16. Angkor Wat
02.10.2023
Plan executed as hedged! I went to Angkor Wat starting at 12:30pm, having an obscenely big portion of Pad Thai beforehand in my new favourite restaurant called Sambo with the most cheerful staff I have ever encountered. I understand why its rating is #9 out of 881 restaurants in Siem Riep on Tripadvisor with a 5.0 rating from over 700 reviews. It was only my second visit but everyone was genuinely happy to welcome me back, I got more free Khmer lessons and after specifically asking for a vegan Pad Thai in an XL size, the waitress consulted the chef, confirmed it was no problem and the price point was only USD $4.00 for something that was easily the double amount of what I would get in many other restaurants. The starvation threat was cancelled.
I covered up with face mask, sun glasses and sleeves over my hands to avoid renewed sunburn shenanigans and cycled to the ticket office that was on the way to the temple.
It is a huge building with 30 counters lined up inside with digital displays. It gives off an airport vibe and you can imagine how busy it must be at peak season that they saw the necessity to create that many counters. I got photographed border-immigration-style, paid USD $62 (well, I paid 257,000 KHR that is roughly the equivalent to the USD price) and received my 3-day ticket with a little unflattering photo of myself on it.
I continued my trip, took the wrong road that still leadsto the “back entrance” which is on the East side while the main entrance is on the West side. I have seen Angor Wat many times on google maps: An temple of commanding appearance with a moat around. For unknown reasons I thought it is an open field with grass surrounded by a water filled trench like those of medieval castles. Totally wrong. It is a luscious park with dense vegetation, old tall trees and the moat is so wide that it looks like a lake. The complex is so big that you wouldn't know it has the shape of a perfect rectangle.
It was brutally hot, so I welcomed the shade from the trees on my way to the temple in the centre. I passed a few school classes and approached their teachers/carers and offered them to take a photo of them all together. They were perplexed and confused at first but appreciative once they understood the opportunity.
The Angkor Wat temple complex is an area spreading over many square kilometres containing multiple temples but yesterday I only visited the actual Angkor Wat Temple. To be honest at first I liked the green park more than the actual temple (there is a lot of construction going on spoiling a bit its photogenicness.). It is basically a ruin, a lot of decay and the colours are grey and black with a few exceptions where wall and ceiling paintings are coloured in a subdued red and in a palette of earthy tones. What I mean by ruin is that there are lot of lose stone blocks lying around and the damaged/decayed parts aren't restored or cleaned up. - Not that I would want that, it was just an observation that was unexpected...but then again: WHAT on earth was I expecting from a 900 year old temple? Many of the steep stone steps are covered by wooden staircases on top of them. I assume that is for safety reasons since the stone is much more uneven and probably very slippery when wet. There are I believe 3 main levels on which you can go around a passageway with a solid wall towards the inside and a half open wall to the outside with sunlight flooding through the openings. There are several altars in the temple and the structure is big enough to lose your orientation in space. The most impressive part for me was to physically experience the massiveness of the temple while exploring the higher levels. Just by walking on the sandstones you sense how heavy they are. Everything is – in its literal meaning – rock solid, and I couldn't help but being amazed by thinking how they got all the weight stacked up that high and how long that must have taken without modern equipment.
- I quickly looked it up for your convenience: Angkor Wat (the entire temple complex) is considered the largest religious structure on our planet. The monument was made of five to ten million sandstone blocks with a maximum weight of 1.5 tons each. The city of Angkor used far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined and occupied an area significantly larger than modern-day Paris. It took 300,000 labourers and 6,000 elephants about 30 years to build the structure. - You do the math how much that would cost nowadays…taking in account weekend and holiday penalty rates and given that you were even allowed to use elephants for labour without getting hell from Greenpeace and PETA. :-D
I had hopes to be almost alone in the temple during a hot early afternoon during rain season but of course I wasn't. However, it never felt crowded. I spotted some girls in gorgeous looking traditional Khmer attire. I threw my shyness overboard in prospect of an enticing portrait shoot opportunity, approached them and they agreed to modeling. The 90mm lens I was using was a bit too long for portraits in a rather confined space where I couldn't back up more to frame my subject properly. The darkness in the temple (and therefore rather dark face of the subject) in contrast to the glaring sun outside made taking photos very challenging as well but given the difficulties and the very short amount of time I had, the images turned out pretty nice in my humble opinion. And these wouldn't be my last portraits for the day.
