January 18, 2017

January 18, 2017

Our tour of Vietnam is over.  Today we are headed west up the Mekong River to explore Cambodia. We have an hour flight northwest to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Surprisingly we fly on a Lithuanian Airline with an Eastern European crew.  It is most definitely a Small World.

Despite the short flight, it is apparent we have transitioned to a different culture. The people are a little darker and look more Indian and less Oriental.  The writing is vastly different, a script of Indian origin. Cambodia is the land of the Khmer people who at one time ruled over a large swath of Southeast Asia.

We board our bus, stop for a quick snack lunch of spring rolls and a beer, and then drive to the nearby Angkor Archeological Park.  Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire at its peak. Unfortunately the Khmers had bigger more aggressive neighbors. Vietnam swallowed the Mekong Delta area, and Siam attacked from the west. The town name, Siem Reap, even means Siam Defeat. Angkor lasted as the capital of Khmer until 1431 when it was sacked by the Siamese.  The capital was moved to a safer location at Phnom Penh.

Archeological surveys have revealed Angkor was an immense metropolis, about 20 miles square, and the largest pre-industrial city in the world. It is estimated over a million people lived here. We start our exploration at Angkor Thom (Great City).  This royal “downtown” is a large walled and moated square almost two miles across. It is entered via a gate and long bridge guarded by 54 stone gods and 54 demons.

In the exact center of Angkor Thom is Bayon. This royal temple, built around 1200, is crowded with 54 towers that are supposed to remind us of Himalayan peaks, home of the gods. Each one has four massive faces of Buddha. It is constructed of carved sandstone atop a base of red stone. We climb through crumbling passageways, past lots of reliefs of dancing girls, up around the high center tower with Buddha staring at us everywhere. There are macaque monkeys running around the exterior.  As one stole food out of a garbage can, I was reminded of the shoe-stealing macaques at the Taj Mahal.

A half-mile north is the Royal Palace.  It is fronted by the long Terrace of the Elephants, which the king used as a viewing platform for public ceremonies.  Inside the Palace we visit the Celestial Temple.  This three-tiered moated Temple is Hindu, from before the Khmer conversion to Buddhism. The rest of the palace is gone having been made of wood. Only Gods were allowed to have homes of stone. We exit through the Terrace of the Leper King. It has hundreds of bas-relief figures carved on an unusual double-walled structure.

This evening we have a Cambodian feast in the hotel.  We start with a squid salad served on a banana leaf and finish with Curry Chicken.  Cambodian food resembles Thai without the coconut milk.