The times they are a-changin`

Friday, 19/10/2012 – 127 A.D.

Today we were going to see Cambodia’s greatest tourist attraction…correction, Cambodia’s only tourist attraction: Angkor. From about the 9^th  until the 15^th century, the Khmer empire was the dominant power in south east Asia and Angkor (meaning “Holy City”) was where all the action happened. Recent research has discovered that at its peak medieval Angkor was the biggest pre-industrial city that ever existed in the world, possibly supporting up to one million people and featuring a sprawl that may compare to that of modern day Los Angeles. Pretty good, huh? Once upon a time, maybe. Like all great civilisations, the Khmer empire got too big and started to fall into decline before its neighbours, most notably Siam, came along and broke things up, much the way the Barbarian tribes did for ancient Rome. Over the next few centuries Angkor was abandoned to the ever-increasing jungle and the once-great city was swallowed up by a fresh army of greenery.

Then the French came. Not always a great thing, but after making Cambodia a protectorate, they started to hack away at the undergrowth and dig out the old temples, restoring them where it was practical. I should note that throughout the 390 square miles of what is now known as Angkor Park there are around 1000 temples, ranging from unidentifiable piles of stone rubble to the greatest of them all, Angkor Wat. Back in the days of the Khmer empire only the Gods deserved houses built of stone, so all other buildings were built of perishable materials such as wood, which vanished long, long ago. Phew – that’s enough of a history lesson for now! You get the picture that it’s an important archaeological discovery? UNESCO World Heritage Site? Dead good place of stoney ruiney stuff? Then we’ll proceed…

Angkor Park lies about 6 kilometres outside of central Siem Reap, which meant a tuk-tuk job. The Angkor Pearl Hotel has been a cracking residence so far, and they have a few tuk-tuks of their own that they transport tourists around in - $15 all day. We had no problem with that, but the only dilemma was which route to take. There is the Small Tour Circuit and the Grand Tour Circuit, the former packing more places in at a shorter distance, the latter featuring less places but going further afield. At the recommendation of the guy behind the desk, we went for the Small Tour Circuit. Come 10:00, we were introduced to our driver for that day. He introduced himself as “Thy” (pronounced “tee”) and we saw that he had “Mr. Thy” written on his vehicle. Mr T.? “Hannibal, I aint getting` in no tuk-tuk!” Not quite.

We headed off across town, Thy firing the throttle on his motorbike to about 30 miles per hour maximum (probably a good thing), with Tim and I sitting in the back and feeling like a right couple of lords. Oh well, it beats walking! Within ten minutes we were at the outskirts of Angkor Park and buying our day tickets, which we’d have to show every now and then throughout our visit. Then it was off to the first stop on the Small Tour Circuit – Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat is the premiere draw at Angkor Park and may well be the biggest religious structure ever built, but I cannot be bothered verifying that right now. It has survived better than most of the temples because it had its own moat to hold back the advance of the jungle. Like most temples of its time it was built to represent Mount Meru, which is where certain deities lived in Hindu mythology, hence it has five main towers (or had, as one of them is pretty dilapidated). Originally Angkor Wat was a Hindu temple, but was subsequently converted to a form of Buddhism which currently escapes me. Whatever religion it belongs to, it’s a grand approach to the ruins.

So what does one do when they arrive at such a vast religious space? Sit down and quietly contemplate a million and one things before enlightenment is reached and one accidentally ascends from this world of pain, suffering and bed bugs? Nah, not really, but it was a bit calmer at the back of the complex where there were less visitors – Angkor draws in about two million a year, so it’s usually teeming, although October isn’t the high season. However, Thy had given us two hours to go off and explore the area, so we had a schedule to keep. Not sure what he would do to us if we turned up late…probably just sulk.

Oh yes indeedy did they like their steep stone staircases in the Khmer empire! Climbing these would be enough to give anyone vertigo, so fortunately there are modern wooden steps attached to the sides of the most popular climbs, but they’re still no simple ascent or descent, and the introduction of escalators would go a long way. Thy told us that during the recent rainy season there was a Japanese lady who was told by her guides not to climb up so-and-so temple, but she did anyway, slipped, and died. Even if I was wearing my hiking boots with extra grip, if a guide says don’t go there then you don’t go there! And so where was everyone going? Up to the highest level of Angkor Wat, that’s where…

There were very good views of the surrounding acres from the top, if slightly obscured by the odd bit of scaffolding here and there, but that's restoration for you. I tried to imagine how the place would have looked all of those hundreds of years ago at its peak, with Khmer warriors guarding the gates and monks wandering around and performing esoteric incantations...my visualisations weren't too bad, but invariably I was brought back to the 21st century by a fresh batch of chattery tourists moving from one ante-chamber to the next. It was also a bit too sweaty to get too deep, because we all know that the best lucid historical imaginings are done at a few degrees above room temperature, right?

