The Temples of Angkor

Today, I woke up early and enjoyed my standard gluten-free Cambodian breakfast of champions – fried eggs, steamed rice, and a coconut to wash it all down. Then I was off to explore the Temples of Angkor, a series of hundreds of temples and other ancient structures that were built by the Khmer empire between the 9^th and 14^th centuries AD.

The first temple that I set out to see was also the most spectacular. Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage site, lies just 6 kilometers outside of Siem Reap and is the largest religious building in the world. The central tower of the temple rises to a height of 55 meters above ground level, and the surrounding moat encloses the temple in a 2 square kilometer rectangle. The sheer size of the place is mind-blowing. Scenes from Tomb Raider were filmed here…unfortunately I didn’t see Angelina Jolie around anywhere. All along the outside wall of the central temple, there are incredibly vivid bas-reliefs depicting epic battles, heavenly gods and goddesses, even scenes of heaven and hell. I could write much, much more about Angkor Wat, one of the most stunning places that I’ve ever been to, but I saw a lot of temples today so let’s move on.

My tuk-tuk­ ­driver brought me to Angkor Thom, which at the height of the Khmer empire was a huge fortified capital city with a population of over a million people. In the center of the fortified walls lies the Bayon, which at first glance appears to be a collection of huge rock piles. Entering the Bayon, I found that these “rock piles” were actually 54 gothic-style towers, each of which is ornately decorated on all 4 sides with the face of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, a symbol of compassion in Mahayana Buddhism.

Next I saw Baphuon, another temple that consists of three tiers. This temple was once taken apart piece by piece in order to be properly restored, but during the years of the Khmer Rouge genocide, the records of the original design were destroyed. By the looks of things, they are still trying to figure out how to put the place back together even today, but it’s impressive nonetheless. After seeing a few more temples inside of Angkor Thom, for lunch I ate a bowl of fish Amok, my favorite Khmer dish made with coconut milk, some vegetables, no gluten, and a few spices.

After lunch, I went to Preah Khan, an extremely complex array of hallways and dead ends. Navigating the temple, I felt like a mouse trying to get to the cheese at the end of a maze. Once I was thoroughly disoriented, I decided I needed to get an aerial view to figure things out. There were barely any other tourists around, so I ignored a few warning signs and climbed up some walls until I was on the roof of the temple. Not only did I quickly find my way out, I was rewarded with some incredible photos.

Once I had successfully escaped the maze, I went to Preah Neak Poan, another Buddhist temple, but very much unlike the others that I saw. There is a small central island that holds a statue of two multi-headed serpents, surrounded by a large square pool and four smaller square pools. The serpents, called nagas, are said to control the rain, and therefore also the prosperity of the kingdom. It’s like I’ve always said, the most important news is always on the weather channel.

From here, I went to Ta Som, another Buddhist temple that didn’t have too much to offer that I hadn’t already seen at the other temples. But while I was relaxing and drinking my second coconut of the day, I overheard some familiar phrases and all of a sudden struck up a conversation in Mandarin with a family from the Sichuan province in China. I guess this is what happens when you spend enough time at Buddhist temples in Cambodia. The last two places that I visited, the Eastern Mebon and Pre Rup, are Hindu temples with similar structures, featuring a number of raised tiers leading to the center where there are five towers. Flanking the temple at Eastern Mebon at all four corners are perfectly carved stone elephants. Pre Rup is essentially a much larger version of Eastern Mebon, with an enormous stone staircase leading from the base of the temple all the way up to the top.

Seeing the Angkor Temples is a mesmerizing experience. I’m sitting on the top steps of the temple at Pre Rup as I write this, looking out over Angkor Wat on the horizon, and once again, it all just feels so surreal. To recap, my day consisted of 10 temples, 2 coconuts, 1 random Mandarin conversation, and 0 gluten.