Angkor Wat: A Wonder of the World + 4am Wake Up Call
Angkor Wat is considered a once in a lifetime, bucket list trip. I'm fortunate in the fact that this is my second visit! While the temples themselves have not changed much, the price to get in sure has. When I was here in 2014 you got a ticket and went on in. The tickets didn't cost much, I don't even remember going to any kind of ticket booth. I think our hotel just sold us tickets and that was it. You hired a tuk tuk driver to ride around with you and half way show you some stuff, but he is by no means a tour guide. Now, in order to catch the sunrise you have to meet you tuk tuk driver at 4:30am, go to some new building and get a ticket. There are three lines, one day pass, 3 day pass and 7 day passes. Somehow we were in the wrong line and had to switch, we paid our $37 THIRTY SEVEN doll hairs EACH for a ticket and went back to meet our tuk tuk man again. I can't get over how it is $37 dollars now, it used to be like half that price!
Anyways, it is worth the money, even the second time, so I'll stop complaining! Lets learn a little about these temples, heres what I found:
Built by Suryavarman II (r 1112–52) as an earthly representation of Mt Meru (I see Mt Meru in a lot of my studies as a place of energetic ascension). The Cambodian god-kings of old each strove to better their ancestors’ structures in size, scale and symmetry, culminating in what is believed to be the world’s largest religious building.
This temple faces west. Symbolically, west is the direction of death, or the past. I use the symbol in yoga class a lot with Paschimottanasana (western stretch of the body... what are you holding on to from the past?) This oddity of being west facing once led a large number of scholars to conclude that Angkor Wat must have existed primarily as a tomb. This idea was supported by the fact that the bas-reliefs of the temple were designed to be viewed in an anticlockwise direction, a practice that has precedents in ancient Hindu funerary rites. Vishnu, however, is also frequently associated with the west, and it is now commonly accepted that Angkor Wat most likely served both as a temple and as a mausoleum for Suryavarman II.
In addition to the mystery of the west, Angkor Wat is famous for having more than 3000 "heavenly nymphs" carved into its walls. I found one here
Eleanor Mannikka explains in her book Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship that the spatial dimensions of Angkor Wat parallel the lengths of the four ages (Yuga) of classical Hindu thought. Thus the visitor to Angkor Wat who walks the causeway to the main entrance and through the courtyards to the final main tower, which once contained a statue of Vishnu, is metaphorically travelling back to the first age of the creation of the universe.
Like the other temple-mountains of Angkor, Angkor Wat also replicates the spatial universe in miniature. The central tower is Mt Meru, with its surrounding smaller peaks, bounded in turn by continents (the lower courtyards) and the oceans (the moat). The seven-headed naga (mythical serpent) becomes a symbolic rainbow bridge for man to reach the abode of the gods.
While Suryavarman II may have planned Angkor Wat as his funerary temple or mausoleum, he was never buried there as he died in battle during a failed expedition to subdue the Dai Viet (Vietnamese).
The sandstone blocks from which Angkor Wat was built were quarried from the holy mountain of Phnom Kulen, more than 50km away, and floated down the Siem Reap River on rafts. The logistics of such an operation are mind blowing, consuming the labour of thousands. According to inscriptions, the construction of Angkor Wat involved 300,000 workers and 6000 elephants, yet it was still not fully completed.
Reading these facts and walking past the walls of Angkor, I'm reminded of the massive builds that were completed by the Inca and the Mayan. The time frames are not all that far apart and it stirs this piece of me that wants to see all the timelines laid out in front of me.
I was blessed with good luck from a Buddhist monk at the temple today. I don't mind making a donation to have a few moments in a sacred space with a special monk!
Anyways, we carried our way through the main temple and decided it was certainly time for breakfast. Banana pancakes and watermelon juice, for the win! After refueling and resting in the shade watching the kiddos at the markets play, it was on to the next temple!
From Angkor Wat to Angkor Thom and Bayon, Ta Keo and Ta Prohm we explored, we sweat, we complained, and I loved every minute of it! There is so much beauty and mystery hidden in these walls. I was surprised to see at Ta Prohm, the Indian and Cambodian organizations are renovating a lot of the temples. It's amazing what they have been able to piece back together.
After about 8 miles of walking in some pretty thick heat, we returned back to our hotel and the aircon! We began sharing pictures to our respective social media sites and as I drifted off waiting for an upload, we decided to grab some lunch and then NAP!! Perhaps we will find some more things to explore tomorrow!
Thanks for following along!