Over time I got less and less concerned what people might think of me if I asked them to pose for a photo. Later on I had a very friendly chat with a military personne, took photos off him with his comrades/squad/team/platoon/regiment (sorry, I don’t know the correct term) and he was so kind to take the only non-selfie shot of me you see in the gallery further down in this post.
Most of the temple stairs are very steep, especially the ones leading to the top level. If you are 70 years old and think you should wait another few years until you can afford your dream trip around Cambodia with a visit to Angkor Wat – think again, because by then you might not be able to make it up those stairs. :-p
I had taken 1.5litres of water with me but that wasn't enough for more than 1.5 hours after I had arrived at the temple. Fortunately on the West side next to the water basins in front of the temple there are permanent although make-shift looking tents that sell the usual merchandise like paintings, figurines, clothes,et c. but to my relief also cold water. Iwas ready to pay 5 dollars for a litre of water - I so needed H2O and somehow I was sure those vendors knowing the desperation of tourist craving for water would totally exploit that. However, the women walking towards me only asked USD$1,00 for a 1.5 litre bottle, that’s just close double price the supermarket price. Good on them for keeping their prices civil!
After I got rehydrated I wandered around snapping photos here and there awaiting the sunset. A big monkey family was playing, grazing and chilling in the grass in front of the temple. This time the long focal length of my camera lens came in handy as I could fill the frame with monkeys without having to be too close and personal with them. I learned quickly, though, that the monkeys weren't afraid of me and the other thousands of humans passing by them in near distance. They seemed undisturbed and kept on doing what they were doing. One baby monkey showed interest in my camera and to my delight it came closer – too close for me to quickly attain focus but I am still thrilled that I got a blurry shot of that tiny creature reaching out for my lens and inspecting it curiously.
The soft light at dusk made the temple a much nicer object to photograph but there were no crazy colours in the sky with afterglow and all that jazz. It got dark quickly and the window for stunning images was gone. All of a sudden a little army of Angkor Wat guards that were positioned at almost every corner of the park and within the temple started to usher people to the exits. I had plans to stay until 8:00pm but apparently that was not possible and I soon found out why. There is no spectacular LED illumination of the temple and there aren't even lamp posts along the park trails. The tall trees block a lot of light and after sunset you quickly find yourself standing in pitch black darkness. While 90% of all tourist headed to the West I had to get back to my bicycle at the East entrance. Of course I screwed up and only realised I had walked South. In that direction there is no bridge/land passage over the moat. Fortunately the guard preventing me from going any further wasn't mad at me. I whipped out my phone, looked up on google maps where I was and how to get out. It took another 15 to 20minutes before I reached the parking lot that concluded my Angkor Wat experience.
Taking in account the high entrance fee of USD $37.00 or $62.00 for 3 days or $72.00 for 7 days of your choice, is visiting Angkor Wat worth visiting compared to other attractions and less famous temples in Cambodia setting you back only $1.00-10.00? I'd argue that in this case money should not be the decisive factor. Sure, Angkor Wat isn't 37 times better than for example the cave I visited near Kampot but you simply should see Angkor Wat nonetheless. I not only took around 500 images with my camera in half a day if that gives you an indication how much there is to see but most importantly I left filled with an abundance of impressions that will linger on my mind for ages. Even on a shoe string budget you should ensure that you have enough funds to do sightseeing activities that might cost more than you wished they would. I avoided all kinds of museums so far but skipping a site that is one of the “Seven Wonders of the world”. Naaah, can't do that.
I might go back tomorrow very early and - upon recommendation of the helpful army guy I mentioned earlier - climb up a hill called Phnom Bakheng in the North-West corner of Angkor Wat outside the moat. From there allegedly you can take some terrific shots of the supposedly sublime scenery barring any visibility-obscuring events that are unfortunately predicted by the weather forecast.
For tonight I have booked another type of entertainment : Phare – the Cambodian Circus(Online pricing depends on the seats and ranges from roughly USD$12.00-30.00 or more with backstage passes)! The circus’ location isn't far from the city centre allowing for an easy 10-15min bicycle ride from my hotel. I wonder if I should take my camera with me... - just kidding. That wasn't a real question. My camera is as essential for me as the oxygen I will breath in that circus tent. :-D Stay tuned!
