Having spent 3 days wandering among the Angkor ruins, it is hard to summarise and describe the experience with words and sentences. The essence of my experiences at the ruins include far more than the mere sights--reading about the old Empire, how it worked, how the temples were built; realising that what is now vaste amounts of jungle must have been where they had all their wooden houses and some 1 million people lived at the most; marvelling at the shear size of the temples, the intricate building techniques, the details of the carvings. And at the same time, the maybe most majestic about some of the ruins is the fact that they are now ruins--the roofs of the towers caving in, the walls bulging with age as they threaten to come down, the jungle trees both supporting the big bricks of stone and at the same time threatening to throw them over at any moment now, to finally swallow the remnants of the buildings completely. The air around Angkor is dusty and sometimes busy, it smells from food during the day, but at dusk the smoke from the locals'fires and a scent of watermelon is carried on the fresh breeze that sometimes breaks away from the petrol fumes from the hordes of tuk-tuks and cars, all leaving the site in a darkening frenzy. I struggle to keep my bicycle on the road as they pass me, but the dark roads are enjoyable and arguably not so dark once the worst trafic is past me.
Day 1 was spent in a tuk-tuk with Norwegian Kristi and Lars. We left the hostel at 4.30 to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Sadly, it was more overcast than anything else, and as the sun arrived we never really got to see it rise. Angkor is an impressive sight in itself though! Temples seen included Banterey Srei, Ta Prohm and Bayon ... all amazing! Ta Prohm is where they shot Tomb Rider and the classical photos of the jungle trees crawling amongst the ruins; it is an amazing place to wander! I also loved the Bayon very much, will all the faces (and Ane's stores of them ringing in the back of my head). Day 2 I got up late and ventured out to the ruins on a bicycle--oh, the joy! Passing Angkor Wat I strolled past Phnom Bakheng and Baksei Chamkrong before I spent the whole day within the walls of Angkor Thom, seeing the Baphuon (closed for restoration), the Terrace of Wlephants, Phimeanakas and Preah Palilay. The latter two are rather small temple structures that have been damaged quite badly by the jungle--but there are no hordes of tourists there, so you are free to actually take in the impressive sight in your own sweet time.. I also went for a bike ride on a section of the outer wall of the city of Angkor Thom (from the north gate to the west gate), a most pleasant though bumpy ride with a stunning light as the sun set! Day 3 I decided to stay on my bike to be able to keep my own pace. Pedalling a great deal of what is known as the grand circuit, I visited Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang, Ta Keo, Ta Nei, Thommanon and Chau Say Trevode. My most favoured moment was biking on the forest road from Ta Keo to Ta Nei--as a shower of proper tropical rains broke out I rushed along for coverange in the ruins, which were damp, overthrown by the jungle, and compeltely deserted...save for me! Walking around there, simply soaking up the atmosphere completed my three days at the Angkor ruins perfectly.
Day 1 was spent in a tuk-tuk with Norwegian Kristi and Lars. We left the hostel at 4.30 to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Sadly, it was more overcast than anything else, and as the sun arrived we never really got to see it rise. Angkor is an impressive sight in itself though! Temples seen included Banterey Srei, Ta Prohm and Bayon ... all amazing! Ta Prohm is where they shot Tomb Rider and the classical photos of the jungle trees crawling amongst the ruins; it is an amazing place to wander! I also loved the Bayon very much, will all the faces (and Ane's stores of them ringing in the back of my head). Day 2 I got up late and ventured out to the ruins on a bicycle--oh, the joy! Passing Angkor Wat I strolled past Phnom Bakheng and Baksei Chamkrong before I spent the whole day within the walls of Angkor Thom, seeing the Baphuon (closed for restoration), the Terrace of Wlephants, Phimeanakas and Preah Palilay. The latter two are rather small temple structures that have been damaged quite badly by the jungle--but there are no hordes of tourists there, so you are free to actually take in the impressive sight in your own sweet time.. I also went for a bike ride on a section of the outer wall of the city of Angkor Thom (from the north gate to the west gate), a most pleasant though bumpy ride with a stunning light as the sun set! Day 3 I decided to stay on my bike to be able to keep my own pace. Pedalling a great deal of what is known as the grand circuit, I visited Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, Sras Srang, Ta Keo, Ta Nei, Thommanon and Chau Say Trevode. My most favoured moment was biking on the forest road from Ta Keo to Ta Nei--as a shower of proper tropical rains broke out I rushed along for coverange in the ruins, which were damp, overthrown by the jungle, and compeltely deserted...save for me! Walking around there, simply soaking up the atmosphere completed my three days at the Angkor ruins perfectly.
No comments:
Post a Comment