Part IV: Angkor Wat

1/6/10 Angkor Wat

The world famous Angkor Wat was next on our agenda. We traveled a long distance to catch a glimpse of this incredible site. The Kazna won more points as it hooked us up with a magnificent tour guide. He knew absolutely everything there is to know about the structures. He was particularly knowledgeable of the reliefs at Bayon. He was a regular history book as he constantly spit out dates, obscure names and random stories. Above all, his ability to make the narratives on the reliefs come to life was especially impressive. From the Ramayana to Mahabharata, we were immersed in his stories. We could picture Rama shooting his arrow, we saw the headless demon Rahu trying to steal the immortality elixer, we were there for the Monkey King's triumphant arrival.

My favorite story: the Gods and Demons were both interested in acquiring immortality water. In order to do so, they needed to churn milk by pulling on a large snake. On one end were the Gods and the other Demons. After this deed was done, the water was to appear on one side. This was done for 1000 years. The demons won but Vishnu/Krishna? thought better than to let the demons have it. So the moon and sun intervened and stole the water from the demons and gave it to the Gods. One particular demon, Rahu, angrily tried to steal the elixer back. In fact, he took a sip of it; however, moments after, his head was chopped off by the moon and sun. While the elixer keeps him alive, he is decapitated. And so, this floating head, angry at the heavens occassionally tries to cover the moon and sun in what we know as lunar and solar eclipses.

When he wasn't talking about these epic Hindu stories, he described in detail the daily lifestyles of the Angkor Wat people in the 11/12th century through the reliefs. In fact, there was a particular relief that struck a cord with me: apparently, they were fond of longboating...the vessel looked very much like a dragonboat. While we were limited to one day, our tour guide did an awesome job getting us to all the hot spots: Bayon faces, Ta Prohm (jungle temple/laura croft temple), Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, the Terrace of the Elephants and to cap off the day, a sunset the pyramid temple, Phnom Bakheng. Now a short recap of each site.

Bayon faces: These structures were made by a king around the 12th century. The reliefs depict a battle with the Vietnam Empire (Cham). Apparently the Chinese were valuable allies to the Khmer people. The faces were quite amusing as their thick lips and mysterious smiles humanized them...it was as if they were withholding a secret from all the humans. The things that these massive heads have probably seen. Many tourists try to pose with the faces, use clever angles to make it appear as if they are kissing the faces. Oh Bayon faces, no wonder you're so happy, sly devil you.
Ta Prohm: The Jungle temple or Laura Croft's Tomb Raider temple is popular for its fusion of nature and architecture. Over the years many trees have managed to grow within the temple. Their trunks rap around the walls and their roots manage to imbed itself within the temple foundation. How does this happen? Birds eat seeds, birds poop seeds. Bird poops on temples, trees eat temple. Unfortunately, when a tree dies, it collapses; consequently, dislodging stones and compromising the structure. Like true tourists, Jenn and I posed at all the checkpoints at the temple. A fascinating structure.
Terrace of Elephants: A popular terrace for elephant fights. The king would watch them. As a I imagined these huge mammals duking it out with their massive tusks, I thought back to earlier today when I was riding Jesse, our friendly elephant.
Angkor Wat: The main structure. It's surrounded by a massive moat and there is an outer wall with a large field within. Have you every played the Legend of Zelda on N64? You know the field, that connected the whole map together? Well, the Angkor Fields was alot like that and Angkor Wat is comparable to Hyrule castle. Dude, Zelda was so much fun. Back to Angkor. There was alot of care put in the intricate reliefs. There were so many volumptuous Apsara dancers. "My Humps"-Black Eyed Peas.
Phnom Bakheng: The sunset. The steps up to the top of the temple were extremely steep. People were climbing the structure like it was some sort of climbing wall at Mission Cliffs. There were so many people. It was interesting to see so many people from different parts of the world...all gathered for one singular purpose-watch a simple sunset. After a full day of temple hopping, however, these tourists were aggitated. No, we were all not holding hands and singing "We are the World". JET peeps, you feel me, right? This one douche bag decided to climb a tall stone structure right in front of the sunset. People began yelling at him, all in many different languages. I thought it was particularly amusing so I took a picture of him. This foo was Rahu's dopplganger/reincarnate, hella blocking the sun.
After everything was done, our driver and tour guide dropped us off and we gave them a big tip for their services. It was a long day and Jenn decided to knock out early.