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How To Go!
About SIEM REAP
Siem reap is the small gateway town to ruins of Angkor, located 250 northwest of Phnom Penh and 15 km north of Tonle Sap. Running through the centre of town is the polluted Siem Reap river. Traces of French presence have survived in a small quarter of colonial buildings
to the southwest side the rest of Siem Reap was badly damaged by bombing and civil war. In the early 1979-0, during the Pol Pot era, people were fed to the crocodiles in Siem Reap. There is a “killing fields” memorial to victims of Khmer Rouge to the northwest of the town. In 1979the province was the scene of heavy fighting between the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese Army. Since 1990 the Khmer Rouge have staged sporadic attacks on the civilian population and Cambodian troops around Seam Reap. In 1993 they massacred Vietnamese fishing families at Lake Tonle Sap, precipitating an exodus of the Vietnamese to the Mekong Delta. To safeguard Angkor, the government has stationed troops, ringing the entire zone of ruins.
Peace has not been easy to come to Seam Reap, but there is normal life around Angkor: farmers transporting goods in oxcarts, village women clad in sarongs cycling to market, Buddhist monks in the flowing orange robe out morning strolls, kids lolling about on the backs of water buffalo in green fields. For tourists this is a chance to see rural life. For local, tourist itself, however small in scale, is seen as return to normalcy after years of savage war and upheaval. A number of new hotels, guesthouses and restaurants have appeared in Seam Reap in the 1990s, catering first to visiting UNTAC troops and later to the Angkor bound tourists who arrived in the wake.
ANGKOR CONSERVANCY
Anything moveable at Angkor has disappeared. Even the heads of the larger stone statues have been hacked off by treasure hunters. To guard against art theft, virtually all smaller Angkor statuary, wood items, and artifacts have been removed to museums, particularly to the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Thousands of pieces rest at the Angkor Conservancy, located several km to the north of Seam Reap, and you will need special permission from the Ministry of Culture in Phnom Penh to visit. The Angkor Wat Conservancy was established by French in 1907 when Seam Reap province was restored to Cambodia by the Thais. From 1953 to 1970 the Angkor Conservancy was jointly operated by the French and Cambodian governments. With the exception of period during WW II, the French at Angkor worked steadily, at times directing more than a thousand employees. In 1972 the civil war forced the French to leave.
Angkor Conservancy is a warehouse for some 7,000 sculpture fragments and artifacts from the Angkor region. Fresh concrete heads are stocked here, destined to replace ones removed from the Angkor area by bandits or Khmer Rouge. Museum staffs also removed heads before bandits can get to them. There are two floors of statuary at Angkor Conservancy. On the ground floor are the larger Buddhas, Vishnus, and lintels; the upper floor houses smaller Buddhas, hand fragments, stone animals and large wooden Buddhas. Unfortunately, the pieces are not safe even here the place has been broken into several times.
Angkor in detail
TIME OUT IN SIEM REAP
If you spend a week or so in Angkor, it’s best to pace yourself: one day at the ruins, one day off. Otherwise you’ll suffer from cultural overload and become “temple out”. Seam Reap presents a great opportunity to get out into the Cambodian countryside. You can witness facets of rural life unchanged from those depicted on the temple walls at the Angkor Wat 800 years ago. Roads are rough in these area, some time just dirt tracks. Taking a tourguide along is highly recommended, he can show you around the villages and show you how palm sugar and palm wine are brewed.
THE WEST BARAY
To reach the West Baray, head northwest from Siem Reap along Route 6. Pass the airport road and take the next turnoff to the right; this leads to a parking area at a dam at the south side of the West Barray. The West Barray reservoir was part of the elaborate Angkorian irrigation system, although researchers are not sure of its exact function. Originally, the West Barray and East Barray were two gargantuan artificial lakes. The West Barray is a two by eight km rectangle enclosed by an earth dike. Though it may have been used for irrigation, recent evidence indicates it was more likely a mooring place for royal barges, a fish-breeding site, or simply a place for bathing.
