Siem
Reap, CambodiaSiem
Reap, CambodiaSiem Reap is the location of the famous Angkor Wat temple complex. These ancient Hindu/Buddhist temples are in great danger of environmental damage and looting. Fortunately, the Cambodian government has done a good job creating Tourist infrastructure — more visitors means greater awareness and more money — and hopefully a long life for these magnificent temples. It isn't just one big temple - there are spectacular sites all around the area. We spent pretty much all our time here in Siem Reap visiting the temples.
Background: Now a listed UNESCO World Heritage site, the temples are spread over a wide area, though most of the temples are clustered within a 10-kilometre radius of Angkor Wat, and the nearby walled city of Angkor Thom. A few are further out. Varying widely in area from hundreds of acres to less than one, they form a unique ensemble reflecting over six centuries of architectural mastery. The entire site covers several hundred square km and the serious visitor can spend weeks exploring the more than 100 temples, only a few of which can be described here. The site lies north of the small but rapidly developing town of Siem Reap.
11/19/01 6am — Wow. This place is astonishing. Huge. Ancient. Amazingly intricate. The weather was perfect for pictures — blue sky, no haze early in the morning. So you'll see it as we saw it — sort of. We say "sort of", because part of the "wow" is the sheer size of these temples, combined with their antiquity and splendor. The ancient kings that had these built had a lot of willing(?) subjects and plenty of time...
You'll need some imagination to get a grasp of the whole thing, we can only show you hunks of it, and some wide views.
There
are several dozen major and minor temples in the area around Siem Reap;
they were built from the late 800's through about 1300's by a series
of Khmer kings. Off and on during this time, the Khmers and Hundus alternated
control of the major parts of Thailand and southern Vietnam. The religion
alternated between Buddhism and Hinduism. When the Hindus were
in charge, they tended to go to the Buddhist temples and chisel out the
images of the Buddha. Fortunately, the Buddhists didn't return the favor,
so the Hindi temples remain in good shape. Many temples contain elements
from both religions, in an attempt to keep everyone happy.
Some of the temples were used off and on through the 15th/16th centuries, but after that the whole lot fell into disrepair. In the late 1800s it was "rediscovered" by the French, who set up a society to explore and reconstruct it. They (and others) continued on doing this through the 1960s, doing extensive cataloging and photographing along the way. This turned out to be quite useful, as all the archeological work stopped when the country fell into chaos in the 70s. The horrid Khmer Rouge trashed parts of many of the temples. Even worse, the temples were allowed to be looted and the statuary sold to international art collectors — this continued on throughout the 80s. Signs of looting are everywhere - big chiseled out areas, statue after statue missing a head, etc. Not to mention bullet holes. The photos and cataloguing done during the 60s helps to identify what was taken/destroyed and also in a few cases in reclaiming pieces. The looting has now been stopped at all but the most remote temples, and there is extensive conservation work underway.
Siem Reap, the nearest town, now gets about 3/4 million tourists a year. Our visit was at the start of the high season — but it didn't have nearly the "Disneyland quality" that we'd feared. A bit surprising is how much development there is (hotels, restaurants, internet places) for a town where all but the main roads are dirt. (Tourists have only been visiting in large numbers for the last three years, since the last (nearby) Khmer Rouge fighters were finally pacified). It's an odd combination: first-world luxury situated in a poor, dusty, third-world village.
We
rested between jaunts at the Angkor
Village Resort. It's reminds us a lot of two properties we've stayed
at, on Bali and Hawaii: rooms in an enclosed compound, wide-open-space
but contained, lots of gardens.
Because of the quantity of pictures, we've put together a couple different pages for them. Here're the links:
Angkor Thom & environs — the ancient capital city
Angkor Wat & environs — the "Main Event"; also the "Jungle Temple", which was completely overgrown; they can't take down the strangling banyan trees cause the temples will fall down
Banteay Seri — about 15km from Siem Reap, an older, more intricate temple [update 12/10 — this link was broken; now fixed]
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/maxpages/special/ramayana/ — on the Ramayana story
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/06937.html — Khmer Rouge
http://www.yale.edu/cgp/ - Cambodian Genocide Program
http://www.hindunet.org/mahabharata/ — Mahabarata story
http://www.1000traveltips.org/siemreap.htm
http://www..visit-mekong.com/cambodia/jewels/index.htm
http://www.angkorwat.org/html/history.html