Wat in the World?

Freezing on the tuk tuk

We sit shivering in the predawn darkness sharing one over-priced cup of tea.  We are hardly alone.  Accompanied by hundreds of other freezing travelers, we await the sunrise and the accompanying majestic glow of Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious builiding, buried here in the jungle of Cambodia.  As the sky begins to lighten, it becomes obvious that there will be no spectacular sunrise today.  It’s overcast and cloudy, but we still anticipate the unveiling of this eighth wonder of the world.  The shadowy form sitting across the lake begins to take shape as the darkness recedes.  We snap photo after photo in an attempt to record the magical moment – each one more blurred or pathetic than the last.  Then, at last, we see it clearly.  The enormous silhouette in the distance comes into focus.  Wat do we behold?  Bright green netting and scaffolding gracing the façade of this magnificent structure. 

John and I shake our heads.  This is reminiscent of our travels thirteen years ago. At that time it seemed as though every great monument we visited was under construction or restoration of some kind, and every photo we took was graced with scaffolding or cranes.  Things were to be no different at Angkor Wat.

Angkor at sunset - no green to be seen

Dangerous Descent

Somehow we had missed the scaffolding the night before as we sped past en route to Phnom Bakheng, a temple at the summit of the tallest hill,  to watch the sunset over the temples.  We trekked to the top with thousands of others to watch the sun set over the countryside and catch our first glimpse of Angkor Wat.  As we scrambled to the top of ruins a thousand years old, I couldn’t help but think of other ruins we have visited in other locales where scrambling and climbing is no longer allowed.  How long will it take for the temples of Angkor Wat to close off their ruins to climbing?  If not for the sake of the ruins, then for the sake of the tourists.  A thousand people at the top of a crumbling temple at sunset is one thing.  A thousand people attempting to descend from said temple in darkness is a nightmare.  The steep crumbling steps are difficult to negotiate in broad daylight without a pressing crowd behind you.  The descent was a time consuming spectacle.  Fortunately we all survived sunset and made it back the next morning with our weary tuk tuk driver, Poe, for the spectacular sunrise over the scaffolding.

Wonders of the Wat...
courtesy of John

Nearly frozen to death, we took in the wonders of the Wat just after sunrise while most people beat a path back to town for breakfast.  The ruins were nearly deserted, and we had lots of space to explore.  Satisfied with our Angkor Wat experience, we migrated to food stall 007 (owned by Bond…James Bond) for  breakfast before retrieving Poe and continuing on to Angkor Thom to visit the 216 stoic stone faces of the Bayon.  This was the most fascinating temple for me – full of nooks and crannies, hidden passageways and tunnels.  Foster, Brianna and Nolan played hide and seek for an hour in the lower level, and the game ended with the hiders looking for the seeker because she had been unable to find them in an hour of seeking.  Hide and seek in an ancient temple puts an exciting new twist on the game.

The 216 Faces of the Bayon

The Bayon from a distance

From the Bayon we walked down the Elephant Terrace past yet another temple where I took the opportunity to doze in the sun which had finally come out.  John went inside to do our requisite temple visit.  While I snoozed, the kids beat off the opium pipe vendors until John came back.  We managed to get away without purchasing a single pipe or anything to smoke in it.

Next it was on to Ta Keo where John and I climbed the steep stairs to the top while the kids took a pass and played with ants.  Finally we made it to the much anticipated Ta Prohm, the jungle temple where Tomb Raider was filmed.  This temple has been preserved in its natural state to show how the entire complex of Angkor Wat looked when it was first discovered.  Enormous trees grow over temple walls and snake their way into tunnels.  Of course, preserving this temple in its natural state involves cranes, scaffolding and cables everywhere to keep the jungle from destroying what is left.  Foster kept us entertained with more stories than we ever wanted to hear about Foxtrot Comics, Laura Croft, and the Tomb Raider video game.  It’s good to know that pop culture can be so educational.

Pausing to learn to play the bamboo juice harp



The jungle takes over.

Back at the tuk tuk, Poe drove us onward to the final temple of the day – the Tiger Temple.  When we arrived, we politely told him that we were templed out.  The Tiger Temple will have to wait for another visit to Cambodia.  We were heeding the call of the fish.  Dr. Fish and his fish spa were beckoning back in Siem Reap.  After a long day of temple trekking, nothing beats a good tootsie-tickling at the lips of a skin sucking fish.