Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is about 1,000 years old and a hugely impressive arrangement of temples. As the ancient capital to the area, the site housed about a million people back then, and was used for all purposes; religion, housing, a marketplace. On the initial approach alongside the south bank of Angkor Wat, a moat separates you from the walled structure. There are many trees lining the roads and the first glimpse of the temple is spectacular.

We bought a three day pass but were able to gain access the day before as we were there late on, for sunset. The first walk way to the towers inside the moat is about 50 metres long. At each side of the walk way over the moat, the ancient Naga guards Angkor Wat. Over the years, it has taken some damage but the significance of the snake creature is obvious, since it guards all of the temples in the Angkor region. Passing through the 'guard house' (for want of a better term), you see Angkor Wat in all its splendour for the first time. It is a magnificent structure, and it takes another 100 metres or so, passing old libraries either side of the inner walk way to arrive at the main temple.

Upon entering, there are many levels of stairs, leading to open courtyards below, and the many temple recesses where you may find a Buddhist monk praying or lighting a candle. Further into the inner sanctum of Angor Wat, you are met by the central temple, rising into the open-air. There are stairs to climb, and since there were other tourists doing so, I charged onwards. However, only at the half way point did I realise how perilously steep the stairs were, and with only one hand free (since I rushed ahead holding my bottle of water) I took a look down...wrong move. One false step, a slip and that's the holiday over! I became instantly aware of my own mortality but pressed on. The view from the top of the stairs was superb, gazing to the west was the sunset we had come to see. Sweating profusely I took it in for a few minutes, but with the sun rapidly diminishing over the horizon, I then wondered how I was to get down. Luckily enough, there were stairs on the south side with a rail!!

The three days at Angkor were great but that was ample. Many people think one day is enough but my interest in ancient cultures spurred me on. The best idea would have been to get an official guide for one day, get up early, see the sites outside the main area (about an hour drive by tuk tuk), back to Angkor Wat, all explained and away we go. Instead, we spent the first day around Angkor, the next with a guide at the other sites, then the last day back to Angkor with another guide. I started to get frustrated at the lack of knowledge the guy had. He obviously was not an official guide, you could tell purely from his appearence: his shirt was too big for him, he did not have an official badge on the arm and he was generally scruffy. I wouldn't have minded but it took about three times for me to ask a question before he answered the question I was asking. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

The guides aside, the Angkor site was awesome, in the truest sense of the word. At the gate out to the north to see another site, Angor Thom, there are two Nagas over a moat, held in arms by gods and demons as in the story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, from Hinduism. The Nagas act as bridges between the world of the gods and that of men. It is an odd sight, and an impressive one considering it's age, but the sad part is that as part of the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot, many of the heads of the gods and demons were removed and sold on the black market as part of the operation to destroy Cambodian heritage. Those removed have now been replaced with replicas, and although they look newer, takes nothing away from the sight.

Angkor Thom is larger in land area than Angkor Wat, and the first set of temples shows about fifty towers around the main structure. Each of the towers is aligned with the Cardinal points, and each side has the profile of Buddha attached. Early explorers to the region must have been awestruck at the wonder of it's construction.

All the temples we saw in the area were really impressive, but it started to become a little like the temples in Thailand, once you've seen one, you've seen them all. There was one stand-out exception though at a temple called Ta Prohm, which was used in the Tomb Raider movie, showing the temple entwined with enormous trees. It's almost as if nature is reclaiming the land, and again, you walk around wide-eyed trying to take it all in.