Cambodia and the Angkor archeological park

We arrive in Siem Reap, Cambodia after a short flight from Hanoi and go to the Sofitel Hotel.  Siem Reap is 325km. north of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh and it’s it’s near the Angkor Archaeological Park.  This city of 240,000 is all about tourism and the Angkor visitors like us.

Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia. Stretching over 400 sq km, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. Our visit will include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom - the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations and the Ta Prohm Temple all overgrown with trees - and finally the Bantey Srei Temple.

UNESCO has set up a wide-ranging programme to safeguard this symbolic site and its surroundings.  Eight countries including India, Japan and Italy have on going projects to assist in the restoration of some parts of the temples.   It’s a mammoth job considering the ravages of more than a thousand years of weather, nature, neglect and looting.

Angkor Thom

Our first visit is to the Bayon Temple, built between 1181-1220.  Disrepair is evident but we enjoy the serene and smiling stone faces and the sandstone carvings that are on walls, columns and around doorways.

Bayon Temple

Marilyn peeking around

Next up is the Ta Prohm Temple, made famous by a 2001 Angelie Jolie movie called “Lara Croft:Tomb Raider”.  This nose stretcher had a tourism benefit for Cambodia of showcasing Angkor and this temple with its overgrown trees. Once again the stone carvings are a magnet for our eyes, mindful of the uneven stones as we walk. 

Now that's a big tree!

Special stone cut.  Why?  How?

A work of art....

Bantey Srei Temple

This Hindu temple was the oldest one we visited, dating to 937 AD.  Smaller in size, the buildings have a beautiful pink hue and the stone carvings are very detailed and beautiful.

 

Beautiful pink sandstone

Visit to Cambodian school (ODA) – Opportunities of Development though Art

Our tour operator, Amawaterways is a sponsor of this school and we were encouraged to bring some art supplies and personal things for the residents.  After a brief talk by the principal and a dance presentation we circulated with the students

Fun to see the kids enjoying life.  Most are orphans

Learning English is compulsory and training offered by volunteers

There’s an emphasis on artistic development – program has painting, computer skills, dance and cooking.

The boys and girls each have their own dorm area.

A dance presentation at the school

Marilyn befriends a young boy who gave her a tour – he was quite skilled in watercolour painting and we bought one of his paintings.  He's 11 years old, not very tall.

Angkor Wat Temple

This is the most recognizable name in the Western world of all the temples to visit in the Angkor archeological park.  It’s also the best built temple partly because the reigning king spent his whole reign from 1112-1152 focused on the building project.  His remains were interred on this site with some wag suggesting it’s the most expensive burial site ever, but maybe he didn’t hear about the pyramids.

What we noticed was a layout exactly on the east west compass line, columns that lined up perfectly and an attention to detail the other sites, although magnificent in their own way, lacked.

We got there before sunset to see how the light played on the sandstone structures.  We weren’t disappointed as our camera caught the changing light, even though it was overcast.

The sandstone used to build with turns entire wall areas a place for incredibly detailed carvings – an art from in its own right.  We could have taken a thousand pictures at this beautiful place.

Sunrise #1

Sunrise #2

Sunrise #3