Friday, May 17, 2013

Day 70 - Siem Reap, Cambodia

World Cruise 2013
March 16, 2013

At 6:45 I got a wake up call to start my first day in Siem Reap.  I ate breakfast at the hotel and at 8:15 AM we got on a bus for the Angkor Wat historical site.  Angkor Wat was built between from 1113 to 1150 during the reign of Suryavarman II.  Angkor Wat was not only the grandest and most sublime of all the Khmer temples but also a city in its own right.  On the outer limits of Angkor Wat are set by its broad moat of 1.5 kilometers to 1.3 kilometers.  In the center sits the temple measuring 332 by 258 meters or nearly 9 hectares.  The remaining 9/10 of the area was taken up with the city including the royal palace, although of course no trace remains of these buildings, presumably constructed in light materials. 

To view all the sites at Siem Reap you got one ticket good for 3 days.  We got off the bus at the ticket counter and they took our picture and the picture was printed on our ticket. We arrived at Angkor Wat and the bus could not park near the entrance but about a half mile away from the entrance.  We walked to the entrance, which was a causeway across the moat.  The actual temple was still about a ½ kilometer from the entrance. 

We walked thru the entrance gate to the city and passed two large so-called ‘libraries’.  We continued to a point where we could take the classic picture of the temple and turned right to a Buddhist Temple Wat Atvea to experience a monastic blessing.  This blessing includes drops of water and petals of flowers thrown over you by the monks.  It is believed that this traditional ceremony cleanses the bad spirits of the past and brings good luck for the coming year.  

Our walk continued to the Angkor Wat Temple, the largest temple in the world, with a volume of stone equaling that of the great Cheops pyramid in Egypt.  It is unlike all other Khmer temples in that it faces west and was inspired by 12th-century Hinduism.  I took an estimated 30 years to build and was built with voluntary labor.  The stone for the temple came from 60 kilometers away.  It is generally believed to have been a funeral temple for the king.  It has been occupied continuously by Buddhist monks and is well preserved.    

Angkor Wat is, to put it as simple as possible, a pyramid of three levels, each one enclosed by a well-developed gallery with four corner towers.  We walked in to the temple near the middle on one side and walked to the first level to view the Khumer art carved into the stone.  This artwork covers the walls of the exterior of the first level.  We walked into the entrance of the courtyard on the first level where we saw the central towers rising from the courtyard.  I took pictures and the guide described what we were seeing.  I walked up the stairs to the courtyard on the second level.  To get to the third level required a walk up stairs of overs 30 feet at a steep angle.  Several others and I elected not to go and we waited for the others to go up and come down.  We then walked our way around the courtyard and found our way down to ground level and out the west or main entrance of the temple and back to the main entrance to the city.  I estimated that I walked a total of over 3 miles and many steps to view Angkor Wat Temple.

When we got back to the bus we left for the hotel where we had lunch.

At 2 PM we left on another tour.   On this tour we did not take the bus because the bus could not get into the entrance to the temples that we were going to see.  We rode in what is called a Remok or a Tuk Tuk..  A Remok is a cart with bench seats pulled behind a motorcycle.  Each Remok had two people for the tour but some of the Remoks could hold four people.  We drove to the gate of Angkor Thom.  Angkor Thom was one of the largest of all the Khumer cities, was founded by Jayavarman VII and probably remained the capital until the 17th century.  We stopped at the gate with its towers with four faces pointing in each direction.  The city has a wall surrounded by a moat, which encloses a square of 3 km on each side.

 We walked thru the entrance and took pictures on both sides and jumped in the Remok and rode to the Bayon Temple inside Angkor Thom.  Construction of this temple was late 12th to late 13h century.  It now has 37 towers but it may have had has many as 54 towers.  Like Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple had many figures carved into its outer walls and into its towers.

We got into the Remok and drove to Thommanon.  This is a minor but elegant temple that was built in the 12th century during the reign of Suryavarman II.

Just across the road from the Thommanon is the Chau Say Tevoda Temple.  For some reason I did not get a picture of this temple.

We got into the Remok and drove to Ta Keo took a picture and left.

We got into the Remok and drove to Pre Rup, which was built in the middle of the 12th century during the reign of Rajendravarman.  It was the state temple of King Rajendravarman’s capital.  Like all state temples, Pre Rup was at the center of a city, but nothing is left of the boundaries or the dwellings.  We went into the temple.  There were many people who walked up to the top of the temple to view the sunset but we stayed at the first level and got some good pictures of the sun setting against the inside walls of the temple.

We went back to the hotel for a dinner and a show.

 Below are some pictures from the second day at Siem Reap.


Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken from the bus on a visit to Angkor Wat of the moat around the temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat as we were walking from the bus to the entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat as we were walking to the entrance 
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat at the entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat at the entrance of the bridge across the moat
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat at the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the front of the temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to the Buddhist Temple located within the Angkor Wat complex  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to the Buddhist Temple located within the Angkor Wat complex where we could receive a blessing from the monks 
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to the Buddhist Temple located within the Angkor Wat complex  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the side entrance to the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the side entrance to the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the side entrance to the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the art work on the wall of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of the art work on the wall of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat of some of the area around the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the first level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the first level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the first level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the first level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the first level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple showing the stairs to the third level
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the second level of the Temple of some art work
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way out of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way out of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way out of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way out of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way out of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way out of the Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the bus after leaving the main entrance
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on the way back from a visit to Angkor Wat on the way back to the hotel
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour of the Le Meridien Angkor Hotel
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour of the Le Meridien Angkor Hotel
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour at the Le Meridien Angkor Hotel while we were waiting to get on a Remok as shown in the picture
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour from the Remok as we were going to visit Angkor Thom 
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom 
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom 
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom 
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom  of the wall around the city

Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom  at the entrance to the of the city
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom  at the entrance to the city
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to Angkor Thom  looking back at the entrance to the city
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Bayon Temple in the city of Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour of the Remok's that our tour used to visit Angkor Thom     
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Thommanon Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the TaKeo Temple  
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the Pre Rup Temple
Siem Reap, Cambodia - Taken on my tour on a visit to the TaKeo Temple



























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