Temples of Angkor, Cambodia
Anna's entry:
We are finally here, in front of the eighth wonder of the world - Angkor Wat. It is about 6 a.m., and the magnificent image of Angkor Wat is finally appearing in front of the crimson sky woken up by the sunrise. Angkor Wat is more than just an astounding feat; it is the Cambodian national symbol, the source of fierce Khmer pride and the epicenter of their civilization. The powerful and successful King Suryavarman II built Angkor Wat to serve as a holy capital city and eventually as his funerary temple. We took several hours exploring the extensive grounds, we also returned back to Angkor Wat for the sunset (thanks to our flexible and understanding tuk-tuk driver Mr. Koh, who appreciated our lust for history grandeur and photography, and who spent several days with us from sunrise to sunset).
We spent two days exploring the great temples of Angkor including Angkor Thom, the Bayon, Terrace of Elephants and Leper King, the Baphuon, Preah Khan, Prasat Neak Pean, Bantey Srei, etc. However, I must say that two particular places were our favorites.
The first is the temple called Ta Prohm - this is the very place where the movie Lara Croft The Tomb Raider was shot - in its prime it was a holy trunk of great treasures. We loved Ta Prohm not because of the movie, but because of the magnificence and rarity of the temple scenery. The visual images were raw, genuine, and almost surreal. Huge tree routes like grand giants or monsters were covering and strangling the numerous temple entrances, walls, passageways, and windows - we felt like we entered some fairytale or twilight zone - we knew we were in 2008, but it felt that we were back in 1186. We kept walking through temple tunnels and corridors, we could here every step sound bouncing from the cold and dark walls, and when we were finally at the exit, we would find ourselves walking out straight to the strangling routes of ancient trees. No wonder this particular temple was chosen for the movie, I can definitely appreciate Angelina Jolie's fascination with the temple scenery. Absolutely fantastic temple with unforgettable images.
Our second favorite memory about Angkor was a spontaneous interaction with a few Cambodian girls. We climbed one of the temples, and saw a few young girls selling some tourist junk, which is unfortunately a very frequent occurrence here. We were offered to buy something, as always we politely said NO (please do the same, as purchasing things from young children promotes their further exploitation and child labor - if you want to help kids, please do not buy from them, and please do not encourage their begging). Anyway, after the girls knew we were not in the market for trinkets, they put their baskets aside, and one of hem began singing. She was a very good singer, with beautiful voice. I smiled at her, and complemented her. She smiled back, and began singing another song. We applauded to her. All of a sudden, the girls left all their trinkets behind and moved closer to us. They began taking turns singing. So, there we were sitting on top of the ancient temple with girls singing their hearts out. We looked down - the local Cambodian people, who apparently had just climbed up the temple too, were smiling at us from below - it was probably also refreshing for them to see their local kids being kids, singing and laughing, instead of being sellers or beggars. We stayed and sang together on top of the temple for another half hour, and eventually we had to leave. "Please come again tomorrow," the girls asked, "We could sing together again". We couldn't lie to the girls and told them the truth - we would not be able to come here again soon, we would probably never return to Cambodia. But, we also told them that meeting and singing with them would forever stay in our memories. We also asked them to please remember how special they are, and never settle for being only the young child sellers, no matter what they are told. Some day they may have a choice; who knows maybe one day we will see at least one of them as a famous Khmer singer. I am naïve, I know. But, yet, I shall hope.
We spent two days exploring the great temples of Angkor including Angkor Thom, the Bayon, Terrace of Elephants and Leper King, the Baphuon, Preah Khan, Prasat Neak Pean, Bantey Srei, etc. However, I must say that two particular places were our favorites.
The first is the temple called Ta Prohm - this is the very place where the movie Lara Croft The Tomb Raider was shot - in its prime it was a holy trunk of great treasures. We loved Ta Prohm not because of the movie, but because of the magnificence and rarity of the temple scenery. The visual images were raw, genuine, and almost surreal. Huge tree routes like grand giants or monsters were covering and strangling the numerous temple entrances, walls, passageways, and windows - we felt like we entered some fairytale or twilight zone - we knew we were in 2008, but it felt that we were back in 1186. We kept walking through temple tunnels and corridors, we could here every step sound bouncing from the cold and dark walls, and when we were finally at the exit, we would find ourselves walking out straight to the strangling routes of ancient trees. No wonder this particular temple was chosen for the movie, I can definitely appreciate Angelina Jolie's fascination with the temple scenery. Absolutely fantastic temple with unforgettable images.
Our second favorite memory about Angkor was a spontaneous interaction with a few Cambodian girls. We climbed one of the temples, and saw a few young girls selling some tourist junk, which is unfortunately a very frequent occurrence here. We were offered to buy something, as always we politely said NO (please do the same, as purchasing things from young children promotes their further exploitation and child labor - if you want to help kids, please do not buy from them, and please do not encourage their begging). Anyway, after the girls knew we were not in the market for trinkets, they put their baskets aside, and one of hem began singing. She was a very good singer, with beautiful voice. I smiled at her, and complemented her. She smiled back, and began singing another song. We applauded to her. All of a sudden, the girls left all their trinkets behind and moved closer to us. They began taking turns singing. So, there we were sitting on top of the ancient temple with girls singing their hearts out. We looked down - the local Cambodian people, who apparently had just climbed up the temple too, were smiling at us from below - it was probably also refreshing for them to see their local kids being kids, singing and laughing, instead of being sellers or beggars. We stayed and sang together on top of the temple for another half hour, and eventually we had to leave. "Please come again tomorrow," the girls asked, "We could sing together again". We couldn't lie to the girls and told them the truth - we would not be able to come here again soon, we would probably never return to Cambodia. But, we also told them that meeting and singing with them would forever stay in our memories. We also asked them to please remember how special they are, and never settle for being only the young child sellers, no matter what they are told. Some day they may have a choice; who knows maybe one day we will see at least one of them as a famous Khmer singer. I am naïve, I know. But, yet, I shall hope.
posted by Rob and Anna @ 6:24 AM
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