Adventures in Angkor

Cambodia: land of the Khmer empire, home of the legendary Angkor Wat, but also a sweltering, humid playground for mosquitos. My father wanted to bring us to Cambodia in order to show us both the current way of life in contrast with temples from hundreds of years ago. I was curious how different the life and culture would be from what I have experienced in the United States where I live. Our plan for this trip was to spend 3 days in the Siem Reap Province exploring both the city and surrounding regions, especially Angkor Wat.

As part of our adventures, we took a boat to a floating village on Lake Tonle Sap. The water of the lake was very brown, due to mud or to pollution, I didn't know. We saw houses, stores, churches, and schools all on boats. Children played around in the water as their parents watched. We took a tour of a crocodile farm, which was actually two long boats, connected by boards, where dozens of 2-year old crocodiles, soon-to-be handbags, basked with their mouths wide open in the heat. The older crocodiles were hiding in the enclosure next to them. There were also catfish that the keeper fed and that we could order for lunch if we were willing to wait a little while. Mysteriously, a pile of pythons was kept caged in a corner.

The exotic culture was quite an eye-opener as well. We traveled around the town by tuk-tuk, a rickety rickshaw pulled by a noisy motorbike. The bustling night market was packed with people peddling art, clothing, massages, and more. The smell of fragrant foods wafted through the air, making me hungry even after dinner. I was particularly fascinated with the fish spas with tanks of doctor fish nibbling on client’s feet providing soothing pedicure.

Finally, the real reason we came to Cambodia was to see Angkor, the capital of the great Khmer Empire during the 12th and 13th century. It was later forgotten then only rediscovered in the 19th century. Angkor Wat is now a working Buddhist temple built with 5 enormous towers, all intricately carved. I can only imagine how stunning it must have looked when it was originally built before it fell into ruin. Even worse, acid was poured all over for cleaning purposes, which only sped up erosion. Personally, I found the moss-covered, supposedly “unrestored” structures far more charming. Although the actual temples seemed almost magical, the tours were slightly soured by the endless heat.

Much of the culture and history of Cambodia was summarized in a show we watched called “The Smile of Angkor” that enacted several traditional dances. For example, one was the Aspara dance that used the flicking of wrists in front and behind the body to symbolize flowers blooming and falling. Others were real-life versions of carvings in the temples, which were originally stories from the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana. All of these were part of a frame story for a temple we were to visit, which has four giant smiling Buddha faces.

As we walked through the amazing structures, we admired carvings of Hindu gods such as Shiva, Vishnu, and many dancers. Temple Ta Prohm was hidden in the jungle and had numerous gigantic trees growing from the temple walls. The roots and trunks made webbed shapes and looked like something from a fantasy world. In fact, this site was made famous as the backdrop to the adventure movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. We also visited the Temple Bayon with dozens of towers of 4 Buddha faces, one in each of the cardinal direction. This was the temple that was the centerpiece of “The Smile of Angkor”, and it was even more exciting to see the actual monument after all the build up. As we walked around, the scent of fermenting fruit, fallen from the trees, wafted through the air. There are actually hundreds of temples in this huge complex but we only had time to visit three of the most famous ones.
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Visiting Cambodia and seeing the temples exposed me to a way of life was unlike anything I'd ever imagined. The ancient structures brought me back to the ancient time they were built. Despite the sweltering heat and mosquito infestation, it was certainly an enlightening trip. I really felt like an intrepid tomb raider ready for adventures lost civilizations.