Day 15 - Siem Reap, Cambodia

Today we made our first visits to the Angkor temple complex. The temples and structures of Angkor were built between the 9th and 11th centuries during the rule of the Khmer Empire. The city was abandoned after invasion by Siam, and only "rediscovered" by the French in the mid 1800s. Restoration projects were started, though halted after the First Indochina War. Many of the temples were destroyed or harmed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot) as the Khmer Rouge army used the Angkor complex as a fort and hiding place.

Today, the complex is a UNESCO World Heritgae Site, and many countries are involved in the restoration and preservation of the temples.

Depending on when the temples were built they were originally used as either Hindu or Buddhist temples. Many times the religious purpose of the temples changed over time, and when Hindus took over a Buddhist temple, they would simply remove all the Buddha images and carvings.

Our first stop was Angkor Thom, a large city that was home to the King, his ministers, and other important people. The city is surrounded by both a moat and a wall, and commoners and farmers lived outside the protection of the city walls.

The South Gate of Angkor Thom:

The largest temple within Angkor Thom is the Bayon. The temple has 54 towers, representing the 54 provinces of the Khmer Empire, each with faces facing the four cardinal directions.

On the walls of the Bayon, and many other temples, there are carvings, many telling Hindu epic tales or history. Another common carving is the Apsara, a sensual dancer. Also making many appearances are monkeys, elephants, and lotus flowers.

Next up was Baphuon and Phinean Akas, two more temples inside Angkor Thom. Each successive king of the empire added a new temple to the city. The foundation and walls of the temples are made of lava stone, but the facades are sandstone to enable the intricate carvings. No mortar was used to build the temples, only stones fit together.

Last stop in Angkor Thom were the Elephant Terrace and Terrace of the Leper King. Both had intricate carvings on the walls.

For lunch, we had our first Khmer food, featuring the traditional Khmer curry called Amok.

After lunch, we ventured further from town to see one of the oldest temples, Banteay Srei. The name means Citadel of the Women, supposedly because the carvings here are so intricate and beautiful, they must have been done by women (of course)!

On our way back to town, we stopped by a village to see how palm sugar is made. The local people are very resourceful and use the palm tree for everything - sugar, oil, fruit, roof thatching, and even weapons including very sharp spears. Many locals live in small, thatched, house on stilts.

Our final stop for the day was Ta Prohm temple. This temple is famous for the many silk cotton trees growing out of the ruins, and was also featured in the movie Tomb Raider (which the locals love to mention. They are also generally fond of Angelina Jolie, mentioning multiple times that she adopted a Cambodian child and has done much for humanitarian aid in Cambodia).

Brian was particularly excited by seeing a Strangler Fig, which his project at work is named after. The Stangler Fig grows in the crevasses of the silk cotton trees, surrounding and living off the host (i.e. "strangling" the silk tree), until it eventually kills the interior tree.