Naga Wat? (The Temples of Angkor, Cambodia)

Hello everyone. Some may have noticed that Max's influence was absent from the last blog. He was watching "the Unit," with our hosts in Phenom Penh while a tired and frustrated Kara narrated our entrance to Cambodia. This entry is dedicated to the week we spent at the temples at Angkor, commonly referred to as Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is only one of over 40 ancient temples in the Siem Reap area. Our time spent in this area was divided between sunrises at the temples and slideshows and mini events at the Angkor Photography Festival (www.photographyforchange.net.) We have never felt more in touch with our closest star, the sun. We were there for you sun, every morning and every night.

p.s. the title of our entry: "Naga Wat?" Nagas are a seven headed snake from Hinduism which has special significance in Khmer (Cambodian) culture and is present everywhere throughout the temples and in much of modern Khmer architecture. A Wat is a Buddhist Temple. Many of the Temples at Angkor were built as Hindu temples, which were later converted to Buddhist. Some were built as Buddhist temples, later converted interestingly enough, to Hindu temples. Khmer Buddhism retains many symbols from its Hindu predecessor and these Nagas are present at all temples. Funny enough, they didn't make the photo edit. Next post. Onto the temples and the base city of Siem Reap...

Pretend lost en route to the Temples. Its about 6 am and the light was beautiful. Kara is getting good at the timer function and impromptu tripods.

A lake sized moat surrounds Angkor Wat, the most visited temple of the Angkor site. Most of the temples had moats, which are now used for recreation by the locals.

Riding out to the temples. These bikes cost a dollar a day to rent, which was way too much considering their quality, or lack there of. Kara's pedal fell off a lot and Max's ass was sore for days. The closest temples to Siem Reap town were about 10-15 km away; the furthest we rode out was about 25 km.

Checking out the tourist map on the bridge across the moat to Angkor Wat. The gateway to the temple blocks its famous emblematic towers.

Hall of "1,000 Buddhas" inside Angkor Wat. One of the concentric plazas leading to the central altar.

One sunrise at Ankor. The mornings were freezing (probably only 65 degrees but after traveling in Asia for a few months that IS freezing.) The days quickly warmed up to around 90 or so degrees by 11am.

Sleeping rasta girl in front of Angkor Wat.

Early morning Tuk-Tuk. We were planning to ride our bikes the 50 km to Bantei Srey and Kabal Spean (two far flung Angkor spots), but after the first day on our bikes, we realized we would need motorized transportation. We spent the day with Bo, who is Gary Knight and most of the VII Agency's Cambodian fixer. Photo people: small world, no? Everyone else: VII agency? Google them- really amazing photojournalism agency.

Kbal Spean. A kind of "outdoor temple" with lingas and religious iconography carved into the living rockbed of the stream. There are over 1,000 lingas here. It was also a beautiful hike.

Cheesy cam on the tuk tuk.

Kara with monk.

Our bungalow we stayed in. Usually bungalows are outdoors. Ours was on the roof of a popular backpacker hotel. It was 3 bucks a night and was a great spot to catch the sunset and hang out after a long day of everything. Garden Village guesthouse, for those of you headed to Siem Reap. Indoor rooms available too. In the background, you can see what used to be the roof balcony.

Bizarre to see this here. Tones is a well known NYC graffiti artist, and happened to have been commissioned to do several murals for a Siem Reap nightclub.

Bayon. So amazing. One of the few originally Buddhist temples, that was then converted into a Hindu temple, and then reconverted into a Buddhist one.

Photo opening in Siem Reap for the Photo festival. Temples by day, Photos by night. Repeat.

A nightly screening at the Photo Festival.

Kara's friend and photographer, Kelly Fajack www.kellyfajack.com sent us to meet up with his monk friend in Siem Reap. We hung out with him for an afternoon. He gave us a dharma talk and we gave him a LCD headlamp. It was really nice spending time with him and learning about Cambodian Theraveda Buddhism.

Our friend, the monk, Yorn Chea.

Max sits with Yorn.

Filling up. These gas "stations" are omnipresent throughout Cambodia. It is hard to see how they compete with each other, let alone regular gas stations.

Ancient Brahmi writing at one of the temples. A Sanskrit derivative, but you can see the roots of modern Khmer in this beautiful script.

Kara taking a picture. A group of such children swarm tourist outside every temple at Angkor. They sell knick-nacks and most don't go to school. They are both heartbreaking and irritating. Many Cambodians claim it is good that these children are working because they are able to provide a good income for their families as many tourists take pity on them and buy their "handicrafts," however, we had a hard time with this rationalization of child labor.

Taking a photo of tourists taking a photo, of tourists taking a photo. Angkor Wat.

Max is amazed by the intricate bas-reliefs covering the walls of Angkor Wat. Many of them depict stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata with a very noticable Khmer artistic and cultural influence.

Bas reliefs at Bayon.

"No dogs allowed."

This temple was situated, as you can see, in the middle of a man made lake.

Reading up on ancient Hindu mythology.

One of the kids who makes his living hanging out at the Temples.

Palm candy...so delicious.

Finished product. The ants like the candy just as much as we do and got ahold of the majority of our candy before we got home that day.

Max taking a photo.

We are a cheesy tourist couple.

Ta Prahm. This temple has been left in its "original preserved" state of decay. There are beautiful trees that have "invaded" the temple ruins. They are magnificent and often are as impressive or more than the temple itself.

Last night at Photo Festival. WpN photographer Will Baxter to the right of Max. Nice to meet you in person, Will! Will is an awesome photographer -- www.willbaxter.net.

Until next time.
K and M