Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 25, 2008
Banteay Srei is anti-Angkor. It is everything that Angkor Wat is not.
First off, Banteay Srei is remote, even by Cambodian standards. It takes more than 30 minutes by tuktuk from Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. As such, making the trip costs an additional $20 to the tuktuk per-diem rental. But despite the distance and the added cost, the rewards of visiting Banteay Srei are manifold.
Banteay Srei: Lady Under The Lintel
Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 25, 2008
Angkor means city. In fact, Angkor is the largest ancient city with an urban sprawl of 3,000 square kilometers, almost half the size of New York City! Come to think of it, a thousand years ago, Angkor must have been the NYC of that era, what with its kingdom’s power and influence on Southeast Asia and its massive monuments and temple-mountains forming that uniquely jagged Khmer skyline.
A Passage to the Past: Angkor Archaeological Park
But as NYC is not just the Empire State and the Statue of Liberty – it has its streets and shops and people - so is Angkor Archaeological Park not just the iconic structures of Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm, and Phnom Bakheng. There are other surprises awaiting your discovery aboard your $14/day tuktuk transport. As most major temples are spaced with considerable distances from one another, those between-temple rides are sightseeing sojourns in themselves. Here are some of those sights from the back of a trusty tuktuk.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 25, 2008
AJ was in Ta Prohm, a ruined ancient temple within Angkor Archaeological Park. I don’t just mean yours truly, but also the famous AJ: Angelina Jolie. The actress-humanitarian-mother shot some scenes for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in the Angkor complex, but most memorably in Ta Prohm.
Ta Prohm: A Tyranny of Trees
The scene: AJ, as Lara Croft, saunters through a deserted temple overgrown with foliage. She hears a child’s laughter echoing through the ruins. She spots a young girl hiding behind the rubbles. The girl runs, laughing. She follows her. The girl leads her to a courtyard, and then disappears. The ground opens up under her feet and AJ falls into a cavernous chamber. Continue reading
Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 25, 2008
Sentry Solo: Angkor Thom
What does enlightenment look like?
Pop culture would have us believe that enlightenment looked like the gaunt, hammy seriousness of Keanu Reeves in Little Buddha. But for the ancient Khmer, it was the face of Jayavarman VII, still revered in Cambodia as the greatest Khmer king. Continue reading
Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 25, 2008
The Transcendental Tourist at Angkor Wat
A tinge of regret slightly smudges my Angkorian adventure, which was fraught with uninformed decisions and bad judgements.
First off, I had not considered its overwhelming size. Angkor Wat is just a part of the sprawling Angkor Archaeological Park, some 400 square kilometres in area. That is more than twice the size of the city I live in, Quezon City! In fact, Angkor Wat means “temple city”. The 50 or so major temples (and about a thousand minor ones) in this UNESCO World Heritage site reveal various architectural styles based on the different times they were built, the different materials used, and more importantly, the different religions they were dedicated to. Angkor is not just one temple, or a group of similar-looking temples that can be lumped together as more-of-the-same. Alas, one day is tragically not enough. (I bought a one-day pass for $20, but a three-day pass for $40 is recommended. There is also a seven-day pass for $60 for hardcore temple enthusiasts, like me.)
Siem Reap, Cambodia
April 24 – 26, 2008
Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor Wat. Tourists and archaeology aficionados descend on the town before embarking on their Angkorian adventures. The daily influx of foreigners and their money has resuscitated this little backwater town into an oasis of modern (read: Western) trappings in the middle of the dust and poverty of Cambodia.
Apsara Dancers at the Temple Bar in Siem Reap
The town is wallowing in tourist dollars (USDs are accepted and preferred over the local currency), but it still seems the back of beyond. It can simply be a pit stop, but it can very well hold its own in terms of attractions. Siem Reap may be all these things simultaneously, but it still comes off as a charming little town seemingly unaware of its contradictions.
Cambodia
April 24, 2008
Even without the obligatory border check, you would know that you have entered Cambodia from Vietnam. Lush vegetation peters out to sparse shrubs in an arid landscape. Rolling terrain levels off to horizon-bordered flatlands. This was my first impression of Cambodia, a country I would soon fall in love with.
Dry, Dusty, Deserted: Cambodian Savanna
Any traveller can conveniently fly into Phomn Penh or Siem Reap, but a backpacker who counts every penny’s worth eschews comfort and convenience for experience and adventure. So it was that I took a bus from Saigon, Vietnam to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
