Day 5 - Angkor Wat

We hired a guide and a driver to help us explore Angkor Wat. They met us at our hotel at 4:40am. We checked out of our room, but asked the hotel to put our luggage into our new room when it was available. The day before we booked a second night at the hotel. We had no intention of spending the night, but the room was $27 and it was a good place to store our luggage, plus we could come back to shower/rest if we wanted to during the day. It was a great decision.

Our guide took us to Angkor Wat and we found a spot to set up for sunrise pictures. I was a little disappointed because the reflection pools left something to be desired. I was hoping to set up in front of the pools, but the left pool was empty the right pool did not have a good reflection. We found another spot against the outer wall that would work. Once we settled into our spot we watched and waited. The sun slowly crept up lighting up the sky behind Angkor Wat with vibrant colors. It was amazing to sit and watch a glorious sunrise.

Shortly after sunrise the sun shot up as a bright red flaming ball over the monument. It was a sight to behold. We made our way from the outer wall toward the monument as we talked our guide, Som, told us all about the history and significance of Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world. The detail, despite years of disrepair and the harsh climate, is still incredible to behold. The stonework is very fine and throughout the temple there are many giant stone panels engraved with spiritually significant stories. We explored and learned. It’s amazing that this monument was built in the twelfth century. The temple was originally a Hindu temple that was converted to a Buddhist temple, so there is both Hindu and Buddhist influence. The relief sculptures all around the gallery of the temple are Hindu stories that our guide summarized for us. Angkor Wat is still a working Buddhist temple today with several statues of Buddha, many of which are in disarray due to their age and vandalism over the centuries. This temple was truly incredible and a highlight of the trip.

We walked through the Angkor Wat complex and out the eastern side. Angkor Wat faces west, which is unusual for a Buddhist Temple. However, Vishnu is the Hindu God of the west and the temple was built to honor Vishnu and other Hindu gods. On the Eastern side of Angkor Wat, we met our driver and drove to another nearby temple within the Angkor area - Ta Phrom. This temple is famous and distinctive for the giant trees that grow within the ruins of the temple. It is also famous because it was featured in the Tomb Raider movie. This particular temple has been savaged by the elements. There are a lot of ruins that have been partially reclaimed by nature giving it a unique look. We really enjoyed walking around and exploring this temple and admiring the trees that seemingly grow out of the temple.

On the way to our next stop we visited Ta Keo this is a tall temple that did not have many statues or engravings. We climbed to the top (the stairs were extremely steep) and enjoyed the view before moving on.

We also stopped at another small temple - Chau Say Tevoda and another one across the street, Thommanon.  Thommanon is another twelfth century temple in the jungle. We took every opportunity to stop and take it all in. We were here and wanted to maximize our experience. All of the temples are simply incredible and it’s amazing to see how big the Angkor Wat complex is. At one point over a million people were living around the temples.

Our next destination was Angkor Thom. This is another temple complex near Angkor Wat. We drove past two temples (one known as the elephant temple, so named for its many carvings of elephants, and the other is known as the baboon temple). Angkor Thom was where the King lived and many other upper class citizens of the civilization. We next stopped at the Bayon temple. This was quite possibly our favorite temple. It consisted of a great multitude of towers and each tower had four happy faces. The faces represent charity, compassion, simplicity, and equality. There were 54 towers at one point (now there are 49) each of which had four faces. It looked remarkable. We very much enjoyed exploring this temple. On our way out we stopped to look at the temple gate. It also had four happy faces and an elephant with 3 heads on each corner.

One thing we have really been impressed with as we have traveled is the art in each country. It’s always so distinctive. The Cambodian style is more like Egypt than any other art we have seen, but still very distinctive. Cambodians are represented with long ears, which is a sign of a long life and wisdom. Alison vowed to spend time reading the Asian sections of her art history textbook before our next trip to Asia. It’s very sad that so much of the history we learn about in school, both art history and otherwise, is so Euro-centric. The world is so big and there is so much to learn from every civilization. Cambodia has a rich culture and heritage. We learned that Cambodia has 16 million people and 80% of the country are farmers. Siem Reap was definitely more of a rural city and we really enjoyed spending time there.

Our tour ended around noon and they dropped us at our hotel. We can not say enough good things about our guide and driver. Som was knowledgeable and passionate and taught us a lot about the rich Cambodian culture. Our driver was the epitome of great customer service. Every time we came back to the car he was ready with a cold water bottle and a chilled towel. These were much appreciated on a hot, sunny, humid day. As we drove back to the hotel, Som took a moment to thank us for visiting his country and for helping to support their economy and the monument of Angkor Wat. It was really heartfelt and truly our pleasure to visit. We would highly recommend Siem Reap as a place to visit.

Back at the hotel we checked into our new room. We once again ate at the hotel restaurant. The dishes we chose today were even better than dinner the night before. We had stir fried yellow noodles (they were seriously delicious) and stir fried chicken with Khmer paste. After lunch, we relaxed in our air conditioned room for a few minutes.

