After a visit in Vietnam I went to a neighbor country, Cambodia, And in Cambodia we visited, of course, Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. I really wanted to see the famous temples that are mystical, featured in several films, shown in many programs about history, culture, ancient worlds and even aliens and visitors from outer space.
Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. The temple was built in early 12:th century. The name Angkor Wat means the city of temples. And that’s right, the whole big area is covered with different temples. The temples are full with sculptures and carvings. Many of the temples have huge faces carved out, facing the four sides of the world, there are scenes from every day life, Buddha statues and statues of Hindu gods.
Some of the carvings are more mystical, there are carvings that are said to picture dinosaurs. Were did they come from? Well, sometimes people see what they want to see, the human minds creates images that may not be there. We want to have a mystical explanation to a mystical place. And as for the mystical theories? Some people say that the temples must have been built by aliens, not humans. WHo knows?
The whole area is spectacular. The different temples are different sizes and shapes. Some are well preserved, some are just ruins. Many have big holes in the walls, because of the jem stones that were placed there when the temples where in use. One day they were just abandoned and forgotten, many years later we found them again and now they tell us stories of ancient glorious days. Maybe the same destiny lies in front of our civilized world?
The first day in Siem Reap we visited thebiggest and best known temple, the Angkor Wat. We walked all over the place, fascinated by the place, we saw many people, Buddist monks, Catholic nuns, school children and normal tourists. Despite the heat of the day we walked, watched and were amazed by this place.
Among others we saw the Tah Prom temple, where Tomb Raider was recorded. In this place the trees are eating up the walls of the temple, creating a scary and majestic feeling. At some other temples the trees were cut down with a tragic result. The walls, destroyed buy the roots, fell down, when the trees and the roots where gone leaving just ruins.
The second day we were in the area as well, exploring even more temples. We saw agigantic Buddah, lying down, made of many, many stones. We saw ruins of a temple on a hill with wonderful view of the area, we saw emperors swimming pool and the swimming pool of his concubines, by one of the temples. So many exciting things in one, not so big area. Why were they abandoned?
The third day my travel buddies didn’t want to go anywhere, so I went by myself to explore even more of the area. I hired a bicycle-taxi for the day and visited even more temples. Maybe less known, some older, some more destroyed, many with less tourists, but all as magnificent. There were carvings of people and animals and gods and life. I also saw a dinosaur (plastic, but still) and a wasp hive. I wonder why the others didn’t want to go. I would love to spend a few more days in this great area.
This place became a world heritage site in 1992. Link to the site: Angkor in Siem Reap.
My grade? Five of course:
//Monika