The East Barray is now dry. The West Barray, first constructed in the 11th century, was partially restored in the 1950s with foreign-aid funds. Today is about two-thirds full. The West Barray is fed by the Tonle Sap River; a small dam has enlarge the rice-growing potential of the area with water carried through a network of irrigation canal. The West Barray is also used for fish breeding. You can go for a swim along southern section. Situated in the West Barray is a small island you can hire a boat and row out to a sanctuary called the West Mebon. Much of the stonework has collapsed, though several towers on the east entrance to the temple have survived. It was here that a large bronze statue of Vishnu was discovered in 1936. It now sits in the National Museum in Phnom Penh.
ROLOUS GROUP
The ruins of Rolous are 13 km east of Siem Reap along Route 6. The ruins are of mild interest compared with the splendors of central Angkor, but the trip to Rolous gives you a chance to experience village life. Stop at the central market, a short distance east of Siem Reap, on the way out or back. The market is always engrossing, a great place for watching people. Cambodian women are partial to sarongs with blinding colors and patterns, which makes the place quite right. This is the most likely a reaction to the Pol Pot years, when everyone was forced to wear black. Upcountry a common form of transportation is the cycle-hauled wooden chariot. This workhorse can carry several passengers, a few hand of bananas, a score of chickens, or a mountain of vegetables-sometime all at once.
The Rolous ruins are among the oldest Khmer monuments in the Angkor area, dating to 9th century reign of Indravarman I. Two key temple sites remain, Bakong and Preah Ko. The latter consists of six bricks towers or prasats, arranged in two rows; the site is bounded by walls, with sandstone lintel decoration. Bakong is a five-step brick pyramid with a sandstone doorways. At the corners of the first three levels stand elephants hewn from single blocks of stone. Next to the ruin is an active Buddhist monastery. From here, you can continue south to the village of Rolous, which lent its name to the ruins.
LAKE TONLESAP
Head south on Route 29, following the river by motor or rent bicycle. Just south of the town on the left is a crocodile farm. About 12km from Siem Reap is Phrom Krom, a hill with an 11th century temple. From the ruins are expensive views over Lake Tonle Sap, the Great Lake. A glance with the map will show how it came by this name - it’s an enormous fresh water sea.
Lake Tonle Sap fills with water during the monsoon season, but by February it shrinks to a fraction of its former size, becoming one of the richest fishing grounds in the world, yielding as much as 10 tons of fish per square km. The main fishing season is February to May. When the water recede, fish are preventing from escaping with nets and bamboo traps. Some are caught in the branches of trees, or in the mud, and simply picked up. Fishing families live in temporary huts that can be dismantled and moved forward as the water recedes. When the fishing season is over, fishing families return to their villages.
The flooding of the Tonle Sap covers the area with a rich mud ideal for growing rice. Farmers have developed unique deepwater rice strains the grow with the rising lake to keep the grain above the water. Under Pol Pot, large part of the flooded forest around Tonle Sap were sacrificed to expand the area for rice fields. During the war much of the rice seed stock was lost, and deepwater rice cultivation declined.
Coming from Siem Reap you reach a boat deck on the shores of Lake Tonle Sap. It’s a scummy area, with boats loading and unloading goods, fish drying in the sun, and assorted video cafes. The lake itself is peaceful and uneventful, but hidden dramas abound, if you hire a boat for an hour, or row out yourself, you can reach a floating house suspended overhung bamboo-fishing holding pens. Families have fatten up the fish in the pens; some house are rigged with trapdoors that open so feed can be dropped. A fish pens may be three meters deep and hold thousands of fish. You don’t realise how many fish there are until feeding time when you see them thrashing around in the water. This kind of “fish farming” is also practiced in Vietnam’s Mekong delta.
Because the lake keeps shrinking and expanding, a species of fish has evolved here that can survive several hours out of water, flopping overland in search of deeper pools. This species , known as hock yue, or elephant fish, is considered a delicacy in Asia. Another highly prized delicacy is the sand goby, or soon hock, a greenish-gray trout-like specimen. One company ships the fish live to Phnom Penh, where they held in tanks. For transportation to restaurants in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, the first are placed in tanks filled with ice and mild sedative. In a semi-inert state they’re air freighted in plastic bas pumped with oxygen. They must reach their destination within 16 hours. In Singapore restaurant, a single sand goby, cooked with ginger, chili, tomato, and mushrooms, is worth $40 - $60, depending on its size
About ANGKOR
The story of finding Angkor is a long sequence. With a retinue of bearers, eccentric French naturalist Henri Mouhot hacked his way through the Cambodian jungle in January 1860, in search of beetles and butterflies. Though his interest lay more in insects than antiquities, he spent three weeks exploring the ruins of Angkor. He arrive by way of Lake Tonle Sap, where, he noted, fish were so abundant that they impeded the progress of his boat. As a collector, Mouhot was entranced by butterflies with the size of soup plates lazing on the stones. He was also intrigued by the stones themselves. In his diaries he claimed Angkor’s ruins were grander than those of ancient Greece or Rome. He raved about a monument equal to the temple of Solomon, erected by some ancient Michelangelo. The sight of the ruins, he wrote in his diary, made the traveler “forget all the fatigues of the journey, filling him with admiration and delight, such as would be experienced in finding a verdant oasis in the sandy desert. Suddenly, and as if by enchantment, he seems to be transported from barbarism to civilization, from profound darkness into light.”
