Eastern Angkor, Cambodia

Another 6:30 am start but this time we had a different driver, Pirom. He had the biggest smile you’ve ever seen. Narath had some errands to run but he was there to introduce us to his replacement and go over the day’s program. Today we were exploring the temples outside of Angkor Wat and Thom. They were spread too far apart to walk so we would be relying more on our driver. We started with Chau Say Thevoda.

We were mostly undisturbed there; one set of tourists walked quickly through. As usual, the early morning sunlight warmed the brick giving us a lovely view.  The temple, from the middle of the 12^th Century, has been recently restored. There are some Hindu carvings and stone staircases leading up to some smaller buildings. A small shrine occupied one of the structures:

To the east of the temple is a cruciform terrace and causeway and across the road lives Thommanon from the early 12^th Century and the period of Angkor Wat. It was completely restored in the 60s with cement ceilings.

As I was walking about, a Cambodia with a significant limp started showing me around the place. I’d prefer to be left alone but I followed him nonetheless. He pointed out a well preserved lintel carving of Vishnu, a stone door, and some carvings of devatas (female deities) in costume.

When finished, he pulled out an intricately carved wooden instrument that plays a sound similar to elastic stretched and twanged. He played it for me but I told him I couldn’t buy one b/c it would break on our travels. After thanking him, I handed him a dollar. I told Ian about the little instrument and of course, he bought one. We sat for awhile just taking in the setting and Ian practiced his new instrument.

Our next stop was Ta Keo, constructed in the late 10^th to early 11^th Century. This is a towering temple – mountain dedicated to Shiva and the first made of entirely sandstone.

Inside is a steep staircase covering three tiers and the place is plainly decorated. Many of the temples are in a state of decay and sometimes stones are held together by wooden supports. If there was any sort of seismic activity here, several of these temples would crumble.

Just to tell you a little story – I had forgotten my pass in the tuk tuk and was walking along the wall of the temple towards the back where Pirom was parked. I heard a “hey hey” and looked towards the sound but didn’t see anyone so I kept walking. Then I heard another “hey, hey lady.” Since there wasn’t anyone else around, I stopped and looked again. A guide standing beside a tourist van waved at me and yelled “come on!” I shook my head and yelled back “I’m not on a bus” and kept walking. He yelled again, this time most insistently, “lady, you come here, come now.” I yelled back “I’m not on a bus, I have a tuk tuk” and pointed to Pirom. He now understood that he had the wrong tourist and laughed. I guess we all look alike.

Ta Prohm was next and the one I was most looking forward to. A temple monastery from the 12^th Century, it features galleries, courtyards, and towers; but the thing that makes this place particularly unique, is the trees intertwining with the stone. I have seen so many photographs of this site I couldn’t wait to see it in person.  

According to our guidebook Ancient Angkor this site was chosen by L’Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient to be left in a natural state as an example of how most of Angkor looked on its discovery in the 19^th C. But leaving it in this state involves a significant amount of work preventing further collapse. Enough vegetation has to be cleared for entry, viewing and safety while still maintaining a feeling of neglect. They’ve certainly found the right balance because the sense of decline and the partly overgrown state really creates a magical feeling to the place.

We entered through the west gate, continuing down a dirt trail to a wooden pathway leading tourists over moss covered water. There was a wall and small gopura (entrance pavilion) facing the moat – this picture is taken from the other side and shows the cruciform causeway leading to the entrance pavilion:

Across the open area we entered another pavilion and followed along in a gallery. Some areas were completely blocked by fallen stones.

There were some long hallways and beautiful buildings.

Our journey eventually led us to an inner courtyard with several examples of trees and their roots cascading down and over the stone. There are two kinds of trees here: the larger silk cotton tree distinguished by its knobby texture -

And the strangler fig known by its thinner smooth grey roots.

Typically a bird deposits the seed of these trees into a crevice somewhere in the structure and the tree takes hold. Its roots work their way through the masonry, down to the soil, growing thicker as they go. Sometimes it looks like the tree is swallowing the stone blocks and even the building itself. In some instances the roots look quite alien, like some creature reaching out its tentacles. It is quite remarkable.

I loved this place and it was by far my favourite of all the temple complexes we visited. I took many many pictures. I let them speak for themselves:

We finished Ta Prohm with this photo –

We found Pirom and he took us to Banteay Kdei, a largely unrestored complex spread over a large area. Unfortunately, the population of touts in these isolated temples increased and they were tenacious. A typical conversation went like this:

                                                             Hello madam, you need guidebook? Give you good price.

                                                                 No thanks.

                                                             One dollar.  

                                                                 No thank you.

                                                             What about cold drink?

                                                                 I have a drink thanks.

                                                              Maybe one for tuk tuk driver?

                                                                 Haha, that was a good one.

                                                              Good, you buy book?

                                                                 Not that good. Besides, I already bought a book.

                                                              You buy for friend, maybe mother. Give you good price.

And on it goes. Doesn’t matter what your response is, they have a comeback.

One little girl kept pace me with chatting quickly as we walked together towards the entrance. She asked me what country I was from and when I said Canada, she responded:  “Capital Ottawa, you speak two languages – French and English. Vancouver and Toronto are big cities.” I was really impressed and gave her a piece of gum. Turns out – that’s a vendor trick. They try to win you over with facts about your country – another girl did the same thing to Ian.

Oh well.

Into the temple complex we went. It was a pretty setting surrounded by grass, trees and a small pond. There were not a lot of tourists there. Many areas are closed for restoration. Some of the doorways looked like a strong wind would send the stones cascading down…according to the tourist brochure, its deterioration is largely due to the fact that it was built using poor grade sandstone and poor construction techniques.

There were some good carvings and as always new things to see.

Across the road was Srah Srang, a large basin built in the 10^th Century. It has surprisingly retained its water for 9 centuries.  We approached the man-made lake from a small terrace lined by lions. Steps led down to a landing platform and I would have taken a photo except 3 lads decided to plant themselves there to play cards. Srah Srang means royal bath but the 10^th C inscriptions state that water has been stored for all creatures (Ancient Angkor, p. 151).

It was almost noon so we headed into town for lunch.