stolen by smugglers or taken to the Angkor conservatory and were replaced with concrete versions. Theft was a huge problem at the temples. The naga is featured throughout most of the later temples, and it’s “body” was used as railings and barriers at a lot of sites. The gate itself was a tower with four heads facing in each direction, representing either four images of Buddha, or the Hindu god Shiva – Angkor Thom was a religious enigma, combining Buddhism and Hinduism into one. The whole complex was built by the most influential man of the Angkor Period, King Jayavarman VII, who wanted to combine the two religions in order to assure himself of becoming Buddha himself when he died. It only took 20 (1181AD- 1201AD) years to build the main temple in Angkor Thom, the Bayon.

The Bayon was in pretty rough shape; though I could still see the four headed sculptures on many of the 54 towers. In the huge central tower, the French explorer who rediscovered Angkor, dug down through 14 meters of earth and uncovered a large statue of Buddha. This was one of the last remaining images of Buddha in the temple, as after the death of the king; most statues and carvings were removed by Hindu believers.

When we stopped near the temple, three of the cutest little girls I’d ever seen approached and tried to sell us fans, drinks, postcards – you name it. What struck me was when Lap Tek started talking the girls stopped talking and stood patiently to the side. We were the only tourists around, and we could feel their desperation, but they still respected us and our guide. The heat was unbearable, and the girls followed us and fanned us as we listened to Lap Tek’s amazing lecture. The girls even “helped” us up and down steps, all the while in polite silence – my heart was melting. After an hour, we were done with the Bayon, and gave the girls 4000 Riel each – they replied with “C’mon mister, 1,000 each….” – had I short changed them in my donation? Beth and I were physically and mentally bushed, with Hindu god’s names and Khmer leaders and dates swirling around our heads, so we went back to town for lunch, shower and siesta.