Mouhot was not the first European to visit Angkor. A long line of traders, missionaries, and travelers had passed this way before him in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. In fact, Mouhot’s visit was inspired by the travels of French missionary Charle - Emile Bouillevaux, who visited in 1854. For some reasons, the reports of others had gone unnoticed by the West. Mouhot, traveling under the auspices of England’s Royal Geographical Society, was the most publicity conscious of the visitors. He died in Laos in 1861 from a malarial fever; his diaries and tale correspondence was published posthumously 1863 in magazine called “Le tour du Mond”, triggering European interest. More writings, focusing as much on natural wonders as on archaeology, appeared in a book “Voyage in Siam” in 1868. Englishman John Thomson took the first photographs of Angkor in 1886, and the ruins exercised a powerful hold on the 19th century European imagination. The image of ruined temples emerging from thick jungle vegetation became part of colonial romanticism the lost city rediscover.
It was not until after World War II, when archaeologist Bernard Groslier made aerial surveys of the area, that the full extent of Angkor was realized. Angkor comprises 70 monuments scattered over an area of 200 square Km. The complex tombs, temple, palaces, moats reservoirs, and causeway was built over a period of 400 years; only Egypt’s Nile Valley can compare to this array of monuments.
There’s nothing like Angkor in Southeast Asia. Only two monument complexes come close: 9th-century Borobodur in Indonesia, and 11th century Pagan in Burma. The French could not imagine that the Khmer kings were responsible for such monumental work. The theories as to who constructed Angkor’s monument ranged from the ancient Romans to Alexander the Great. Indeed, the structures echo styles from other monumental ruins. Angkor Wat is built in classical Indian style, with elements of the Java ziggurat of Borobodur, and yet the numerous bas-reliefs have a strangely Egyptian character. The columns and arches at Preach Khan Temple, evoke those of the Greeks and Romans, while the Pyramid of Phimeanakas resembles those of the Maya at Tikal, Guatemala.
The inspiration for Angkor architecture come from a unique mix of Hinduism and Buddhism. The early rules of Angkor promoted various Hindu sects, mainly dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. Shiva was initially the most favored deity, but by the 12th century, Vishnu had replaced him. At the same time the king encouraged Buddhist scholarship; Jayavaman VII introduced Mahayana Buddhism as the court religion by the end of the 12th century. Layered onto these concepts was the tradition of deification of kings in sculptural form. This mix resulted in Angkorian structures that have no parallel, such as the fantastic South Gate of Angkor Thom and the bizarre Bayon.
ANGKORIAN ARCHITECTURE
How were the colossal works constructed? The caste system of the Khmers was similar to the hierarchy extant in ancient Egypt and Mexico when the Pharaohs and Maya erected their Pyramids. There was a line of kings, a class of priests and merchants, and a caste of thousands of slaves (captives of war), laborers, masons, sculptors, and decorators. Artisans, including architects, belonged to the lower echelons of society. They remain anonymous-nothing is know of the stone masons and sculptors who worked for the Angkorian kings.
Wooden buildings in Angkor area have not survived. The use of brick or stone was reserved for sacred temples and monuments. Architects must have worked with priests on the design of such buildings: a number of temple-mountains representing the paradise of Mount Meru, center of the universe in Hindu-Buddhist commonly. Rigidly geometric and symmetric pattern radiating in concentric circles compose the ground of plans of a number of Angkor buildings. The effect is similar to a mandala or sacred diagram of the cosmos, with Mount Meru at the centre. To translate these concepts into three-dimensional form, Angkor’s architects probably worked from wax models.
