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Angkor What? Cambodia’s Ancient Mega-City

Angkor What? Cambodia’s Ancient Mega-City

Alighting in the misty morn of a Cambodian sunrise, my friend Eric and I stared at the architectural masterpiece, Angkor Wat, me with the exhilaration of a childhood dream coming true. Are those five towers beehives … pinecones?

“They’re lotus blossoms,” said our guide Kinal.

Serving as the holy capital of the Khmer Empire that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, the largest pre-industrial city in the world used far greater amounts of stone than all of the Egyptian pyramids combined and occupied a much greater area than modern-day Paris.

We spent a few days in Bangkok, a bizarre megalopolis — mucky, raucous, clogged — that’s the antithesis of Angkor, which is clean, contemplative, and eerily vacant, but it’s the fantastic gateway to modern-day Siem Reap and spectacular ruins.

Highlights?

Angkor Thom’s gargantuan face-towers, and the distinctive Khmer lion guardians.

The Elephant Terrace’s bas-reliefs of the sacred three-trunked beast, a five-headed horse, and a game of polo.

Banteay Srei’s miniature pink sandstone carvings of detailed mythology.

Ta Prohm, with its classic images of strangler figs and silk-cotton trees entwined among crumbling temples, and where Angelina Jolie (revered for her adoption) swung the vines in a Lara Croft film.

Phnom Kulen, an outpost with over 1000 etched carvings two inches below the river, their Hindu myths smoothed by centuries of water flow.

Preah Ang Thom, a 16th-century Buddhist monastery with its 26-foot reclining Buddha Reaching Nirvana carved from a single boulder.

But Angkor Wat is the iconic jewel. The pyramid of three levels, crowned with a quincunx of five lotus blossom ogive towers, represents Mt. Kulen, holy birthplace of the Khmer Empire. When climbing the tallest — a challenging 70° angle — you figuratively ascend the Khmer’s Olympus. Angkor Wat is heavenly.

Serving earthly needs, the luxurious Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor — a restored plantation harking back to French colonial days — was our headquarters where Kinal picked us up. We patronized a café called Angkor What? and enjoyed zesty Cambodian cuisine. Artisans d’Angkor, a gift shop within the park, promotes the stunning wares of local artists. Haggling there is politely denied. US dollars are the primary currency; it would take an elephant to carry enough Cambodian riels (.00025 USD) to pay for dinner.

Speaking of the holy Hindu pachyderm … ride one in Angkor Park but (as a pedestrian), note the yellow elephant crossing signs, the charming graphic akin to Colorado’s moose warnings. And respect visiting pilgrims and Buddhist monks worshipping at the sites.

The legacy of crack-pot Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge genocide in the seventies — between 1.5 and 3 million people — pervades the culture. (Watch The Killing Fields for a dramatization.) At Phnom Kulen, signage warned of live mines. Amputees were common. Few middle-aged or elderly citizens mingled with the predominantly young population. Bullet blasts pockmark many carvings of the ubiquitous apsaras, celestial Hindu and Buddhist nymphs, with a perpendicular foot lifted, elongated fingers bent back in an inconceivable curve, each unique and smiling sublimely.

Preserving the past, the government trains many orphans in the graceful movements of the apsaras and traditional folklore dancing. Our first night, we viewed a marvelous show al fresco at a local smorgasbord where we discovered Kinal could eat for free since he brought us there. Wherever we went, if a café was nearby, we bought a drink or snack to help Kinal.

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