Southeast Asia with Peter – Page 13

Southeast Asia with Peter – Day 16

(Continued)

After lunch we returned  to the temple area and visited Angkor Wat:IMG_5590Here is an aerial view (from a post card) of the Angkor Wat temple complex.

Angkor Wat or Angkor Temple is the famous tourist site in Cambodia. It was originally built as a Hindu temple but later served the Buddhist religion. Angkor Wat was built as the state temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.

The size, scope, and the architectural and sculptural details are too numerous for this website so I’ll refer you to  the Cambodian Tourist website  http://www.tourismcambodia.com/attractions/angkor/angkor-wat.htm for all the details.

However, within the outer walls are more than 200 acres of land.

IMG_5592

Here is a selection of the pics I took:IMG_5593  You cross the moat on a wide stone causeway to reach the outer wall, which itself is over 18,000 feet long. Once you pass through the main gate in this wall, another causeway over 1200 feet long, leads  pass two Libraries, two pools, and our first look at the actual Temple: IMG_5603 IMG_5599 This is the main temple at  Angkor Wat.  It is the Cambodian National symbol.  It is on their flag and currency. The temple complex stands on a raised field and it is made up of a three galleries, each one higher than the last one. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century.  One of the first Western visitors to the temple was a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it “is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of.”

Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.

Angkor Wat is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire’s state temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the mythical home of the Hindu gods: the central  towers symbolizes the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean.  Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level. 

Here is a statue of  Vishnu in the temple. He is all decked out in a gold robe.IMG_5597

Not to be outdone, we also have Buddha, similarly bedecked:IMG_5607

 

Here ia a pic taken on the second level. Those stairs lead to the 3rd level.IMG_5610 I don’t know how the priests got up those stairs. The are at 70-degree angle!

IMG_5611Those of us who chose to go to the third level used these scary stairs. They were still  at a   70-degree angle, but there were sturdy treads and a shaky handrail.

IMG_5613I could look down on the faint-hearted including Ole, Gloria, and Pete!

This is the view of the highest tower from level 3.IMG_5616

Will took my picture up there to prove I did it.  Because we were in a holy place, hats were forbidden.  Thankfully we could wear shoes.IMG_5617

 

IMG_5598 After descending back to the unholy world, I got a couple more pics:

IMG_5629 Here is a tired little temple monkey.

IMG_5631I mentioned earlier that the temple had a red laterite inner structure and a white sand stone outer shell.  Here is an exposed corner showing that. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime have been suggested.

We regrouped in an inner courtyard to have Rath explain what we’d see next. IMG_5634

IMG_5600In the lower in the southwest gallery there were fantastic bas-relief carvings of scenes from the Battle of Kurukshetra, from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. The scene depicts the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and the Pandava clans, as they meet in battle over the throne of Hastinapura. Sounds like Gettysburg…

IMG_5601

A 50-yard long bas-relief in the southeastern gallery, the Churning Sea of Milk represents a standard Vishnu myth. The scene depicts gods and demons pulling in a rhythmic tug-of-war on a great serpent (Naga?), under the direction of the god Vishnu. Vishnu is in the center of the depiction, hovering above his avatar in this particular story, the turtle Kurma. As the serpent is wound about a great mountain in a sea of milk, the tugging causes the mountain to turn and the sea to churn. The churning produces an elixir of immortality, over which the gods and demons are in dispute. I couldn’t photograph the details so I grabbed this picture off the  internet.

That’s enough of carvings, you get the idea.  We left the Wat through the East gate and walked around the outside to the front. Here is the South gate. Note the colonnaded gallery.  These are where the bas-relief carvings are located.IMG_5595

IMG_5652

Nearby there were some monks driving a “koo yon”. It’s a strange type of farm tractor. It’s got an engine on the front that looks like a roto-tiller with wheels pulling a hay wagon.  I saw them on the back roads we traveled, but never go a picture until this last day.

IMG_5656 IMG_5657

We also saw a sugar palm being “tapped”. Note the bamboo buckets and the skinny bamboo ladder. Those cigar-looking things are what’s tapped.