East Angkor buildings were made of large bricks, with mortar of vegetable–based adhesive. From the 10th century on sandstone foundations were laid, and laterite was used in walls. Laterite is a red, porous material that is actually a kind of iron-bearing soil. It is easily quarried up, cut into large blocks, then left to harden upon exposure to the air. Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom rest on laterite foundations; the temples were mostly fashioned from sandstone quarried at Phnom Kulen, 45 km northeast of Angkor. The sandstone exhibits a wide range of coloration, from gray to pinkish, yellowish buff to greenish. The sandstone was floated down the Siem Reap river and dragged to the building site using ropes, roller, and winches. A bas-relief in the west inner gallery of the Bayon depicts the hauling and polishing of sandstone. The roughly dressed blocks were perfectly fitted, smoothed off, and the surfaces decorated with bas-reliefs. Some stones were held in place with bronze clamps, others relied entirely on gravity.
WHAT SURVIVED?
The name of “Angkor” surfaced in the 16th century - the place was called Anjog, Onco, Anckoor, Ongcor, Angcor, and Vat Nokor by Western explores. Angkor is believed to be a corruption of the Khmer Nokor (nakhon in Thai, and nagara in Sanskrit), meaning the Royal City of the Khmer Empire. It was built between the 9th and 14th centuries as the administrative and religious center of the powerful Khmer Empire. Bas-reliefs like those at the Bayon and Angkor Wat provide clues about life at Angkor.
This capital of the Khmer Empire, was undoubtedly as splendid as many European cities. But much is missing today. No wooden buildings have survived, and all the residential compounds have disappeared. In 1431 the conquering Siamese killed, looted, and destroyed, carrying off thousands of slaves, tripping the palaces and temples of their statuary and ornaments encrusted with precious stones, and removing the gold coatings from towers and rooftops. Gone are the wooden palaces and dwellings with their terracotta roof tiles; gone are the sumptuous carpets and furnishings, Chinese pottery and ceramics, bronze weapons and cult objects, jewelry and utensils, silk beds and parasols.
What remains are the huge sandstone blocks that could not be carted away. Some artifacts-statuary, jewelry, ritual objects-are on display at the National Museum in PhnomPenh. The rest-the vast kingdom peopled by priests, celestial dancers, astronomers, ministers, and generals, and the court of Angkor with its banquets, music, dancing, rich tapestries and paintings, merchants coming and going-is left for you to conjure. In the haunting contrast between past grandeur and present decay lies the perverse pleasure of ruins.
ANGKOR HIGHLIGHTS
You could spend an entire week in Angkor, sunup to sundown, and still not see it all. Siem Reap itself is slow-paced and relaxing, with reasonable restaurants and lots of countryside. It’s a good place to sit on the front porch, swap tales with other travelers, and watch the geckos climb the walls.
Angkor and Siem Reap are the kind of places you have to tear yourself away from. If your time is short, concentrate on the two main complexes, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. Options vary on the rest; everybody seems to have a personal favorite.
The soundest advice on touring Angkor is, in a word, variety. Avoid concentrations on a series of temples in the same style, as your may become blasé and won’t be able to remember one from the other later. Angkor Wat is very different in style from Angkor Thom, and the jungle-locked ruins of Ta Prohm and Preah Khan are worlds away again. For a different perspective, hike up to a viewpoint, or visit an artificial lake like Neak Pean. With more time you can spend a day at the ruins, then take a day to visit the rural areas around Siem Reap.
Following are the star sites :
Angkor Wat : Large and classical, this awesome site is the world’s largest temple, with the world’s longest bas-relief panels. On the second terrace are friezes of celestial dancers. Expect to spend at least half a day here, or make several visits.
Angkor Thom : This cluster of sites is another must-see, and will again easily consume at least half a day. The spectacular South Gate is the best-preserved entry to Angkor Thom. The central temple, the Bayon, is small in scale, but bizarre, mysterious, and imaginative-the favorite of many visitors. North of the Bayon are fine friezes at the Leper King terrace.
Aerial Views : A hike up Phnom Bakheng affords fine sunset views of Angkor Wat. North of the Bayon is a hike to a hilltop behind Baphuon temple. Both hilltops give you a sense of jungle and forest vegetation.
