As one walks through the myriad temples of Siem
Riep and its environs, sooner or later you come to realize that there are quite a lot of unfinished wall carvings or even construction. It was a peculiarity of artisans and laborers of that era to abandon work in a temple when the king died and move on to a new temple that will be built on another site by the next monarch. If you fail to notice this, it is almost a certainty that your guide will point this out by the time you get to your third temple.
In our case this was when we were in Ta Prohm, the temple famous the world over for being featured in the movie Tomb Raider. You can't mistake Ta Prohm for any other temple because of all the huge trees sitting atop the temple walls and canopies. The funny thing is when you approach the facade of this site, you are left with no clues as to what lies ahead.
The age of these trees, however is not as old as that of the temple. These silk-cotton trees or strangler fig trees grow really fast. Mind you, the magnificent trees have been there for quite some time, some estimate they have been siting there for up to 200 years, it's just that the age of the temple far exceeds them. I actually touched the bark to see what it felt like and I was surprised that it had a cork-like feel to it and it was actually peeling off in places. The size and shape of these peeling areas resembled small white oval packing foam.
The hallway ceiling was also interesting. It was made of stone slabs that were piled on top of each other creating an arched ceiling. Talk about insecurity...If i walked under this daily, I would be looking up all the time checking for loose chunks that may fall on my head.
Ta Prohm isn't as large as Ankor Wat or The Bayon so our visit ended fairly quickly. I still managed to get a snapshot of the moss covered ancient perimeter wall as we were driving away and realized not a few minutes later that we were still moving along with the wall alongside us. It wasn't that small after all.
Lunch was next on the agenda and just like in the last two temples there were eateries nearby. As we stopped in front of our guides restaurant of choice, I noticed this large man-made body of water across the road from where we were and assumed it was a reservoir. Vana conceded that I was partially correct, but its function was still in question as to weather it had agriculture or religious significance; and it had a name, Srah Srang. He also told us that the Ruler Jayavarman VII used this as a swimming pool. I really don't know if he was pulling our collective legs as he usually never showed a capacity for that kind of humor. He continued this recounting with another fact, that this whole body of water that had an area of 250,000 sq.m. was only around 5 feet deep.
After a nice relaxed lunch we decided to proceed to Banteay Srey. After we were told that it was about an hour away, we had some misgivings but decided to go ahead after we were told that we could nap along the way. Eating and napping...not wonder I gained a bit of weight on this trip.
Suffice to say that I didn't spend the whole time napping. I took the chance to see what the countryside looked like. It's a mostly typical rural scene in a tropical developing country. Raised wooden houses, planted fields, palm trees, the occasional carabao, farm implements and the occasional road side store. Zzzzzzzzzz
Because of its very refined carvings and the use of red sandstone, it was once thought to have been constructed by women. Banteay Srey may be translated to mean Citadel of the Women. It is known as the only major temple constructed by a courtier and not by a monarch and was built about a century before Angkor Wat.
The temple itself is a bit of a walk from where you are let off and the path is a dirt road in the middle of agricultural fields. However, once you lay your peepers on it, this Hindu temple seems to mystically appear out of the jungle.
One of the very fine sculptures I truly appreciated was that of a Kala, which is a mythical creature that represents time and of the god Shiva. This carving will actually fit into the palm of my hand. Please check out the beard and moustache that are visible on the face of the sitting image.
Here are other images of Banteay Srey...
The site consists of three concentric rectangular enclosures and the innermost enclosure contains an exquisitely decorated sanctuary. Unfortunately, access to this area is prohibited and this precluded any close-up photos.
I was still able to take a picture of what I thought representative of Khmer architecture, the distinctive blind door. On the left and right side of the door are two celestial maidens also known as Apsara.
Some of the door frames have elaborate inscriptions carved into them. They tell us the date the temple was built, who the present king was and his religious beliefs. They also recount ritual ceremonies that were practiced at the site.
This trip to Siem Riep, Cambodia took place in September 2011. Reflecting on it a full year after gives me a chance to further appreciate the few days we spent there. It is also where I learned to try and live life as it happens. We cannot completely control our daily lives but we can make it easier on ourselves and others by learning to roll with the punches.
During the time we were there, most of the town was flooded. This did not take anything away from the experience, in fact it made it more memorable. The skies were also mostly cloudy reducing the heat levels during the day but thunderstorms were an ever present possibility. We were very lucky that the times it would rain were the times we were safely sheltered and having lunch. And the floods didn't last. By the last day, the streets were dry and walkable. Would I like to relive the exact trip from start to finish? ABSOLUTELY!
Mud was everywhere, but this washes off easily. Memories last longer. As do video clips. This is a short video of how parts of the town looked like while there were floods. We were on a tuk-tuk...
No comments:
Post a Comment