Cambodia Day 3, Part 2: The South Gate of Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom was an enormous walled city, the capital of King Jayavarman VII, who ordered some of the Khmer's largest building projects.

The gate begins with a bridge whose railing is another depiction of the churning of the sea of milk. The naga with its head at the outer end of the bridge is held along its body by the devas and asuras.

The moat is large enough to appear to be a river.

Several people worked - gathering plants, perhaps? - along the moat's banks. 

The gate itself was a stone arch capped with  huge stone faces, one looking each cardinal direction.

To either side of the portal were three carved elephant heads.

Around back one could climb up to overlook the bridge, so naturally I did, bringing me face to giant face with the gate's top.

There certainly is an eclectic mix of transportation along the bridge entrance. 

I saw a second elephant riding tour as I entered the ancient city. 

Cambodia Day 3, Part 1: Breakfast in the Butterfly Garden and hiking up Pinom Bakeng

On my second attempt I managed to actually eat at the Butterfly Garden while it was open. The tables were at a terrace in a mesh enclosed space filled with flowers and butterflies.

However, the ambiance was diminished by the work of the restaurant's front gate with a drill and blowtorch, so I did not linger.

I couldn't help but pause on my bicycle ride as I passed Angkor and saw its reflection in its moat in the morning light. 

The original stairs to Pinom Bakeng, straight up the steep tall hill overlooking Angkor Wat, were overgrown to the point where even I thought they were impassable. Instead I took the pedestrian and elephant path, though I opted not to hire an elephant to carry me up. Along the winding way, the small temple of Baksel Chamrong was visible through the dense plant growth. 

I expected Pinom Bakeng to be of a similar size but with a better view. Instead, a huge stone and brick structure made the already tall hill significantly taller. 

Small towers stood on each level of the ziggurat along both sides of the stairs to the top. Each tower had an open doorway and enough space to fit one person, or a small shrine. 

A large stone platform at the apex had a spire on each corner. Between them were views of distant temples tall enough to peak through the jungle. 

Exiting down the another side, I could see where the stairs would have ended if they weren't so overgrown for most of the trek up the hill. 

While walking back down, I decided to document my current appearance, complete with a newly acquired hat to protect my poor sunburned neck. 

I still looked more like a tourist than Indiana Jones. I'll have to work on that. 

Cambodia Day 2, Part 4: Eastern Mebon and back to Siem Reap

Even in winter the days are long in tropical Cambodia, so I had time to bike out to one more temple in my monument filled day. The day's last stop was Eastern Mebon, a temple in the style of Pre Rup that keeps its vigil over a now dry reservoir. 

I was struck by the numerous and varied animal statues. Well, they were mostly elephants and the lion/dragon/dog guardians, but they looked awesome. 

The edifice itself was fairly impressive as well.

 I had noticed lots of Korean tourists at the temples, so when I saw stacked stones that I associate with Korean Buddhism, I wondered if Korean tourists were responsible. I am unsure if other religions, regions, and cultures also use the meditative practice. 

The day's bike ride had been long but shady and broken up by landmarks, so it was far less intense than previous day's exposed ride that had left me with a Boxing Day sunburn. The ride back had fewer stops but still went past remarkable places, and the sunset over Angkor Wat's wide moat was incredible.

 That night I had an indulgent dinner at Angkor Palm. I feasted upon the sampler platter of amoc (seared fish), curry, pork ribs, spring rolls, Chinese style veggies and noodles, and two mango smoothies. On my walk back to my hotel room, I witnessed group calisthenics at Cambodian People's Party headquarters, which was a reminder of how very different political parties can be in different parts of the world. 

Cambodia Day 2, Part 3: Pre Rup and Banteay Samre

I passed by a small cluster of restaurants - the only non ancient structures around - and biked a couple more kilometers up the road to Pre Rup.

I know this is a strange thing to say considering I had earlier visited literally the largest religious structure in the world, but Pre Rup temple was my favorite visit of that day.

Most Khmer temples symbolized holy mountains, yet Pre Rup truly had the towering height about the jungle to make the walk up its many steps feel like climbing to a summit.

I love when ancient buildings are in that perfect mix of ruined and intact. The decay of stone is powerful testament to both their incredible age and the ravages of time and weather, yet it is also easy to imagine what the structure would have looked like when new. 

I admired the tenacity of the plants that had managed to get a root-hold onto the gaps in the brick towers. 

Some hollow structures were many stories tall, and their interiors were far less damaged than their jungle and rain ravaged surfaces.

(It's too hot in Cambodia to hang out in the sun, even if it would have made for a better selfie.) 

From the towering highest platform other temple islands were visible across a sea of jungle.

After traversing back down, I took in the whole temple, which was quite expansive. Only in the Angkor area could such a magnificent and colossal ruin barely be mentioned in guide books. 

Even the gutters were full of mythical beasts. 

I took a four kilometer each way detour to see Banteay Samre. Along the way I finally saw some water buffalo close up. 

I think the most remarkable thing about Banteay Samre was the intact state of all of the detailed little carvings. The temple had more ornamentation even than the average Khmer temple, and most of the tiny figures and complex geometric patterns were able to survive clearly.

A beautiful Spanish family happened to visit the temple at the same time as me, and we took each others' pictures at the temple. 

A couple dragon-like figures reminded me of the Chinese Taotie pattern. There is unambiguous record of trade between the Khmer and China about a century after the Angkor temples' creation, and perhaps Chinese bronzes or the like bearing such symbols made their way to the Khmer kingdoms earlier. Or perhaps the similarity of imagery is coincidental. 

Most of the other decorations shared the mix of Hindu influenced and regional Khmer iconography.