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 ...8:00
AM September 8th, 2002
After
two days in Hong Kong and 4 days in Bangkok, on
my first trip out of
the USA (not including Mexico), I am fufilling a
lifelong dream by arriving on an airconditioned
minivan at the Cambodian bordertown of Poipet. I
am still slightly drunk from the previous evening,
and nervous (in that excited kind of way), but I
am determined to prove all my friends wrong.
Getting through customs takes about an hour, and
we are across the
border. As I walk through the filthy streets to
the tanklike "bus" that
will travel to SiemReap, I am definitely having
second thoughts. I have
never been in a filthier place than Poipet. As I
(literally) step over
beggars without arms and legs, I am reminded that
Cambodia is one of the
most heavily mined countries in the world. I take
a deep breath, trying to
focus on the huge archway replica of Angkor Wat
with the words I have
dreamed of seeing all my life.
Welcome To The Kingdom Of Cambodia. I somehow manage
to avoid the 12-year-olds wandering the crowds armed
with stun battons and walk the 1/2 mile to the "bus"
that will take me to SiemReap. 140 miles and 12
grueling hours later, we finally enter
SiemReap. I am aching and literally bruised all
over my body from
travelling a road that has to be experienced to
be understood. We are
deposited at the Beng Mealea Guesthouse, which I
am quite content to stay
at. At US$6.00 per night, it is an excellent bargain,
with good food to
boot. The bus tout offers to be my driver for US$10.00
per day ($20.00 for the day I visit Banteay Srei,
still a hell of a bargain) and I accept. My
drivers name is Proseur, an employee of Beng Mealea
and a typical Khmer,
modest, soft-spoken, and eager to practice his passable
english on me. I
will ride helmetless on the back of his motorcycle
for the next 5 days as
I tour the temples of Angkor. |
 ...10:30
AM September 9th, 2002
My
family and friends told me I was crazy, that to
go to Cambodia was
tantamount to suicide, the best I would get would
be artificial legs as a
souvenier....I was about to find out as I headed
into the "jungles" of
Cambodia to see the fabled ruins of Angkor Wat,
Ta Prohm, Banteay Srei,
Ruolous, and the other temple/city complexes...We
set out from Beng Mealea
through the streets of SiemReap. I quickly learned
that in Cambodia, the
largest vehicle has the right-of-way. There are
no lanes, and the roads
are all dirt until we reach the Angkor Wat circuit.
There are two
stoplights in the city that I saw (oddly enough,
they are superior to the
stoplights in the USA - they had a digital counter
when red or green,
counting down from 45 to 0 so you knew exactly
how much time you had to
cross the intersection).
Once we reached the Angkor Wat circuit ticket
inspection point, the road magically was paved
(albeit rather crudely compared to the USA).
The temperature was around 100 degrees Fh, so
being on the back of a motorcycle was the way
to go, though not having a helmet (noone wears
one in Cambodia) was somewhat nervewracking. Taking
Proseur's recommendation, we went to Bayon first,
bypassing Angkor Wat. Definitely a good choice,
as I discovered later. Bayon is a smaller temple
in scope, and an excellent starting point for
what can be an overwhealming experience. As we
approached the temple, we passed through the Victory
Gate, consisting of hindu gods on the right and
demons on the left, each group holding the body
of a Naga, or 9-headed cobra, the guardian of
the Bayon.
This culminates in the entranceway of the Victory
Gate, an archway topped by
the face of Buddah facing in each direction..
A truely awesome monument,
and only a hint of what is to come.
Passing through the Victory Gate, we continue
on through the Cambodian
"jungle", in reality sparse groves of
dense palm and bayon trees
seperated by flat expanses of grasslands. Bayon
arrives spectacularly,
not arising slowly from the horizon, but suddenly
appearing as we take a
sharp turn on the road to reveal fully half of
this ruined wonder.
At first appearing extremely delapidated, as we
get closer, the magnificent
details begain to be apparent. The most notable
are the 200+ buddah
faces that appear grouped in fours on 54 towers
that are directly facing
the cardinal points the compass.
Also in this "complex" (for lack of
a better term - temples are often within 100 feet
of each other) is the Royal Palace (closed for
restoration), the Terrace
of Elephants (spectacular), Terrace
of the Leper King (awesome detailed carvings and
unusual statue), and Phimeanakas, the Aerial palace.
Phimeanakas is a very steep climb with no guardrail
on 3 of the 4 sides. The climb and particularly
the decent (even on the guardrail side) is not
for the acrophobic, but the view is worth anything
short of a phobia.
|
 ...8:57
AM September 11th, 2002
I
am not in the USA on the anniversary of the twin
tower attacks
intentionally...terrorists scared many Americans
from travelling at all so
I am travelling to (supposidly) one of the most
dangerous countries on
earth. The truth of the matter is that SiemReap
is crimefree day and
night. I never once felt threatened when walking
the streets at night
(unlike Hong Kong, the "safest" city in
the world where i got robbed at
knifepoint the first night there). The Khmer people
are the friendliest I
have ever encountered anywhere. This is truely the
land of smiles.
