Pictures: Lyle Such
Words: Thu Buu
Camera: Canon 5d Mk IV
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat at sunrise is said to be spectacular, a spiritual experience one should not pass up if the opportunity arises. And so, with much anticipation, we woke up way before sunrise and followed Laurent on our e-bikes to Angkor Wat in the dark. After parking our bikes, with our headlamps lighting the way, we quietly trespassed the entrance and crossed a grassy field to arrive at the smaller right pond in front of the temple. Only two others were there this early, setting up their tripods for a time lapse. Lyle and Laurent went to work testing out settings on their cameras. I stepped back and gazed up into the night sky that was still twinkling with a billion stars. A thousand years ago, the Khmer people stood at this same spot and looked up into this same black sky and saw the same twinkling stars smiling down at them.
As the first rays of dawn began to color the horizon, Angkor Wat woke up to the drumming beats of instrumental music played over the loud speaker. Looking around, we realized a crowd had formed along the whole length of the pond ten rows deep. I started to feel a little squeezed in as latecomers tried to push their way to the front. Since Lyle was glued to his spot to protect the tripod from being knocked over and the time lapse ruined, I decided to go on a scouting mission.
Once I walked onto the central pathway, the whole ambiance changed. The quiet, respectful murmurs of the right pond were replaced by a constant hum from thousands of voices vibrating at once. The difference was pronounced, wow! The crowd around the left pond numbered in the thousands. Everyone had their phones raised in the air taking pictures or recording the slow sunrise. I felt like I was going to a concert.
The left pond was much bigger, deeper and full of water lilies floating on the surface. But from the standpoint of a photographer, I understood why Laurent had chosen for us to set up in front of the smaller pond. The silhouette of the temple looked more interesting from this angle. Also because there weren’t any flowers in the smaller pond, the reflection of the temple was not disrupted in any way. As the skies grew brighter, the construction machines on the left side of the temple became more visible and interfered with the aesthetic of the photographs.
Walking in the dark, I had no idea the scope of the area. The fields leading to the pond were magnificently long and wide. The left field actually ended where the forest began. The central pathway stretched straight back to the entrance, which looked like just a tiny little column from where I was standing. The grandeur of the place was just starting to set in with me.
But daylight also shed light on how tourism and the Cambodian government’s response to the increase in tourism have diminished the essence of this archeological wonder. Not to the same extent as how commercialism has taken over Chichen Itza, Angkor Wat is definitely a tourist hot spot and aims to exploit it as such. There are rows of restaurants with big signs and plastic chairs spread out along one side of the complex all the way to the end of the large pond. Would it not be better to have the restaurants set up outside of the whole complex, out where we parked our bikes so as to not interfere with the spiritual experience of visiting this ancient temple?
While doing our research, we constantly came upon warnings of aggressive monkeys roaming around the grounds of the temple. I only saw one monkey that day, but he was enough to warrant the warning signs. This monkey brazenly approached a lady who was holding a plastic bag full of food in each of her hands. The monkey actually grabbed the bag with a bunch of bananas from her. After a short tug-of-war, the monkey won and ran away with the bag. The woman was left yelling after the monkey. When she finally admitted defeat and walked away, the monkey returned to the same spot where he had robbed the woman of her food and proceeded to eat the bananas one at a time, savoring each bite as if to laugh in her face. I followed him for quite a while. After he finished the bananas, he was off to make mischief elsewhere. Definitely adhere to the warning signs. Stay away from the monkeys.
We entered the temple from the side instead of the front like everyone else. Right away we were amazed by the level of detail in the bas-reliefs on the walls. It went from the floor to the ceiling. There was art everywhere we looked.
Angkor Wat is unique because it employs a combination of the mountain-temple architecture and covered galleries. The temple is like one of those Russian dolls. There’s so much more hidden on the inside. The temple is a collection of covered galleries, hallways, courtyards, porches and towers on so many different levels. Narrow stairways connect each level. Amazingly, the temple is symmetrically designed in all four directions. There is a point in the middle of the temple where everything is mirrored no matter which direction you look. It’s quite incredible considering the intricate interior and exterior design of the temple.
This is one of four baths where the king may have had his blessing ceremonies. We waited for our turn to take a picture sitting in the middle of the bath. This tourist monk was waiting for his turn also. We waved for him to join us. His orange robe adds just the perfect splash of color to this otherwise gray photo.
Constructed in the 12th century as a Hindu temple in honor of Vishnu during the Khmer Empire, Angkor Wat was the king’s state temple. After the collapse of the Khmer Empire, it eventually transformed into a Buddhist temple and has since remained so.
Balance, harmony, and proportions are defining characteristics of Angkor Wat. Its perfection in symmetry has no parallel. Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument.
