360 in 365 – Joachim voyage autour du monde

The other temples of Angkor

I forgot to wish you a happy new year in yesterday’s post… As I’m writing this post (I’m on december the 30th), I just finished writing the previous one on Angkor Wat, and I didn’t really think of the date. So yeah, have a happy new year filled with new horizons and love and peace of mind.

Angkor Wat was nice, but it’s a little bit boring. It’s really nice, but too perfect. There’s a lot of tourists, and it’s a bit like Paris Hilton : not very far from lots of hotels, too known when there’s better elsewhere, and with some parts in need of rebuilding.

But you don’t see that if you don’t explore the other temples in the region. Bayon temple, for example, is really emblematic of Khmer art, it’s the place where there’s a giant head sculpted on the four sides of the 54 towers…

And there’s the Baphuon temple… de-constructed during the french colonial times to be consolidated, the maps and documents for the rebuilding were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, and now the french are a bit perplexed at this giant puzzle. After a few decades it’s still under reconstruction, and it’s well under way. Maybe we’ll see it fully reconstructed in a few years!

And the other temples! Ta Prohm, still under the jungle! Preah Neak Pean, the artificial lake symbolizing the mythical lake at the top of the Himalayas, from where the four sacred asian rivers flow!And Bantea Srei, the little pink temple with sculptures so fine and so delicate…

And my favourite, Ben Mealea… One of the largest Angkorian temples, completely covered in Jungle… Try to imagine the songs of birds and noises of insects, the light passing through the thick leaves of the gigantic trees whos roots are now one with the stones of the temple… It’s an awesome construction, transformated by Nature… and left as is for visiting. You can follow the woden-planked path, with the stairs and platforms to discover the marvel, but you also have to stray out, in the stones and obscure corridors, climb on fallen rocks and get lost in the thing. And when you’re lost at the top of what was a tower, but which is now shapeless and in the shade, no panic. There’s always local kids trying to get a little money getting tourists back on the path… They know how to get everywhere, after all, it’s their playground!