Angkor What?

At the end of February we went to Siem Reap in Cambodia, to fulfill a longtime dream of Allison's to see Angkor Wat while pregnant… OK, she really wanted to see Angkor Wat, the pregnancy part was just a bonus. We decided to skip the bikes and the elephant rides and just get driven around in an air-conditioned van – see, we're taking it easy! We took hour-long naps every lunch, and floated in the pool every day.

What people call Angkor Wat is really a whole lot of places – temples, palaces, and ruins left behind by the Angkorian civilization of the Khmer people – modern Cambodians. From roughly 802 AD to roughly 1432 AD, the Khmers had their capitol here, before leaving for Phnom Penh (nobody is sure why – maybe they ran out of water, or retreated from the Thais). What they left behind was a astonishing and highly advanced city, with strong influences of both Buddhism and Hinduism, and it included Angkor Wat – the largest religious structure on Earth – as well as Angkor Thom, and dozens of other remarkable sites, that were all gradually gobbled up by the advancing jungle and almost completely disappeared, until some French colonial archeologist types began pruning, digging, ooohing and aaahing in the 19th century. These days Angkor is a UNESCO world heritage site, the country's pride (emblazoned on the national flag), and its leading attraction by far, and not just because they shot Tomb Raider here. It's awe-inspiring to see what the Khmers built here, what Nature took back, and what human beings are trying to reclaim. Each king built at least one temple, dedicated to the religion of his choice (usually Hinduism or Buddhism) to give legitimacy to his reign. The temple was the link between the gods and the king – some had more money, and more time than others to build.

We started out at Angkor Thom, or "Great City," the administrative and religious heart of the Khmer Empire. It was once grander than any city in Europe, and was home to a million or more people. We loved the giant stone faces of Bayon, the Elephant Terrace, and the rows of garudas (mythical bird-people with lots of muscles) pulling on the stone pillars at the gates. There was the Leper King Terrace with the only nude statute –though they threw a robe on him, which was possibly for our benefit.) and Phimeanakas "Aerial Palace" where legend has it one king had to climb each night to make love to a beautiful maiden who was a multiple headed snake during the day, or ruin would come to the kingdom. No word on whether she's currently dating.

We made three different visits to Angkor Wat, to see it in varied light. It was built by Jayavarman VII in the 12th C. – hey, maybe you never head of him, but in Cambodia he is The Man, with good reason (one of the rich Kings with lots of time to build). He created an architectural masterpiece, and it's still in great condition. It's surrounded by an enormous moat, and then by an outer wall filled with fantastically detailed bas-relief carvings. Most of these tell stories from the great Hindu texts like the Ramayana – the story of Hanuman the Monkey God rescuing Sita from the Demon King (if you don't know it – get with it!). Also included are depictions of the Judgment of Heaven and Hell – that's why you'll see pictures of people getting eaten by crocodiles and elephants. These were the favorites of my sweet, adorable, pregnant wife. Also, everywhere you turned were stone carvings of the Apsara dancers who once inhabited the temples – dancing to bring rain, good fortune, prosperity and protection to the kingdom.

Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat are the most famous of the sites, but there are many, many more that are awesome and very rewarding to visit. We spent more than three days touring them, to get a taste of Angkor. Our stops included:

Prasat Kravan, the "Cardamon Sanctuary," where we had fun giving out pens to kids. This site also includes Srah Srang "The Royal Bath". Probably the world's largest bathtub, measuring in at 800 meters by 400 meters.

Banteay Kdei, the "Citadel of the Cells," originally a Buddhist monastery. We heard a band playing traditional Cambodian music here. The band is made up of landmine victims; landmines have been a major problem in Cambodia. It's getting better, but they'll be dealing with this leagacy of the Khmer Rouge for decades to come.

Ta Prohm, the "Ancestor Brahma." This is where they filmed scenes from Tomb Raider! Why? Because it's extremely cool-looking. The place has trees dripping through the walls all over. I kept imagining New York or San Francisco or Hong Kong after 1,000 years of jungle growth.

Ta Keo and Chau Say Tevoda, both small, lovely, and mercifully untrammeled by crowds.

Thommanon – I thought this would be a group for people trying to give up Thom. Actually it's a tower and sanctuary, with Hindu design, set in a forest.

Preah Kahn, the "Sacred Sword," a temple with excellent Garudas, good colors in the stone, and cool trees.

Neak Pean, the "Coiled Serpents." This was once a large bath set on an island, assessable only by boat. It was a Buddhist sanctuary with four chambers containing an elephant, a human, a lion, and a horse, representing the four elements. Guess which one we are? Hint: it's not wind, fire, or water, my fellow earth-bound mortals.

East Mebon, which has some good stone faces, elephant statues, and views of the sky.

Preah Rup, "Turn (or Change) the Body": this was originally a cremation site, where the body would be changed from flesh to fire to air, so the soul could be released. It's on a high hill, so we climbed it to watch a beautiful sunset.

Kabal Spean, the "River of 1,000 Lingas." A linga is an image of the God Shiva, in the form of a "male organ of regeneration." Nudge, wink. Don't worry, they usually don't really look like that. Usually. Anyway, Kbal Spean was a mile or so hike each way from the road, a bit challenging for my pregnant sweetie, but we made it. The statues are in the riverbed, which is barely running now it dry season – good because you can actually see the statues and carvings. But the waterfall was a leeetle bit skimpy . . .

Bateay Srei ("Citadel of the Women") and Bateay Samre ("Citadel of the Samre," an ethnic group): both or these contain some awesome carving and stone work.

The Rolous Group. Rolous, a short way from the Angkor sites, consists of:

Bakong, a Hindu site that was once the center of a town.

Lolei, unadorned stone, but incredibly overgrown with plant life that won't give up.

Preah Ko, the "Sacred Bull": a beautiful site dedicated by King Indravarman to his mom and dad. Isn't that sweet?

Man, that was a lot of archeological sites! They are truly spectacular, but even the biggest temple buff or Angelina Jolie fan needs to switch it up after a while. In the town of Siem Reap, where our hotel was (about 4 km from Angkor), we checked out a couple of the local temples or Wats. We also spent a part of every day relaxing by the beautiful pool at the Grand Hotel D'Angkor, and, we ate some yummy Cambodian food at some great restaurants, including the strange but very fun Deadfish Tower, that had its own crocodile pool.

VIDEO LOVERS' CORNER:

Here's a selection of groovy youtube postings to check out:

*A little splice of our tuk-tuk ride, on the one morning it rained, around Angkor Thom.

*An Apsara Dance Show at the Grand Hotel.

*Best of all – we finished off with a short helicopter ride that gave us views of Angkor Wat and a couple of the other sites, with Siem Reap in the distance. This was fantastic, because it really gave us a sense of the monumental scale of the city.

That's it for this installment. Hope all is well with you. All the best from David, Allison, and the little bean.