When we were ready to go we had our hotel get us a tuk tuk driver to take us to the War Museum. At the war museum we chose to have a guide - this was an excellent choice. The guide was free, but told us he would like a tip when he finished. The guide was so passionate and wanted to help us understand what his country had gone through. He explained that he was so passionate about the war because both of his parents lived through it,  but all of his parents siblings died in the war, except for one uncle who survived the war, only to later be killed by a landmine. Our guide gave us a brief history lesson that spanned from the 1960's to the early 2000's. While he shared his understanding he challenged us to learn for ourselves and suggested some books and movies. He urged us to read and compare multiple sources to get the best feel for what is really true. Much of what we saw in the museum broke our hearts. The exhibits were very simple, but they were powerful. There was an exhibit about child soldiers used during the civil war. It broke our hearts. There was also an exhibition hall for land mines. It showed the many types of land mines that were planted by all kinds of groups and showed the many challenges Cambodia faces, even today, in trying to remove the land mines. These terrible weapons are still killing people in Cambodia. Unfortunately the poorest people have the biggest incentive to ignore the warning signs and are dis-proportionally at risk of being injured or killed by landmines. There were many tanks and heavy weapons on display that were used during the war. These weapons were primarily provided by the US, China, and Russia. These three superpowers failed to use their significant power and resources to prevent the deaths of millions of people. Instead they provided the munitions that would be instrumental in the slaughter.  While this was a sobering stop Alison and I agree it is important to learn as much as we can about the places we visit. War is so despicable. The more we learn about it the more we see the terrible cost of war, particularly on innocent civilians.

Our next stop, Wat Thmey, was just as sobering. Wat Thmey is one of many killing fields in Cambodia. It is the site of mass executions that took place during the civil war. It is a site of the genocide that killed 2 million+ Cambodians. The Khmer Rouge killed or starved 25% of the population. The first building at Wat Thmey contains artwork painted by one survivor. This man was a monk when the Khmer Rouge took power. He gave up being a monk and was eventually conscripted to assist at a jail. Many of his pictures depicted the atrocities and torture he witnessed and experienced. The pictures were graphic and hard to witness.

After we viewed his pictures we walked out to the well. Many bodies were thrown down the well after they were hacked to pieces. Next to the well was a covered enclosure that contained some of the bones found in this mass burial site. Nearby was the memorial stupa. This stupa contains the bones of many of the individuals who were killed at this location. It is a sobering reminder of the significance of this place. Nearby were stories of some survivors and some who died. We took the time to read these stories. Among these stories we found these powerful statements:

“While truth, justice and reconciliation are critical ingredients to a post-conflict society’s return to the civilized world. It is also education, memory and civil discourse that underpin the nation’s future. The story of those who survived the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge must be memorialized in public spaces beyond the court, not only for the sake of justice and reconciliation, but also to facilitate the education to generations to come.”

“Reflection on the past is a crucial task for all post-conflict countries because a country that cannot face the problems of its past will never have the courage and fortitude to face the many problems of the present and future.”

“All generations bear a civic duty to preserve, protect, and restore the country’s diversity of cultures through the conscientious study of culture and history.”

These words rang particularly true as we stood in this sobering memorial. We both noted our own country would be a better place if we could apply the lessons taught here.

When we finished we had our tuk tuk driver take us back to the old market. We bought a couple of small souvenirs and ate some dinner at a local restaurant. We had teriyaki chicken and fried rice. It was very good. We have been impressed with the food in Cambodia. Every meal we have eaten has been excellent.

After dinner our tuk tuk driver picked us up and took us to Phoem Bakheng  also known as the sunset temple. This is a popular place within Angkor to watch the sunset because it situated in a hill has beautiful views overlooking the forest. Since this is a popular spot for sunset viewing they only allow 300 people on top of the temple at a time. We read that it can get crowded. To get to the temple there is ~15 minute hike. We booked it up to the top. While there was a crowd there were not 300 people today. That didn’t surprise us too much because Siem Reap has not been particularly busy during the two days we were here. Chinese tourists normally comprise the bulk of Cambodian tourism, but we saw almost no Chinese tourists in Thailand or Cambodia. This is likely due to travel restrictions related to the virus. We found a spot on top of the temple and watched a stunning sunset.

When they sun finished setting we hiked back down to the tuk tuk and headed back to the hotel. I will have very fond memories of riding around Siem Reap in a tuk tuk. It is the best way to get around this area. You get a nice cool breeze and can enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. The area around Angkor Wat is forested and riding in a tuk tuk through the jungle with glimpses of an ancient temples and monuments are the stuff dreams are made of.

We packed our bags and checked out of the hotel. The woman at the front desk was confused, but we assured her we loved the hotel and we just had a flight to catch. We took our tuk tuk back to the airport. We weren’t sure if it would be the best way to travel with luggage, but the luggage was really no big deal our tuk tuk driver through it on the front of the tuk tuk and off we went.

We flew on AirAsia back to Bangkok. The flight left 30 minutes early, which was fantastic because even with the early departure we landed ~10:30pm. Customs and immigration was a breeze. We took a taxi to our hotel which was fairly close to the airport. The cab driver was strange and tried to negotiate a fixed fee, but we had him turn on the meter. The hotel we were staying at caters to travelers. It was a no frills travel hotel and it was incredibly inexpensive. It was also clean. It was really the perfect place to sleep for four hours before catching our next flight tomorrow morning.