Our final view of Angkor Wat was from the other side of the canal . It’s not the temple, it’s the main gate! Pretty impressive in it’s own right!IMG_5661

We sat on the wall next to the Canal and had a toast with this brandy called  “Wrestler”. It distinguishes itself from the rest of the Cambodian  muscle man brandies (“Hercules” and “Great Strength”. Not to be outdone, “Weightlifter” has a female body builder on its bottle) by printing it contains “real red grape extract” on the label next to its body builder.  It was kind of nasty!  

We also enjoyed snacks of  barbecued frogs legs, cobra and water buffalo jerky, sticky rice, and peanuts.  “It don’t get no better’n that!”.

 

IMG_5660

This feller was our patient snack “clean up committee” In northern Vietnam, he’d be the snack.IMG_5662

That’s it for Angkor Wat.  A beautiful and imperssive place. This is definitely one of the world’s great UNESCO sites.

We returned to Siem Reap for another OAT “dinner-on-your-own”.  Abunch of us took Tuk Tuks to the night market.  The women went one way nad Pete, will, and I went another,

IMG_5667 IMG_5666

We wandered around for a while and chatted with the massage ladies offering their services.  Many advertised “happy endings”.  Pete and Will settled for a fish massage.

What, you may wonder, is a fish massage?  in a couple of street side joints on Pub Street there were fish tanks.  You take off your shoes and socks and put your feet in the water.  Hundreds of little fish swarm all over your feet nibbling off the dead (?) skin.  Will enjoyed it, Pete couldn’t do it because it tickled too much.  I skipped it because I experienced foot nibbling at the Kwang Si waterfalls and a nice pedicure in in Laos. 

IMG_5670

We ate dinner at the Red Piano restaurant on Pub Street.   We didn’t have the fish plate.IMG_5604 IMG_5671

The Red Piano’s claim to fame was having Angelina Jolie initiate the “Tomb Raiders” cocktail on her filming visit in 2000.  We didn’t have one. Pete and I had a beer.  Will had a “Long Islander” (with ice).  His stomach was a little queasy the next day.  Stay away from ice in  foreign countries.  You don’t know where the water came from!

After all that excitment, we went back to the hotel, ended Day 16 and went to bed.

Southeast Asia with Peter – Day 17

Today we leave Cambodia and return to Bangkok. Before we left Siem Reap, we stopped at  the Angkor Artisans workshop.  This was a combination handicraft school, museum, and retail store.  Local people are trained to produce local artwork.  This can lead to income producing jobs for them.  Here are a few of their products:

IMG_5695

A sandstone Ganesha. Although he is known by many attributes, Ganesha’s elephant head makes him easy to identify.[6] Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles,[7] the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom.[8] As the god of beginnings, he is honoured at the start of rituals and ceremonies. Ganesha is also invoked as patron of letters and learning during writing sessions.

IMG_5688

They do tin work.  This tin hammering is later plated with silver and made into jewelry and trinkets. I bought a little pill box for Mary Ann. Peter bought one, too, as a Christmas present (containing a the surprise(?) sapphire ring for his wife Margo).

IMG_5710

This young lady is gold leafing a Buddha statue.  She’s working in a locked room! This is a special order project.TIMG_5687

Artistic lacquering is also done.  This is the durian I never tasted.IMG_5684

Wood carving, painting, and gold gilding is also taught.IMG_5682

That’s it.  We’re outta here!  We returned to the Pantip Suites Bangkok in late afternoon. and got ready for our farewell river dinner cruise

IMG_5707

 Ole hailed down our ship.  It was a rice barge converted into a cruise boat.

IMG_5708We never managed to get a group picture.  This was as close as we came.

IMG_5718

 

One Final pic of Fred and I on the dinner cruise. I still have my travel vest on!

That’s it.  We had an early evening because many of us had early morning flights back to the US:  Pete and I wer up at 1 AM and on the van to the airport with Ole at 2:30 AM and on our plane at 5 AM.  After 26 hours of traveling, I was home in Florida at  8:30 PM Florida time.

I was pooped when I got home.  It took a week to get over the Jet lag and the 12 hour time difference.  Was it worth it?   YOU BET!!!

The end

Go to Home Page 00

Leave a Reply