Searching for Angelina

Next stop was the Disneyland of Cambodia - Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. It seems, rightly so, that everyone who visits Cambodia makes a pilgrimage to Angkor Wat. These monuments were built between the 9th and 13th centuries and housed the kings of the Khmer empire as they ruled over territory extending through Vietnam, China, through to the Bay of Bengal.



After securing our driver, Suhkorn, we spent two days just exploring the different temples of Angkor. Traveling with Suhkorn was quite fun. He drove us around in his cute little tuk-tuk to the temples. When we'd arrive he'd give us a bit of the history, tell us what to look for, and then he'd wander off and take a nap while we puttered around.



Our first stop was Angkor Wat - the big mama of all temples. This is supposed to be the world's largest religious building. To enter you walk down this very long entryway, crossing over a huge moat. The temple complex itself consists of three levels each of contain many interlinked galleries. The largest tower in the center of Angkor Wat sits about 150 feet above the ground. It's difficult to describe in words and represent in pictures but it's really an amazing place.









Surrounding the main structure are 2400 feet of bas reliefs depicting all sorts of battles and scenes from everyday life in early Cambodia.

Our first day also included a visit to Ta Promh. Unlike many of the other temples in the Angkor Wat complex, Ta Phrom has not been preserved and has been left to nature to take over (albeit for regular pruning to keep some of the wildlife growth back). This Buddhist temple is a maze of corridors, crumbling walls and tiny crevices. Of perhaps greater significance - this is where Angelina Jolie filmed some of the scenes from Tomb Raider! Try as I might I never did manage a Brangelina sighting - oh well.

















As with all of Cambodia there are children selling you everything at every turn. This little girl, who was probably three at the oldest, could count to ten in three languages and managed to parlay this into quite the sales pitch.

Day two we did the sunrise thing which involved leaving the Smiley Guesthouse at 6 am. While sunrise was somewhat disappointing because of cloud cover it was worth it to have the temples almost all to yourself to wander around in peace. Our first stop was Angkor Thom which has this amazing entrance - the left side has demons and the right side has gods and they are all churning up the sea to extract the elixir of immortality. It's fittingly called the Churning of the Ocean Milk.



Next we visited the Bayon, probably the second most photographed spot in all of Angkor Wat. This temple has 216 huge identical faces which look suspiciously like the king at the time. It reminded me a little of Mohammed al Fayed (Dodi Fayed's father) and his faces all around Harrods - little weird.





The Bayon also has a series of bas reliefs. Much to my delight and fitting with my love of the circus there was a scene showing a Cambodian circus complete with a strong man holding up three dwarfs.



The Baphuon is an interesting temple that was taken apart by archaeologists before the civil war as part of a restoration effort. During the Khmer Rouge reign the records detailing how to put the temple back together were destroyed leaving a very large jigsaw puzzle to be completed. A team of Japanese archaeologists have been rebuilding this temple for the last 10 years - it's estimated to be completed within the next 24 months.



Banteay Srei is considered to be the most artistic of all the temples. Known as the Lady Temple, it has the most elaborate and most delicate carvings. The temple is quite small, and seems even smaller when you're trapped inside with half of the population of Japan.









While we only stayed for two days it was easy to understand how some folks stayed for a week just exploring the temples - there is a ton to see.