Day 12
Yesterday we started our adventure to Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap. One five hour drive later, we arrived at The Kool Hotel where we would be staying for the next two nights.
We went out to dinner and visited the Night Market, which I personally like much more than the stinky normal market. Feeling like a successful shopper, I climbed into bed, but despite the trip's length, my exhaustion, and my eagerness to see the temples tomorrow, the images of the kids and their voices flashed through my head and I was not able to sleep.
Day 13
A total of about four hours sleep, Anna, Camryn and I woke up at 4:00 and got dressed for the day. About fifteen minutes in a van later we all had our pictures taken so that we could receive our tickets allowing us passage into Angkor Wat. Our tour guide, Jack, brought us to the rim of the little lake just outside Angkor Wat and we watched the sun rise over the ancient towers. The sunrise was small, with only a few pink clouds, but the way the small amount of sunshine illuminated the temple in a golden glow, the light pink clouds that reflected in the water with the water lilies, and the dim light that softened the whole scene, was beautiful.
The tour started not in Angkor Wat, but instead in a temple called Toprahm, which personally was my favorite temple out of the whole day. Ancient buildings covered in moss and being strangled by the roots of thirty foot trees growing out of the ceiling, the only thing still holding the buildings together.
It was still early in the morning when we visited Toprahm, so it was a little cooler than it usually is, plus the whole temple is shrouded in the shade. This ancient city has been long since abandoned and has collapsed in many places, but the cultural and physical beauty of all the temples remains.
After Toprahm we went to Angkor Wat, the place I had only dreamed of going to. Once a temple built for Hinduism, the now Buddhist temple has three stories of legend covered walls. The first story has a gallery telling the story of the gods and demons working together to move the Nagga (snake) through the Sea of Milk so they can get the Elixir of Life. Having been desecrated in some places, nearly all the statues of Buddha are now headless, and chunks of wall from the gallery are missing. On the very top floor, a huge Statue of the Resting Buddha lies in an even bigger niche.
The Bayon temple was next, when we first got out of the van, we were immediately swarmed by children and adults trying to sell us anything, just like at Toprahm. After many refusals and lots of ignoring, we reached the beautiful Bayon. The giant faces of Buddha stick out from the walls and the towers and small stupas towering above us gave a beautifully mysterious look to the city. Thinking that the huge Buddha faces were the faces of one of the Hindu gods, the Hindus luckily did not destroy them.
Bop Kuon was our final destination. The old temple had a more abandoned look to it the some of the others did. No trees growing on top, no giant statues, no big Buddha faces, just the square temple that rose sharply in the middle, reaching for the sky. Bop Kuon- Sky Palace.
Just outside Bop Kuon are two small lakes that are no longer used (except for some children who bathe there). And finally the two terraces. The terrace on the left had a statue showing leprosy, a disease in which the king who built the terrace had. And the terrace on the right, the Elephant Terrace, had statues of elephants that were used for all kinds of things like entertainment and for the king.
Each temple had its own story to tell, its own way to be fascinating and beautiful- just like each of the kids.
"When opportunity knocks, open the door even if you're in your bathrobes." Heather Zschock