It is believed that the temple represents Mount Meru, the home of the gods, with the five central towers depicting the peaks of the mountain range. Forests and oceans are represented by the walls and the moat surrounding the temple. Angkor Wat is the best-preserved temple in all of the Angkor region perhaps because its wide moat has kept the jungle from encroaching and consuming the structures.
Approaching the grand entry tower on the long causeway. There are 54 stone statues on each side of the causeway. The demons are lined up on the right and the gods on the left.
As you can see, traffic was horrible already this early in the morning. Luckily, there was a smaller entry for bikes and walkers. Even then, we had to be careful because cars would sway out of their lanes and push the bikes into the dirt. This was my first time controlling a motorized bike. I’m not good on normal bikes as it is. I was nervous, especially when we had to turn because I don’t have the best control. The accelerator and break are both controlled by the right hand, which felt unnatural to me. Also weird was the fact that my legs were doing nothing, yet I’m on a bike. Luckily the traffic speed in Siem Reap is slow, and everyone seems aware of others sharing the road.
Laurent took us off the main causeway to get up on the city wall. In order to get there, we had to get our bikes up a sandy slope. The easiest way for a novice like me was to actually walk my bike while easing slightly on the accelerator. I had a really tough time keeping continuous slight pressure on the handlebar. My bike would lurch then stop and lurch forward again. And each time I had to do a run-hop-skip-and bang into the pedal to keep from losing control of the bike. At the top, I reached forward to turn the brake on, but my hand slipped and instead it revved the accelerator. My bike lurched forward, pulling me with it. Luckily, my bike plunged into a tree that was in its path, and I plowed into Laurent who was just in front of me. If the tree weren’t there, I might have had a first hand experience with the moat 100 meters below the wall. The drop off the wall was just a few feet from where I fell.
The ride along the perimeter of Angkor Thom was shady, beautiful and quiet. Once in a while, a soft breeze would blow through rustling the leaves just enough so that a few would flutter off their branches. It was definitely not a road many know about.
As we navigated around the gates of Angkor Thom, we came across this beautiful set of ruins overlooking the moats of the main temple. There is a similar temple at each corner of the city dedicated to the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.
Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom was the last capital of the Khmer Empire. It was a huge fortified city that encompassed the royal palace and royal residences, many temples, official government buildings and residences for priests, officials, and the military. The whole city was a representation of the Buddhist cosmology and of course symmetrically laid out in a perfect square with each side measuring exactly 1.9 miles. An eight-meter high wall and a moat that’s 100 meters wide protected the city.
From the top of the tower, the four-headed Buddha guards each of the 5 entries into the city. The base of the tower resembles elephants with three heads. In the middle of the elephants sits the Hindu god Indra flanked by celestial dancers, an Apsara on either side. What a declaration of strength and devotion these magnificent towers must have portrayed to those coming into the city.
Lyle’s bike was running low on battery, so Lyle and I switched bikes hoping the weight difference was enough to get us back to our hotel. His bike was actually easier to maneuver than the one I had been riding. Our plan worked.
Bayon Temple
Leaving the quiet perimeter, we followed the dirt causeway straight back into the center of the city where crowds of tourists had already unleashed themselves on Bayon Temple. It was a confusion of buses, cars, tuk tuks, elephants, scooters, and bicycles vying for the road around the temple.
Built about a century after Angkor Wat, Bayon Temple is another icon within the Angkor region. It’s a massive three-level complex of 54 towers with over 2000 gigantic faces of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara carved into them. The bas-relief covering almost every inch of stone was more than impressive.
From the outside, it’s easy to see the three different levels, but once we were inside, it was difficult to distinguish exactly on which level we were. Finding our way around this temple was like walking in a maze full of covered galleries, narrow passages, unexpected corners, tight turns and steep stairways.
There are so many perfect frames to compose interesting photos. However, it was difficult to take a picture without another person somewhere in the frame. With some determination and quick moves, we were able to snap a few beautiful ones.
At half past 10 in the morning, the crowd was already overwhelming. With every step and at every turn we would either run into others or were bumped into by others. Add to that mixture the heat of the tropical sun, and we were simply ready to leave after only about 20 minutes.
I think that had we visited around sunset, we might have had more patience and would have appreciated the incredible craftsmanship and artistry of this temple a whole lot more.
The shortcut out of Angkor Thom was closed to motorized vehicles until 11 AM. We asked a uniformed worker if we could ride our e-bikes down the road. He told us to use the pedals on the bike, and pretend as if we were manually powering it. We tried his plan, and once I began pedaling the bike, I felt a lot more stable although I knew it was still the motor doing all the work. I was really enjoying the e-bike now. We pedaled right past the checkpoint. Laurent in front, me in the middle, and Lyle bringing up the rear. I didn’t know it until we got back to the hotel, but as we passed the checkpoint, two patrols on motorcycles followed us, riding up right beside Lyle for a stretch of the way as if to say, “We know you’re a fake!” Lyle just ignored them and pedaled along as if it were all natural.
