Photos: Cambodia: Siem Reap, Angkor and Around
I didn’t know much about Angkor Wat, except that it was famous and, as friends and family had recalled, monumental and imposing. When I arrived in Siem Reap, I knew that I had to buy a one, three or seven day pass, and that as a bonus, I could catch a sundown on the day before my pass became “active” if I bought the pass after 5pm. I had also heard that biking around the temples was a fantastic way of seeing the temples. I was vaguely aware that there were more temples than “just” Angkor Wat, but until I traded for a book about the temples, on Rabbit Island, I had no idea how many.
My book alone covered fifty-two ruins of various sizes, of which Ankgor was just one. On my first full day in Siem Reap, I hired a tuk-tuk to take me out to the park entrance, where the passes were sold, at 5pm. I paid my $40 USD for a three day pass and he then took me to Phnom Bakheng for sunset. He dropped me off and parked amongst the dozens of other tuk-tuks and moto-bikes. It was a fifteen minute walk up a hill on a well-trodden 
path, with glimpses of the setting sun through the thick growth of trees. At one point, I passed a group of land mine victims playing musical instruments. It was a surreal introduction to the temples and to some of the sadder truths of Cambodia.
When I got to the temple itself at the top of the hill, I sighed. There were people all over the stones, detracting greatly from the majesty and grandeur of my first temple viewing. They were like ants, milling around and climbing and descending, jockeying for the best views of the setting sun. I took a deep breath and clambered up the steep, small stairs, at times supporting myself with my hands on the next highest step. For the next hour, I walked around the temple ruins, admiring the 
crumbling lions and incredibly vast views offered from the top of the surrounding landscape. The setting sun was beautiful, of course, but for me the magic lay in the ruins themselves. I stayed until it was dark and had a close call when I slipped going down the steps, stopping myself with my face against someone’s leg.
The next day, I tackled several temples with a Couchsurfer I’d met named Mariana, from Brazil. We hired a tuk-tuk and first explored Angkor Wat, late in the morning, and that took us almost two hours. It’s a huge, sprawling city of a ruin, with so many separate structures that it’s hard to describe. There were ridiculously long walls, which were 
completely covered with intricate carvings depicting historical accounts and religious stories. It blew my mind that these were almost a thousand years old in some cases, these carvings that were so detailed and fantastic that artists today still copy them.
We spent the day going from temple to temple, getting used the the architectural set-up and religious overtones of the ancient buildings. We ended at Ta Prohm, which is where Tomb Raider, with Lara Croft, was filmed. It’s actually nicknamed the Tomb Raider temple, sad to say. We spent sunset there, properly amazed at the takeover of nature: the trees and their roots were slowly
The next day, I bicycled out to a group of temples called the Rolous Group. I went with
On my third and last day, I went with both Mariana and Gretta to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was raining when we got there around 5:30am. With a crowd of other people which was certainly smaller than
ripping apart various sections of the temple. In some cases, the roots alone were far taller than me. The evening light filtered through the trees and offered a truly eerie sense of the place. The forest critters became noisy, adding a natural music which really made the huge trees seem even more alive. All in all, while I was impressed by the temples and enjoyed pondering the age, I can’t say I was terribly overcome with awe. My favorite of the day was Ta Prohm.
Gretta, an Australian girl I’d met at my guest house. The ride itself was not pretty until we got out of Siem Reap. One way was a distance of about twelve kilometers and it was a hot, hot day. The temples themselves were small and pretty. We didn’t take very long to explore them, maybe two hours, before heading back to the guest house. Bicycling was a great way to go, although because we went to a far-flung group, I don’t think I got the full effect of cycling the ruins. In retrospect, I should have bicycled to the main complex and taken a tuk-tuk to the further places. 
usual due to the rain, we waited for the sun to light up the clouds. The pictures I captured were far more brilliant than the experience itself, although the rain did let up and eventually stop. My favorite moment was that point where I blinked and suddenly it was light out. The towers of Angkor Wat were not stunning but they were imposing and majestic. It is hard to imagine that a thousand years ago, monks and royalty and a city of people witnessed the sight every day.
We then rode in our tuk-tuk to two other temples, one of which – Ta Som - I really, really liked. It had four square pools around a central pool and was accessible only via a wooden bridge of wood planks through a sort of marshland. It was serene and you could easily picture the contemplation and prayer that went on there centuries ago. Also, we spotted a beautiful king fisher perched in center pool’s small temple, his brilliant blue and gold body flashing in the
sun. Apart from an annoyingly loud Japanese tourist who insisted on shouting everything to his friends, it was a great visit.
At this point, Gretta and Mariana were finished and I decided to head north via motobike to visit another far-flung grouping of ruins. The novelty of this trip was two-fold: first, I hired a woman motobike driver, the first I’d ever seen. Don’t get me wrong, women ride motorbikes everywhere; it’s just that they don’t generally take tourists. The second part of the novelty was that I was on my own, finishing my temple-touring as I’d started it with that first sunset: with just my own sense of time and wandering and thoughts.
First I hit Banteay Srei, which was crawling with a few bus-loads of tourists but contained 
some incredible carvings and a layout that for me was easy to picture whole. Then I went to Kbal Spean, which is not a temple but merely carvings done by ancient hermits long ago, in rocks now laying in the middle of a stream on broken pieces of stone. I waded in the water and thoroughly enjoyed myself, moreso when my motobike driver joined me with bananas, cold water and gleeful splashing in the stream. That day ended on an incredibly high note and I was well pleased, even though I was too tired to last until a final sunset viewed from a different temple.
So, I did the temples of Angkor alone and with friends, via tuk-tuk and motorbike and bicycle. I was not as awestruck as I had hoped and expected to be, but the experiences are ones that I don’t think I’ll soon forget.
--Z
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