Still Haven't Been Sold Into Sex Slavery: Cambodia Chronicles: The Temples Part 2

Preah Khan

Preah Khan catches me by surprise because of how much I enjoy it. It is getting to be late morning by the time my driver and I reached this temple. To get there, we had to travel through the roads that go through Angkor City. I was told there were large bridges on all four corners leading in/out of the city but I miss the one we cross the first time because they are so large and I’m looking for something smaller. As we leave the city we cross another bridge and I have my driver stop so I can look and get a picture. The bridges look like the large stone walkway I had wandered on earlier to get into Angkor Wat. This time the rails of the bridge were carved in the shape of a giant snake. At the beginning of the bridge I see a massive figure holding the snake's head, almost like they are wrestling. Every few feet there is another figure holding the snake. When I reach Preah Khan I realize this is how most of the bridges are fashioned, as Preah has a few just like it. ATGs were everywhere and I set off, again, to find a quiet part of the temple to enjoy. I’m surprised by how large Khan is, larger than Ta Prohm I think. By now I’ve been reading the signs telling some of the history of the temples and I know that in the height of their glory all the temples were constructed with an opulent eastern gate, as that is where most people approached from. Due to the way the park is set up I’m almost always dropped off at the west or south gate. In this case, I’m dropped off at the north gate so it’s an easy walk to the east gate. I walk for perhaps a minute and again I’m alone, the ATGs left taking photos (by my calculations, peace-signs and chin poses beat out the back-turned-to-the-camera-far-away-gaze-through-a-ruined-window pose in popularity) and screaming each others names to come look at something.

East gate

The eastern gate is not as reinforced as the other area and there are signs everywhere to be careful, which I ignore to a certain point. Here the jungle is more dense and the stones are covered in moss. There are two stone carved guards still standing at attention; both have lost their heads though one has managed to hang on to his sword. I like how ruined the temple really is in this area. Piles of rocks lay untouched; sections marked off with a piece of rotten wood. I wander around to the south entrance and am forced to stop when I see the giant tree coming out of the wall, shading the once large courtyard of stone. Something about this temple really strikes me. I make a complete loop around before heading back to the driver. He takes me to “his brothers” food stand for some excellent noodles and bananas and I sit and write for an hour. When my hand aches I ask him to take me to our final stop Angkor City, specifically Bayon Temple.

Back of the east gate

Bayon

When he drops me off I get nervous because I see black clouds on the horizon ahead of me. Then I stop and swear, because the black horizon happens to be the ruins of the largest temple I’ve ever seen. As I stare at it I notice it’s staring back at me. Hundreds of faces staring out in all directions from ever spire. It’s creepy and I love it. At this hour of the day the place is swarming with all kinds of tourists so I dig into my bag and put on my head phones to try and block everyone out. I find walking through the temple exhilarating. I feel like the kid who wanted to be an exploring all over again, only instead of the ravine in Memorial Park I’m actually climbing up steps of centuries-old spires, hallways and courtyards. The temple is massive. I spend an hour walking around, in and out of the rooms and hallways. No surface of the walls is smooth. Intricate carvings of all sorts of things are everywhere. I’m followed everywhere by the eyes of Buddha carved into every wall. The excitement from climbing around the temple stays with me as I set off into the lawns to find the mostly destroyed ruins of the royal palace and other random buildings inside Angkor City. I’ve never been more exhilarated by anything in all my travels this past year then I was from Bayon.

After another hour of walking through Angkor City I’m positive I have seen everything except the terraces where I left my driver. There are two terraces that the kings of the Khmer would have stood on to look out at their citizens: The Terrace of the Elephants and the Terrace of the Leper King. There is a stone walkway connecting both of them and I hop from one to the other. There are stairs leading down to the ground level of the Terrace of the Leper King. When I follow them down instead of being let out onto the lawn I’m on a path that goes between the wall of the Terrace and an erected cardboard wall, most likely positioned to protect the beautiful carvings on the wall from the elements. It takes almost 5 minutes to walk along this path because the carvings are so intricate and breathtaking. When my camera battery dies I walk back to my driver, stopping first to get an Angkor beer and we begin the short trip back to Siem Reap. I leave Angkor Park knowing I will most likely never see it’s equal anywhere else. I expect to be saddened by this realization; instead I’m only exhilarated in a stupid-loving-everything-hippie-ish way, marveling at just how fucking awesome the world is.