Temple Marathon in Siem Reap

Falling in Love (Again) with Siem Reap's Ancient Temples

"Marathon" is appropriate alright.  Exploring the temples in Siem Reap would take more than a day.  It would even be safe to say that a leisurely kind would take a week.  In our case, we had but two days and Kbal Spean does not even count as a temple.  That practically left us with just a day and a half. 

Mama and Ate Marisa with one of
Banteay Srei's intricate carvings.

The first temple we visited, (1) Banteay Srei, is a little further away from the other temples and the one closest from  Kbal Spean.  What's distinct about this particular temple is its color, "reddish brown."  Also, the carvings and details of its bas reliefs are very intricate.  It's like looking at a solid “lace-work.”  Imagine a concrete “lace” and you would pretty much get the picture.  No wonder then that Banteay Srei actually translates to, “citadel of beauty” for beautiful indeed it was.  

We had a grand time taking pictures there. I took a lot of stolen shots of my niece, Zyn because the backdrop is simply breath-taking.  It was like holding the perfect photo-shoot.  I could very well imagine how any shoot would look like with that as a backdrop. 

A significant experience however was finding a group of local musicians upon exiting the temple.  They were victims of landmines and were rendered differently-abled.  They raise funds for their association by way of music and asking for donations from tourists. 

The good thing about it is that they also invite tourists to play with them.  All of us took turns playing an instrument that was very much similar to our "kulintang" back home.  Their rhythm and beat were nothing like ours though but it was easy to follow as well.  To me personally, it was quite an experience.  There’s something about the music that sets the tone of the place and being a part of that, albeit briefly, is somewhat special. 

Zyn at Pre Rup

Since Banteay Srei was around 32 kilometres away from the Angkor temple complex, it took a while for us to get there and so was left with just a few temples to explore.  We made a quick drop at (2) Pre Rup.  It was pretty much ‘Incan’ in architecture with ‘pyramid-like’ layout and ascending steps.  It’s one of my most-liked temples in Siem Reap and it was such a shame that we just had to breeze our way through. 

Ta Prohm's most photographed portion.

We spent a longer time in (3) Ta Prohm, more popularly known as the “Lara Croft” Temple as it was where the movie was set.  It’s understandable, considering its charm.  I readily noticed though that unlike my last visit, more restoration activities are taking place, cordoning off a good portion of the temple.  Also, it appeared more rundown but beautiful still nonetheless.  The huge trees growing on the temples – while threatening to destroy some parts of the complex – actually rendered the whole thing dramatic. 

It was our last stop for day 1.  We bought some beautiful shawls peddled outside, giving way to some of the little girls crying out to us, “Laydeeeee, buy (some shawls)!”  Mama bought an intricate black and red lace.  I bought a black one. 

Neak Pean

Day 2: The Grand Circuit and Angkor Thom Complex.   The next day, our first stop was (4) Neak Pean which loosely translates to “Entwined Serpent.”  This refers to the sculpture of snakes running around the base of the temple structure located in the middle of a man-made lake.  According to Wiki, some historians believe that the entire temple complex represents Anavatapta, a mythical lake in the Himalayas whose waters are thought to cure all illness.  It was said that the temple was originally designed for medical purposes.  The waters from the pool are said to create balance in whoever bathes there, promoting healing.  The “sense of balance” is further represented by the 4 connected pools which represent the 4 elements – water, earth, fire and wind.  Each is connected to the central water source by a stone conduit. 

Access to the temple was through a long foot bridge.  We were there during summer and so there wasn’t any water under the bridge -- literally.  The pools were pretty dried up as well. 

At Preak Khan's Dance's Hall

We went to (5) Preah Khan, next.  I remember during my first solo trip there, it was the temple that I felt some kind of a connection to.   It was said to be a monastery complex, it’s name translating to “Royal Sword” or “Holy Sword.” A peek at Wiki revealed that it used to be “the centre of a substantial organisation with almost 100,000 officials and servants.”  Huh! I must be one of the ‘servants’ in my past life hehehe  Or I could have been a dancer, considering one of the temple’s main axis is called the ‘Hall of Dancers.”  Similar to Ta Prohm, some portions of it have overgrown trees, threatening to destroy some of its parts.  We had a grand time taking pictures there.  

North Gate

From there, we moved on to the  Central Angkor Thom through its North Gate which is closest to Preah Khan.   The gate itself is majestic thus we braved having our pictures taken there despite the intermittent passing through of some tour buses and tuktuk’s. 

Angkor Thom’s name translates to “Great City” and was a city complex with Bayon as its central temple.  To me, there are not enough words to describe Bayon.  It ranks slightly higher than Angkor Wat in my list of favourite temples.  I think my niece must have felt the same way since she said she liked the temples here way better that in our previous trip. 

We had a great time posing “almost” like models at the (5)Terrace of the Elephants and that of the (6) Leper King.  Of course, at (7) Baphoun as well.  Most loved photos though were taken at (8) Bayon.

We have saved the best for last – (9) Angkor Wat.  Although we made a quick stop on the first day, we never really had the chance to explore the temple well due to limited time.  I was glad that finally, we were devoting an entire afternoon just for it. 

Such details! The Terrace of the Leper King

We had a quick lunch at one of the restaurants clustered in an area in front of Angkor Wat.  I ordered vegetarian spring rolls for myself while they had chicken and some meat.  I forgot the name of the restaurant.  It must be because the food did not exactly made a good impression.  It’s one of the bigger ones in the cluster of restaurants there though. 

Bayon!

Exploring Angkor Wat.   There’s no arguing about it.  Angkor Wat is magnificent.  It’s huge! The entire complex covers 500 hectares.  It is properly laid out as well.  What I liked the most about this particular visit was that I was able to explore the temple more fully.  Being afraid of heights associated with man-made structure (I wouldn’t mind standing on a mountain’s peak anytime), I did not really brave climbing the steep steps leading to the topmost level , at that time.  I actually have no trouble with the climbing.  It’s going down (and looking down at where I could possibly fall) that scares me dimwit.   But yeah, I was glad I did go at this time.  It was good to have finally been able to explore the topmost level.  As in the lower levels, it has a courtyard, albeit, smaller. And I was particularly fond of the windows and carved deity's there.  Oh, and the view from the top is great too!