March 8, 2006 (later in the day)
March 8, 2006 (Later that day)
Overall our long ride went well but going that distance today had its price. We both felt like hell, but somehow managed to ride over to Angkor Wat to purchase our tickets for the next day. We were told that if we arrived by 4:45pm to purchase tickets for the following day we were allowed entry into the site that evening to watch the sunset. So we anxiously rode over to the main attraction, Angkor Wat, and even from a distance its magnificence provided for a "warm fuzzy bunny" feeling as the kiwis would say. We walked around the temple in the waning afternoon light wondering what the place looked like in its time. I also wondered if our "temples"(i.e. the National Mall in D.C.) will one day be in ruins and if so what might be the demise of our civilization. Unfortunately, they will never know why the sites here were abandoned because all the texts and living memory were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. I was sad that we lingered in other areas too long and did not make it to the temple center to climb the stairs because they closed the stairway just as we arrived. Instead we walked around the walls looking at the inscriptions and art. We both left thinking the ride over on our bikes was worth it. We then grabbed some dinner and went to bed.
At 5:00AM on March 9, 2006 we awoke early and tried to get an early start but were unable to start the day strong due to a flat tire on my bike. We finally did get out the door and stopped at some carts for a baguette with omelet on the way. We started viewing the ruins from our previous nights end and climbed the hill up to a temple that overlooked Angkor Wat. The sun had just risen and it cast a nice pinkish glow on Angkor but our camera is not the kind that could capture its true beauty. We then made our way down and viewed Angkor Thom. The entrance was a gate that depicted the Hindu story of the churning of the milk. On one side of the road stood demons and on the other were figures of the god king. They were having a tug of war with a serpent and in so doing were churning the milk of immortality. To me the gate was the most impressive thing we had seen so far but we soon found that more impressive things were yet to come. Next we stopped at a temple called Bayon and were blown away. The temple was a tribute to Jayavarman VII that also used the churning of milk as its theme. Each high point had four carvings of his face with each facing a principal direction. At any one time we would see many carvings of the kings face staring back at us but it didn’t feel creepy because the carvings expressions appeared to be kind and benevolent. We both left the temple feeling it was the best so far. The next temple Baphuon was undergoing some major restoration. The effort had start over 40 years ago but was interrupted by the take over of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, who killed all but two of the people working on the project and destroyed all the paper work. When Pol Pot was removed from power and Cambodia was "stable" the French resumed the effort. In the mean time the temple lain de-constructed on the grounds surrounding the site. When the French returned no-body understood how the stones went together, so they were forced to draw each stone and try to figure out how it went together. From the look of things they are progressing nicely. After Baphuon the temperature was smoking hot. The remaining temples we minor in comparison to the big two Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat so we did the quick tour. Each one we would stop take a quick look around and get back on the bikes. We returned to our guesthouse to hide from the heat.
That night I re-emerged from our room and rented a tuk-tuk ($5.00USD) to take me to Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. Ta Prohm was notable for two reasons, the first is it had never been restored so it looks much the same way as many of the temples did when they were discovered in the jungle by the French and two it was used as the set for the first Tomb Raider movie. I then returned to Angkor Wat in hopes of getting to the inner most rooms but I was foiled again because I was too late.
When I returned to town I found Jodi sitting in a restaurant with Colette who had ridden in that day. When I approached I was kind of sorry that I had found her because she was getting some much needed girl time away from me. I sat anyway and had some dinner. Later Colette returned to hotel to fetch Artie and the four of us sat and had dinner in the heat of the late evening.
Overall our long ride went well but going that distance today had its price. We both felt like hell, but somehow managed to ride over to Angkor Wat to purchase our tickets for the next day. We were told that if we arrived by 4:45pm to purchase tickets for the following day we were allowed entry into the site that evening to watch the sunset. So we anxiously rode over to the main attraction, Angkor Wat, and even from a distance its magnificence provided for a "warm fuzzy bunny" feeling as the kiwis would say. We walked around the temple in the waning afternoon light wondering what the place looked like in its time. I also wondered if our "temples"(i.e. the National Mall in D.C.) will one day be in ruins and if so what might be the demise of our civilization. Unfortunately, they will never know why the sites here were abandoned because all the texts and living memory were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge. I was sad that we lingered in other areas too long and did not make it to the temple center to climb the stairs because they closed the stairway just as we arrived. Instead we walked around the walls looking at the inscriptions and art. We both left thinking the ride over on our bikes was worth it. We then grabbed some dinner and went to bed.
At 5:00AM on March 9, 2006 we awoke early and tried to get an early start but were unable to start the day strong due to a flat tire on my bike. We finally did get out the door and stopped at some carts for a baguette with omelet on the way. We started viewing the ruins from our previous nights end and climbed the hill up to a temple that overlooked Angkor Wat. The sun had just risen and it cast a nice pinkish glow on Angkor but our camera is not the kind that could capture its true beauty. We then made our way down and viewed Angkor Thom. The entrance was a gate that depicted the Hindu story of the churning of the milk. On one side of the road stood demons and on the other were figures of the god king. They were having a tug of war with a serpent and in so doing were churning the milk of immortality. To me the gate was the most impressive thing we had seen so far but we soon found that more impressive things were yet to come. Next we stopped at a temple called Bayon and were blown away. The temple was a tribute to Jayavarman VII that also used the churning of milk as its theme. Each high point had four carvings of his face with each facing a principal direction. At any one time we would see many carvings of the kings face staring back at us but it didn’t feel creepy because the carvings expressions appeared to be kind and benevolent. We both left the temple feeling it was the best so far. The next temple Baphuon was undergoing some major restoration. The effort had start over 40 years ago but was interrupted by the take over of Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, who killed all but two of the people working on the project and destroyed all the paper work. When Pol Pot was removed from power and Cambodia was "stable" the French resumed the effort. In the mean time the temple lain de-constructed on the grounds surrounding the site. When the French returned no-body understood how the stones went together, so they were forced to draw each stone and try to figure out how it went together. From the look of things they are progressing nicely. After Baphuon the temperature was smoking hot. The remaining temples we minor in comparison to the big two Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat so we did the quick tour. Each one we would stop take a quick look around and get back on the bikes. We returned to our guesthouse to hide from the heat.
That night I re-emerged from our room and rented a tuk-tuk ($5.00USD) to take me to Ta Prohm and Angkor Wat. Ta Prohm was notable for two reasons, the first is it had never been restored so it looks much the same way as many of the temples did when they were discovered in the jungle by the French and two it was used as the set for the first Tomb Raider movie. I then returned to Angkor Wat in hopes of getting to the inner most rooms but I was foiled again because I was too late.
When I returned to town I found Jodi sitting in a restaurant with Colette who had ridden in that day. When I approached I was kind of sorry that I had found her because she was getting some much needed girl time away from me. I sat anyway and had some dinner. Later Colette returned to hotel to fetch Artie and the four of us sat and had dinner in the heat of the late evening.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:16 AM
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