Cambodia --- The Land Of Wonders.

Lilies growing in a pond next to the airport.

Cambodia,why Cambodia? What will you do there? This is what people said when they heard we are taking our two kids to SIem Reap ,Cambodia. Siem Reap is a small village which has grown in size due to tourist influx. Now it has asssumed the size of a small town in India. It is a very small place which you can explore yourself with the help of a tuk-tuk, which is actually a large Indian Auto.It looked as is the plane was going to land on the paddy fields from air.It was green and watery everywhere.The word Siem Reap means "Siamese Defeated".It is famous for the Temples of Angkor Wat.Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are 6Kms and 8Kms to the north of the town respectively. The rest of the temples are further away.

We took a remorque-moto(tuk tuk) to see the Tonle Sap lake in the morning as our room was not ready till 2 pm.It took us around 40mins to reach.During the monsoons the Mekong river overflows to form this lake.We took a boat ride on the lake to see the floating village of Chong Kneas.These villagers were both Cambodian and Vietnamies.It was not a very nice experience as i felt that we were disregarding their privacy.It was like a zoo, though people were carrying on their daily activity as if the tourists were not there.

Angkor Wat

In the afternoon we took a tuk tuk to see Angkor Wat.We bought a three day pass and since we bought it after 3:15 pm it was free till 6:00 pm and was valid only from the next day.

Angkor Wat is huge Angkor Archeological park has 40 temples inside it and there are many many others outside it.

Our main reason for visiting Siem Reap was to see Angkor Wat and it did not dissapoint us. As you start walking through the causeway you realise that the temple is built in a symmetrical manner. This is best enjoyed as you keep keep walking towards the temple and your vision is not obstructed my the teeming tourists.Angkor Wat is believed to be the largest religious structure in the world. It was built by Suryavarman II to honour Lord Vishnu.

The temple is surrounded by a 190m wide moat which forms a rectangle measuring 1.5km by 1.3 km.The temple is built facing west.There are three levels. Entrance to the third level was closed when we visited the temple.We sat on the ledge and wished we could go up to the top level.

Out side the temple complex is an 800 m long series of bas-relief.Most of these were completed in the 12century but in the 16th century new reliefs were added to the unfinished panels.

The bas reliefs are:-

i)Battle of Kurukshetra

ii)Army of Suryavarman II

iii)Heaven and Hell

iv)Churning of the ocean of milk.

They seemed to be fasinated by this.Most of the temples had the Gods and Demons churning the ocean for what we call "Amrita" the elixir of immortality.The demons hold the head of the serpent and th Gods hold its tail.At the centre of the sea, the serpent is coiled around Mount Mandala.

v) Vishnu conquers the Demons

vi) Krishna and the Demon king

vii)Battle of the Gods and the Demons

viii) Battle of Lanka.

Angkor Thom is a fortified city. It is 10 sq km in size. It was built by Jayavarman VII. The city has five gates; 20m in height.Each gate has the face of Avalokiteshvara on the four sides.In front of each gate we again have the 54 Gods and 54 Demons churning the ocean.

Bayon is exactly at the centre of the city of Angkor Thom, It has 54 gothic towers, decorated with 216 smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara.Bayon also has 1.2 km bas-relief showing more than 11000 figures.

Baphuon -This temple is undergoing restoration.

Phimeanakas is a pyramidal temple within the Royal enclosure. The shape represent Mount Meru with three levels.Rajiv and the kids climbed up the steep stairscase to the second level,i was too tired and hot to move so i sat at the bottom fanning myself and sweatinf profusely!

Terrace of the elephants - Had elephants curved on the sides of the wall.The children had a fun time going underneath the head of some of the elephants.

Terrace of the leper king -This had Yama, the God of Death curved on the walls.

One of the small temple was Preah Palilay,which was unique.The trunk of a huge tree stands in front of the temple.It seems as if the tree had divided the temple in half. The main temple can be seen through the V of the branch.Tep Pranam and Preah Pithu are the other small temples. There are also the North Kleangs and the South Kleangs.Kleang mean Temples of the Royal Treasure.

Ta Prohm- This ia my favourite temple.The restoration work is done by India along with Cambodia.This was an amazing place.The trees here are very very old.They engulf the temple insuch a way that it was difficult to clear them without destroying the whole structure.So the roots of the trees are left as it is. The result is amazing root formation in the nooks and fissures of the temple wall.
Ta Prohm is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the mother of JayavarmanVII. The walls of the temple is covered with moss,lichens and creeper plants.When you look up,you can see the trees soaring high above in the blue sky,their leaves providing a green shade to everything below.

Phnom Bakheng-The sunset temple.Everyday about 1000 temples visit this place to see the sunset with Angkor Wat at the back.We went on the 31st of December 2009 so there were more than 2000 tourists to see the sun set on the last day of the first decade.

I sat at the bottom waiting for the other three. The steps leading up to the top was very steep and overcrowded.Rajiv came down with the kids before it got too dark. He said that the sun set was overrated and we have sen better sunsets else where.I thought that it was more interesting to watch the teeming thousands who went up and down those steep steps thinking they are going to see a sunset to remember.

Kbal Spean-We walked 1.5kms through the Cambodian jungle to see the river bed carved with Lingas.This was fun as we passed many interesting boulder formations.Rik fell down and grazed his knee as there were some huge rocks .The river water was cold and refreshing. The whole area was shaded by big trees. The river bed also had carving s of Vishnu and Shiva with Uma his consort. In the Lonely Planet book they say when you go to Kbal Spean be beware of land mines. Do not stray from the well-trodden paths.Outside many of the temples we saw musicians sitting under a tree playing various instuments collecting money for landmine victims.They were also selling their own CDs.

Banteay Srei- This is one of the temples in Angkor Wat which was not commissioned by a king but by a Brahmin.The carvings here are beautiful and i feel this is one of the best restored temple in Siem Reap.This temple is dedicated to Shiva and is made of stone that gives it a pink hue.Many of the carvings are three dimentional.It is said to be the prettiest temple in Cambodia.

Some of the other temples we saw were:-
Banteay Kdei
This is a Buddhist monastery fron the latter half of the 12th century.There are four entrances and each of them is decorated with Garudas holding the four faces of Avalokiteshvara.East of Banteay Kdei is a poolreserved for the king and his wives.

Preah Neak Pen

This has a large square pool surrounded by four smaller pools. In the middle of the central pool is a circular island encircled by two nagas(snakes.)





Prasat Kravan This temple was partially restored in 1968.

Preah Khan
This covers a large area but the temple itself is enclosed within a wall of 700m by 800m.Here also the trees are given a free reign and you can see various root formation hugging the walls of the temple.

Eastern Mebon

Pre Rup




Ta Som
This is another Buddhist temple built in the late 12th century.

There are other things to do in Siem Reap apart from exploring temples.You can watch an Apsara dance. Our hotel Tara Angkor arranged for such a dance on the 31st of December.





We also visited the Siem Reap night market.This was an interesting place.Loads of shop very much like our own Gariahat hawkers were selling Cambodian souvenirs and silks. Sbei tuoi (leather shadow puppets) making is an ancient Khmer art form.These are also memorable souvenirs.We watched shadow puppets in a restaurant called BBQ Suki Restaurant.

Visiting Cambodia was an enriching experience.People are friendly and helpful.Cambodia is slowly recovering from the brutal years of Khmer Rouge rule.Only 20% of the population lives in urban areas.Cambodian society is a traditional society.In Siem Reap we saw many primary schools and teachers training schools.The Cambodians must educate themselves to come out of the years of sufferrings inflicted on them by Pol Pot.