Jungle-locked Ruins : Preah Khan and Ta Prohm are romantic and spooky sites, covered by centuries of vegetation. The French left Ta Prohm untouched to give an impression of how Angkor looked in the 19th century, with tree roots and foliage winding through the stonework.
Artificial Lakes : To get an idea of the waterworks in the Angkor region, visit the ceremonial bathing sites of Neak Pean and Sra Srang or journey to the West Baray for boating or swimming.
Rural Living : Take a road in any direction from Siem Reap and you’re in the countryside. Best excursions are 13 km east to Rolous, where you can view village life, or 15 km south to Lake Tonle Sap to see floating houses waving over fish-holding pens.
ANGKOR ROUTE STRATEGIES
Angkor Archaeological Park consists of 70 ruins in an area of 200 square km, although the key ruins are clustered in a zone of some 60 square km. The French engineered routes of hard-packed earth around the Angkor area in the 1920s to facilitate visits by car. Several roads were later paved, and dubbed Le Petit Circuit (The Little Circuit) and Le Grand Circuit (the Grand Circuit), but there are really no set patterns. You can mix and match, or come up with your own routes.
Start early. The heat of the day can get to you even by 09.00. Fortunately there are well-shaded sections, especially around the Bayon, and if you move along by bicycle or motorcycle you get some breeze. It’s a good idea to take a siesta in a cool spot : find a food stall selling noodles (the biggest collection of foodstalls is opposite the main gates to Angkor) from 1100-1400, or just go back to town and rest. Dawn and dusk add special magic to Angkor. Angkor Wat at the break of dawn is awesome. A little later, at the Bayon, it’s misty and mysterious, with the sun filtering through the forest canopy, illuminating enigmatic smiling faces; the chirping of birds breaks the silence. The last glows of the setting sun over Angkor Wat are dramatic, viewed from either the causeway or the viewpoint of Phnom Bakheng. Then sound the frogs and cicadas, the birds and the bats.
Angkor Wat is overwhelming. The mind cannot take it in at one visit. Neither will your camera-attempts to fit Angkor into a standard lens viewfinder are frustrating. Angkor can monopolize your time, consuming half a day or more. You’re better off making several visits to Angkor Wat. Drop in and walk down the causeway to get acquainted, then take off to smaller ruins up north like the Bayon, and maybe return to Angkor Wat in the late afternoon to take in a bit more.
Limiting factors on routes are available time, hot spells, transportation, and road conditions. The best road conditions are found going north from Angkor Wat to Preah Khan an the northern axis, and east from Baphuon to Ta Prohm on an eastern axis. Other roads are in bad shape and potholed, slowing progress. Some ideas for routes follow, but you can chop, change, or add destinations to suit.
In a car you can cover the Little Circuit in an hour of actual travel time; by bicycle, you’ll need 2.5 hours for the same route. From the Grand Hotel to the west entrance of Angkor Wat is seven km. For the following routes, the start and finish point in Siem Reap is the Grand Hotel.
Northern Axis : Siem Reap (Grand Hotel), Angkor Thom (South gate, Bayon, Baphuon, Leper King Terrace), Preah Khan, back south to Angkor Wat west entrance, Phnom Bakheng (sunset), Siem Reap. Distance : 29 km.
Little Circuit : Siem Reap, Angkor Wat west gate, Bayon, Victory Gate, Takeo, Ta Prohm, Sra Srang, Angkor Wat east entrance, Siem Reap. Distance : 30 km.
North and East Axis : Siem Reap, Angkor Wat west entrance, Bayon, Preah Khan, back to Leper King Terrace, Victory Gate, Chau Say Tevoda, Takeo, Ta Prohm, retrace route to Elephant Terrace, Angkor Wat again, Siem Reap. This erratic route is designed to take advantage of the best road conditions, especially if cycling. Distance : 38 km; if Preah Khan is eliminated, 32 km.
Grand Circuit : Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (South Gate, Bayon, Baphuon, Leper King Terrace), Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Sra Srang, Angkor Wat east entrance, Siem Reap. Distance : 40 km.Combination Circuit : Siem Reap, Angkor Thom (South gate, Bayon, Leper King Terrace), Preah Khan, Neak Pean, Sra Srang, Ta Prohm, Victory Gate, Elephant Terrace, Angkor Wat west entrance, Siem Reap. Distance : 45 km.