Today I am headed to Angkor Wat, the ultimate destination,
the largest
religious monument on the face of the earth. We
arrive at 9:34 AM and
are immediately surrounded by children selling everything
from film to
handmade musical instruments. I fight my way through
them and make it
across the street to safety (guards keep the sellers
a minimum distance
from the major temples). It is here I get my first
view of Angkor Wat -
an 820 foot stone causeway leading to a large stone
entranceway, and
flanked on either side by manmade pools of water,
or Barays. I wonder
where the famous seven towers are as I walk forward
to the building. I
enter the building and walk the 30 feet through
it.
As I approach the doorway on the oppisite side,
I finallysee....Angkor Wat.
The towers rise magnificently in the distance, framed
by a cloudless blue sky.
It is the most overwhealming thing I have everexperienced.
The scope of the temple simply has the be experienced
to beunderstood.
There is a 300 yard stone causeway leading through
a bright
green field to the main temple entrance, flanked
midway by two librarys
that are currently being restored. The size of the
towers grows as I
approach, until they are encompassed by the main
building itself. I go
through the main entrance leading to the courtyard,
and find myself in
the Hall of the Thousand Buddahs. There are considerably
less than a
thousand buddahs here now, and the ones that are
left have been
decapitated by the Khmer Rouge in there effort to
destroy religion
during the Zero Years (1975 - 1979).
I finally enter the main courtyard and wander the
temple, admiring the
more than 1,000 Apsara carvings. The towers initially
are the most
striking feature, but closer inspection reveals
the magnificent bas
reliefs, in particular the one in the east gallery
depicting the Churning
of the Ocean of Milk from the Hindu epic Ramayana.
I spent the entire
day at Angkor Wat, wandering the galleries, marvelling
at the bas
reliefs, and viewing the landscape from the top
of the inner sanctum,
some 200 feet up. |
 ...6:43
AM September 12th, 2002
I
am up early as we have a long way to go today...Banteay
Srei, some 30 miles into the "jungle".
I am paying my driver extra today because it is
a long way and the tourist police charge the Khmer
drivers a "fee" for using the roads
(outside the Angkor complex - a common scam the
Khmers have to put up with). I would definitely
recommend taking a motorcycle for this drive.
I got my first view of the temple as we arrived,
and was initially disappointed. Disappointment
soon faded to wonder as I got closer.
Banteay Srei, a small red sandstone temple, has
without a doubt the most impressive bas reliefs
and carvings of any temple I visited. The beauty
of the carvings is accented by the beautiful reddish
hue of the sandstone used in the temple construction.
Hands down, one of my favorite places in Cambodia.
 From
here we headed back to the Angkor circuit to visit
Ta Prohm. I couldn't possibly have picked a better
followup to Banteay Srei. Ta Prohm has undergone
virtually no restoration, and has been slowly
reclaimed by the jungle. Impressive Bayon and
Kepok trees have sprung from the
rooftops of the temples, displacing and reforming
the walls into
something out of a fantasy film. Tomb Raider was
shot partially here,
and while I can't recommend the film, it is worth
viewing if you want an
idea of what Ta Prohm is like (there are also
some spectacular shots of
Angkor Wat at sunrise).
|
 ...11:00
AM September 13th, 2002
Spent
the rest of last night wandering the streets
of SiemReap. I was
overwhealmed by the experiences in the temples,
and needed a break.
Today is my last day touring the temples, and
I am revisiting my favorites.
The feeling of awe is still there as i walk
the causeway leading to Angkor Wat, but it is
less overpowering, and I can appreciate the
more mundane aspects,
the architectural nuances.
 The
Khmer style is more noticable now, the feeling
that was poured into every carving, every stone
block.
The
fact that they were able to construct arches
that are still standing 1,000 years later without
benefit of concrete or any other holding material.
The
fact that they constructed temples at Ta Prohm
that the jungle could
reclaim but not destroy. That they created the
intricate carvings and
detail of Banteay Srei, still here for us to
marvel at, lasting through
not just the ages but 30 years of war. A true
testament to the skill of
the Khmer
|
 ...3:35
PM September 14th, 2002
I
arrive at the border, ready to cross back into Thailand
to catch a
flight back to the USA. I still feel nostalgia for
Cambodia, but it is
diminished by the filth of Poipet. I look forward
to a hot shower, to
being in a place where there are familiar faces,
actual houses instead of
straw huts, and even going back to work. I should
note that I work for a
major transportation company and receive a 90%
discount on flights,
otherwise I would never have been able to go on
this trip. I can go
anywhere in the world that I want, and I chose Cambodia
as my first
overseas trip. And my second. I am returning in
July 2003 to the temples
of Angkor. Not for 5 days, but for 4 weeks. Starting
at SiemReap I am
crossing the country on motorcycle. My friend Proseur
(my driver from the
previous trip) has agreed to drive me to Phnom Pehn
(a place he has never
been himself). I shot footage of the temples for
a documentary, and this
will be combined with footage of the upcoming roadtrip.
From Phnom Penh I
go to Ritanakiri, and from there, who knows? Wish
me luck, and hope you,
too, will get to visit this incredible land. |
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