John and Fayne's "Sabbatical": Siem Reap and a Visit to the Fabled Ancient Khmer Dynasty

Cambodia, specifically the temples at Angkor Wat have fascinated me see I first saw a photo of them as a child. Perhaps it is the jungle locale or the exotic name, but for some reason I always wanted to visit. When Fayne and I were visualizing this sabbatical, we made of list of places we most wanted to visit. Angkor Wat was #1 on mine. (Fayne chose The Great Wall, our next stop.)
Appropriately for an adventure like this, the path here was a bit arduous by today's spoiled-traveler standards. We took a midnight flight from Perth to Changi Airport in Singapore. I had an aisle seat next to a young couple drinking Red Bull and vodka that were up and down all night. I did not get much sleep.
We arrived in Singapore at 5:30 AM, had to collect the bags and went through customs to wait for our next flight to Cambodia at 3 PM. That was a mistake, but perhaps not avoidable. Changi has been rated the #1 airport in the world for passengers in transit, and I was excited after reading on their website of all the exciting services available: movies, sleeping beds by the hour, a gym, even free two-hour tours of Singapore. The problem was those are only available inside the transit area, not outside customs, and we could not re-enter that area until two hours before the next flight. We were left wandering for the next seven hours around the three terminals, able to sadly gaze through windows to the lush gardens, luxury shopping malls, food courts, and other services available to those lucky other people.

Changi Terminal 3

By the time we were allowed back through, we were hot, sticky, grumpy, and exhausted from dragging our luggage around. We finally boarded the flight, got 90 minutes out, and had to return to Changi due to engine trouble. Another four hours and a new Jetstar Asia plane later we took off for Siem Reap, the gateway to Angkor.

We checked into the Victoria Hotel Resort and Spa, which turned out to be one of my favorite hotels ever.

Classic Citroens in front of hotel

It is a new hotel, part of an Indo-Chinese chain, built in the colonial style but with all the modern amenities including good air-conditioning and excellent internet access,

even a delicious tropical fruit basket.

(Can you name all the fruits? Answers at the bottom.)

The staff could not be more pleasant and helpful, and everything in Cambodia is much cheaper than anywhere else we have been other than Bali. The money takes a bit of adjustment, especially since I am carrying about five different currencies. The exchange rate is currently about 4,000 rials/USD, so you really have to keep your decimal points straight. EVERYTHING is quoted in US dollars, and they aren't too interested in receiving their own currency.

Note: The Photo ID for the Angkor Temples $20 US

If you come, bring lots of US money in small denominations (same with Bali). We were fortunate to be able to stay from Tuesday night through Sunday night, a good amount of time to see many of the sights. At my age and with the heat and humidity it is important to pace myself.

Angkor Wat is the most famous of a vast network of temple/city complexes spread out over the whole district, the remnants of the glory of the Khmer dynasties, who ruled from AD 802 to 1432. In Egypt, you can visit a series of pyramids leading up to the development of the perfection of the form in the Great pyramid of Cheops. Similarly, you can visit a progression of temple complexes leading up to Angkor Wat (meaning "City Temple"). The temples also document a merging and transition of Hinduism with/to Buddhism. The first temples, including Angkor Wat, honored Hindu gods, generally Vishnu or Shiva. The later ones like Bayon worshiped Buddha, but the statues of all look quite similar.

The temple complexes all have similar basic structure: a rigidly symmetrical North/South orientation, a moat, a wall, gates, a series of tall iconic spires with the center one the tallest. They are said to reflect the Khmer cosmos, with Mt. Meru, the mythical holy mountain of Hinduism, at the center, surrounded by land, encircled by the sea. The grand scale of Angkor Wat is what is truly astounding, best appreciated by an aerial view (not my photo: we didn't do a fly-over).

Photo by Charles J Sharp

The moat is 620 feet wide and the entire complex is 3,360' BY 2,630'. The inner corridors are lined with long bas-relief carvings some depicting historical events and great battles fought by the kings and some Hindu myths. The most famous of these relates to the gods and demons churning the Sea of Milk with the giant cobra Naga to make the elixir of everlasting life.

Also noteworthy on the temples are the thousands of carvings of the Apsara, lovely dancing beauties, all with different faces, clothes, and jewelry.

Nearby Angkor Wat is Angkor Thom ("Great City"), an immense walled city built 50 years later by King Jayavarman VII, after Angkor Wat had been sacked by their enemies, the Chams. Inside the city walls is the temple of Bayon, ostensibly dedicated to Buddha, with 216 beneficently smiling faces beaming down at you. Some say the face is modeled after the king's father, some say after the king himself. If the latter is so, it is one of the most truly grand monuments to narcissism in history.

By all accounts, he was a good king. He abolished the caste system and built lots of roads, water reservoirs, schools, hospitals, and way-stations for travelers.

All the other smaller temples have their charms and claims to fame. Some are overgrown with giant jungle trees, like Ta Prohm (featured in the movie "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider").

Banteay Srei has the most delicately carved stone.

The best preserved lotus flower-shaped spire-top is at Bakong

along with lovely stone elephants and lions.

Speaking of elephants, I was disappointed to miss an elephant ride in Bali. I did not miss one here. Very touristy, but very cool to cross ancient bridges and roads to the temple gates Hannibal-like, mounted on an elephant.

The elephant-high procession across the moat of Angkor Thom on a bridge flanked by the statues of gods on one side, demons on another tugging on the 7-headed cobra Naga is sublime.

There is more to Cambodia and Siem Reap than the temples. Another popular site to visit is Tonle Sap Lake with its "floating villages".This is the largest lake in Indo-China and a major source for fish in the region. During the rainy season, water backflows from the Mekong River to fill the lake and in dry season the water flows out, so the lake levels will fluctuate by more than 26 feet, so the villages will migrate with the water level.

It sounds more romantic than it is, not quite Sausalito.

The water is quite brown, and sanitation at its most basic. The US is helping to supply potable water. The people farm fish and alligators

and the cruise will take you out to stop at a floating general store.

En route we saw rice paddies and fields of lotus plants.

Also out of town is a Land Mine Museum, dedicated to reminding people of the on-going problem with land mines and unexploded ordinance from the civil war and the prior US heavy bombing, as well as helping the victims of the munitions.

A sobering display, to be sure.
The town of Siem Reap is growing voraciously, as the nation continues to recover from the murderous civil war and people move in to take advantage of the booming tourist trade. Schools and workshops have been established to help people relearn the traditional crafts, such as wood

and stone carving.

Stone Linga, an ancient phallic tribute to Shiva

There are countless new large high-end hotels, sticking out almost Vegas-like. People have to eat, so restaurants abound, like Happy Pizza and its cousin Ecstatic Pizza.

I am told you can order plain, Happy, or Extra Happy, depending on how much ganja you want on top.
In your spare time you can have your feet exfoliated by small nibbling fish

or take in a traditional dance show inspired by the carved Apsara figures from the temples.

The people seem very sweet and eager to please, in that Hindu/Buddhist way.

We loved our stay and were sorry to have to leave, but looked forward to the Chinese portion of our adventure.

[Answers to fruit Quiz, right to left: Dragon fruit, 2 finger bananas, 2 oranges, 2 rambutans (in the lychee family)]

Here a few bonus photos (of many I took).