Siem Reap – April 8th, 2017
Jul 5th, 2017 by rallyadmin
We’ve booked a van, driver and guide for a visit to Angkor Wat. We hope to see the Angkor Wat temple itself, Ta Prouhn and Bayon. Out and in the van by 8 and on the road for the short ride to Angkor.
Along the way we pass an enormous Chinese hotel complex just a few kilometers from the entrance complex foe Angkor. The guide tells us that the hotel is partially owner by the Prime Minister of Cambodia. Apparently, he’s doing quite well. Trump would be jealous.
Another kilometer or so, we come to the ticket concession. It’s another huge complex surrounded by tour buses, minivans like ours and tuk-tuks. This concession is owned by the Vietnamese and, according to our guide, all of the ticket proceeds which should be going to Cambodia are, in fact, going to Vietnam. Apparently, a rather large “thank you” for liberating Cambodia from Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.
It’s hard to get your head around the sheer number of people buying tickets for $37 per day. No refunds or lost ticket replacements. Lose the ticket (which is printed with your picture on it and checked often) and you can buy another. They also has a 3 day ticket for $62 and a 7 day ticket for $72. Every person standing in the many ticket lines is paying at least $32 for the privilege of seeing one of the great archaeological sites in the world. Some “thank you.”
Of course, Angkor Wat is not just a temple. Angkor is the home of 294 separate temples and was once the seat of the Khmer empire. The Khmer empire once encompassed most of Southeast Asia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand making it the economic and cultural powerhouse for some hundreds of years. It was during this time, that Angkor was built as the capital of the empire.
The city would grow to over a million people which is mindboggling to contemplate. If you think about it, though, it is obvious that it would take so many people to maintain this fantastic complex of temples and palaces. But, again, if you think about it, it’s to understand how it could possibly worked on such a large scale.
Our guide gets our tickets and we drive a short distance into Angkor Wat proper. And show our tickets with our pictures printed on the front. This will happen almost every time we enter a temple or palace. You are not going to cheat the Vietnamese of their due.
We walk down a main boulevard into the temple area proper and cross a bridge flanked on both sides with hindu statues. Each statue has had its face and its arms cut off by the Khmer Rouge. I never did get a good explanation of why the Khmer did this but there probably isn’t a good explanation. How do you rationally explain the destruction done by the Taliban or ISIS.
Of course, the real tragedy is that these statues have survived centuries of alternating control by Hindus and Buddhists without any desecration at all. One religion could cede control of Angkor to the other religion and all would be preserved. Finally, a political force arrives and desecration is rampant. There’s nothing like a “pure” political movement to drive out the unbelievers but why the Khmer would even care is incomprehensible.
There has been an ongoing restoration process to repair the damage done by the Khmer. But it’s been nearly 40 years since the fall of Pol Pot and the Khmer and very little has been accomplished. The restoration has been done by westerm entities with western grant money. The ticket money goes to Hanoi, not to restoration.
We visit 3 temple sites, Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prouhn that are on the normal tourist route, including the main 3 towered Angkor Temple. Though there are many, many tourists, the general mood is respectful. As we walk through the temples, occasional Buddhist or Hindu statues or shrines would have candles and offerings in front of them. After all these centuries, some care enough to come all the way out here (no one actually lives here) and place the offerings and light the candles and incense sticks every day.
At the end of our tour it’s back to the bus and back to Phnom Penh. It’s hot and we are in desperate need of beer and/or gin. Back to the pool.
Later, we head out for dinner. We don’t get too far. Just around the corner we find a french restaurant and we’re in for a great western meal.
Back to the hotel. Tomorrow, Battarbang.
Obi-wan