Back down on the ground we saw the biggest spider we'd seen so far on our travels (I won't show the pic in case any arachnophobes reading are offended / scared sh*tless). A nearby guide told us it wasn't poisonous, but that the local people ate the larger tarantulas. I'd been wondering what those hairy, spindly bits in my Khmer curry had been. In fact, barely 15 minutes later Tim spotted this formidable character casually leaning against a rusty  metal bar. We think it's a praying mantis...well, definitely a mantis, but maybe not a praying one. Then again, it could be the smaller male version - females rule in the insect world. Just like in the human world. 

By now our two hours were up and we returned to the front of Angkor Wat where Thy had dropped us off. He was patiently waiting and produced from his coolbox a couple of wet towels and ice cold bottles of water. Nice touch. I asked him what he had been doing with himself, but he either missed what I said or preferred to ignore the question, instead asking us if we were ready for lunch. We were, and so he took us on a short ride to the nearby Angkor café. He explained that he gets a discount off his meal for dropping us here. Oh well, at least he’s up front about it! Upon entering, things got off to a bad start when I accidentally kicked a dog that was sleeping half under the end of a table. I saw it limp away, but we reckon it already had the swollen leg before I got involved…here’s hoping I didn’t make it worse! The prices were a little higher than we were used to, but nothing too extortionate. Unfortunately I was tempted by the words “bacon sandwich”, but forgot that on this continent a bacon sandwich comes with barely any bacon, yet tonnes of tomato and onion. As I painstakingly removed them and put them to the side of the plate, I told Tim to remind me of this moment whenever I saw a bacon sarny on a future menu. He just shook his head and looked away.

[On the road again with Mr. Thy!]

First stop with full bellies was the temple of Bayon in the surrounding Angkor Thom complex. Tourists are fascinated by the 200 or so large faces that are carved into the temple's 54 towers and I was no exception. There is no universally regarded theory on whom they represent, and that type of thing fascinates me all the more. Rain clouds lingered in the distance and for once I wished it would chuck it down, if only to cool me down. Climbing loads of steep steps in this kind of climate is not good for the Grayboy knees!

Next we went to Ba Puon…

Followed by Phimean Akas, which was a personal highlight because it was a bit more off the beaten track and we were the only ones there…

At every site that we were dropped off at we were immediately pounced upon by people young and old desperately trying to sell us their wares. We'd both spent our fair share at the market the previous day and wanted to curb expenditure for now. But boy did they insist! Even when I was blatantly carrying a full bottle of water, they were still asking if I wanted something cold to drink! At the market I developed a strategy where I say I want something from them that they probably won’t have, such as a hard glasses case, and when they realise they don’t have it they more often than not leave me alone. Today I went for apples, which I do actually want and can’t seem to find anywhere in Siem Reap. Responses I got today included, “Apples? What are apples?”, “No, Sir, we only have pineapples,” and, “You buy this instead.” One small girl was so bloody persistent that I caved in and bought a trinket, mainly because it heped me get rid of some riel notes (akin to loose change), but as soon as those notes came out there were another half dozen kids around me trying to flog their stuff. Tim suggested to Thy that it might be a good time to fire up the tuk-tuk and get us out of there. 

The afternoon went on, we saw more ruined temples, and both started to tire a little. You may also have started to tire a little of the tales and photos from the former Khmer empire, and I don’t blame you. At a little after 17:00 I got my wish and the rain shower came down, so Thy had to pull down the waterproof sides to the tuk-tuk as we headed home, pausing to pull them up again once the rain stopped and we took the opportunity to photograph the sunset of a day spent taking more photographs than Jessops would have thought was ever possible.

Upon returning to the dry, aircon-based comfort of the hotel, I saw that the maid had been in to clean the room and change the sheets at some point. She had even taken my sleep shorts, folded them up and placed them neatly at the end of the bed. I bet they didn’t get treatment that good at the height of the Khmer empire!