Angkor - Day 2, Morning

We managed to get up at just after 4:30am, and Lap Tek and the other driver picked us up at 5:15 – just enough time to make it to Angkor Wat for sunrise. I had lots of questions but Lap Tek would just look at me, smile and say “later….” We crossed the causeway and stood just inside the west gate for the most beautiful, powerful sunrise I had ever seen – the rainbow of colours appearing and changing as the sun rose behind the huge towers of Angkor Wat sent chills through my bones. We were alone except for two Khmer women from the States. Lap Tek said usually there were large bus loads of tourists, mainly from Japan, and we felt lucky once again to enjoy the moment in peace and quiet. As the sun rose, groups of two or three monks could be seen walking along the sides of the main walkway – this just added to the experience. That same group of monks had been living there, preserving and protecting the temple for at least 400 years.

After eating breakfast at a small village across from the moat, we relaxed for a while and watched the monks. The Buddhist monks, dressed in various shades of orange robes, would come to the restaurant in small groups of two or three. They would patiently wait for their alms with their heads bowed until someone from the restaurant would come out and dish out some rice and give them some fruit or vegetables. The monks would then say a prayer for the restaurant and then move on to the next place. The monks only ate breakfast and lunch. Sometimes they traveled into town and went door to door for monetary donations – and in turn, blessed the people who gave. They usually collected about 200 or 300 Riel per person, or up to 5,000 a day. A weird thought popped into my head of Robert Deniro going around the neighbourhood collecting favours for protection in the Godfather II. Was the mafia the modern day monk? Ok, I said it was a weird thought…

When boys became monks (at the age of 16), it was not necessarily a lifetime commitment. It used to be that all boys joined when they turned 16, but it was not like that these days.

Our first stop of the day was east on the small circuit, to Prasat Kravan, a 10^th century Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu. It was one of the earlier temples that used five towers, to honour Mount Meru, a famous mythological Hindu mountain, as well as a 5-peak mountain 30 km distant, used to supply sandstone which was transported by river or on the backs of elephants.

We continued on to the large circuit to another 10^th Century temple Pre Rup. Again, three little girls followed us – they were selling flutes and little wooden harps – just what I needed. After an hour of whispered “please, mister. Buy flute?” – we were their only chance… I bought a flute and harp for 4,000 Riel. As we were getting on the bikes, one of the girls came back and said “hey mister” and gave each of us a post card. Why? She had nothing, and she could have sold the postcards (if any tourists ever showed up again) for 500 Riel. My only explanation was that we were as intriguing to her as she was too us.

Next up was a temple, East Mebon, built in the middle of what was once a 7km by 2km man made reservoir called the East Baray. The temple was built in 953 and had great elephant sculptures that had been carved out of huge single blocks of sandstone.

There were two types of stone used in the temples of Angkor, latrite and sandstone. Latrite was a red volcanic looking rock that was very hard to carve, but great for walls and foundations. Sandstone was used more in later temples for the bas relief, sculptures and finishing touches. Latrite was used more in older temples giving them a plainer look. It was also used to make stone roads, one leading out the west gate of Angkor Thom and ending hundreds of kilometers west in Thailand.

Going west along the large circuit, our next stop was Neak Pean. A little boy was competing with others to sell us a book, and I said maybe later. He cunningly responded “ok mister, if you buy, you come back and buy from me?” – yeah, I could agree to that. The temple sat in the middle of a square reservoir which was 4 equal sized reservoirs on each side. It was built in 1191 by King Jayavarman VII.

Preah Khan was our last stop before lunch. The compliment to Ta Prohm, this temple was dedicated to King Jayavarman VII’s father. It mirrored the design of Ta Prohm but was in pretty good condition, enough to have been the location of a fairly large ceremony while we were there (big family with police escorts). An older lady had a spread of food to donate to the gods – a ritual done after a death in the family. She even had Coke and cigarettes. There were police in the area and when I asked Lap Tek what they were doing there, he said while walking away “it’s to protect that temple and statues… and to get money from people who have a ceremony” and then he paused and turned and said “but really, they take the food” and he laughed. He said he and his friends used to do the same thing when they were kids.