We took a weekend trip to Siem Reap with David's parents. Both David and I love Siem Reap and although David goes to Siem Reap at least twice a year for business, I (Sam) have not been back since our first visit in July 2008. The main draw to Siem Reap is Angkor Wat and the many other beautiful temples around the city, many of which have been around for hundreds of years. Equally wonderful are the Cambodian people, who are just so warm and inviting.
Raffles D'Angkor Hotel
It is always such a treat when we stay at any of the Raffles Hotels, more so when we are assigned a villa with two huge bedrooms with ensuites, and an equally enormous adjoining living room with sitting area and dining area. Needless to say we were very grateful for the generous hospitality shown to us.
Angkor Wat
(The following excerpt on the history of Angkor Wat has been taken from our July 2008 blog posting).
The city of Angkor dates back to the 9th century and covers approximately 164 sq miles. The city has over 200 temples that were built between the 9th and 12th centuries, of which only 30 are accessible today. The most famous of these temples is Angkor Wat, the largest religious building in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was built during the reign of Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as both the capital and the State Temple dedicated to Vishnu. Angkor Wat took approximately 30 years to build and it is considered the grandest of all the Khmer temples. The scale of Angkor Wat enabled the Khmer to give full expression to religious symbolism. It is after all, a microcosm of the Hindu universe. The large moat surrounding Angkor Wat represents the mythical oceans surrounding the earth, the succession of concentric galleries represent the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru (the home of the gods), and the towers (created by steep stepped terraces) symbolise the centre of the Hindu universe. Angkor Wat is truly an architectural masterpiece with so much rich detail. Especially impressive are all the intricate carvings in the stone walls (bas-reliefs), covering an immense area of approximately 800m in length and 2m in height.
For this visit, we again hired our own English-speaking guide, who gave us a comprehensive tour of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, the Bayon and Ta Prohm.
Angkor Thom
(The following excerpt on the history of Angkor Thom has been taken from our July 2008 blog posting)
The fortified city of Angkor Thom was built by Jayavarman VII in the 12th century. It was one of the largest of all Khmer cities and remained the capital until the 17th century. The city walls, surrounded by a large moat (100m wide), enclose a square area of approximately 900 hectares, most of which is now forest. We entered Angkor Thom through the monumental South gate (23m high), with its triple tower carved with four faces pointing in each of the cardinal directions. At the base of the gate-tower, on either side is a three-headed elephant plucking lotus flowers with its trunk, which form pillars. Preceding the main gate is the impressive Avenue of Gods and asuras (demons) lining the bridge across the moat to the city. On the left is the row of 54 Gods and on the right is the row of 54 asuras with fierce grimaces. Both the Gods and the asuras carry the body of a giant serpent – a seven headed naga. The South gate is the most complete, where many of the statues of the Gods and asuras are still intact (there are five identical gates in total, but many of the heads of the Gods and asuras at the other gates have been stolen over the years).
The Bayon
(The following excerpt on the history of the Bayon has been taken from our July 2008 blog posting)
This temple is situated in the centre of the fortified city of Angkor Thom and was the state temple of King Jayavarman VII and his successors in the 12th and 13th centuries. It is a unique temple consisting of a mass of towers, with each tower featuring four carved faces pointing in each of the cardinal directions. These towers together create a stone mountain of ascending peaks. From afar, this temple resembles a pile of rubble, but closer up, the carved faces and their overall effect becomes apparent, and it is truly stunning. This temple consists of three levels, the first two levels being square and adorned with bas-reliefs (carvings, in this case incorporating more than 11,000 figures), while the third level is circular and this is where all the towers and faces are found (we had to climb up a steep flight of stairs to access the third level). There are said to be approximately 216 carved faces in total, with the central tower having more than four faces.
Visiting the Bayon again, confirmed for us that this is one of the most magnificent and beautiful of all the temples we have seen in South East Asia.
Ta Prohm
(The following excerpt on the history of Ta Prohm has been taken from our July 2008 blog posting)
Ta Prohm was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII as a royal monastery. Ta Prohm was a Buddhist temple and was dedicated to the king’s mother. Upon the rediscovery of this temple in the 19th century, it was decided by the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient that this temple was to be left in its “natural state”. This decision involved a significant amount of work to prevent further collapse and enough clearing of vegetation to allow entry. Today the jungle has been pegged back, but the large magnificent trees all remain (these are some of the largest and oldest trees that we have ever seen). There are two main species of trees that are prominent here – the larger is the silk-cotton tree distinguished by its thick, pale brown roots with a knobbly texture, and the smaller is the strangler fig tree with a greater mass of thinner, smoother grey roots. Ta Prohm is a temple of towers, courtyards and narrow corridors. Unfortunately many of the corridors are impassable, as they have been clogged with piles of carved stone blocks dislodged by the roots of the trees. These trees are hundreds of years old and have in some areas literally taken over the structure. This temple is a reminder of how powerful nature is.
Silk Farm
We visited a silk farm just outside the city centre and it was a very educational and interesting experience. At the silk farm we were taken through the entire process of silk production from the egg stage, to the silkworm stage, to the cocoon stage. We were then given access to the factory where we were able to watch the reeling process (the process of unwinding the silk from the cocoon to get raw silk) and then the weaving process. In the weaving section, trained artisans were busy weaving beautiful scarves, table runners, cushion covers and clothing. It is no wonder that silk is so expensive, as it is very labour-intensive to obtain the silk and then it takes not only skill, but precision to weave the various beautiful silk items.
