David's Gatlog

After we left the Angkor Wat Temple, we headed to see a few of the surrounding temples in the Angkor Wat complex.  Angkor Wat is pretty amazing in it’s own right, but by no means is it the most unique temple in the area.  Of the 10 we visited, any could easily have been worth the trip by themselves.

The Banyon Temple.

We scampered around this place like little kids in a playpen. It was incredible, and at the same time, somewhat tragic. I really can’t even convey how fragile these places are in words, and with the number of people exploring every square inch (as we too found ourselves guilty of) I don’t foresee these magnificent places standing the abuse for much longer.

The Banyon Temple again.

This photo doesn’t really capture it, but the steps to get up to the summit of this temple are outrageously steep. About 2 feet up and 1/2 foot deep each, ascending them was a monumental feat in it’s own right. Jessica and Mimi doing Buddah knows what celebrating their climb to the top.

What’s really special about these temples is that, despite their being a quasi National Park, they double as active temples of prayer. At every Buddah statue if you didn’t find a Monk or a vendor selling offerings, you’d at the least find the remnants of those who had just indulged.

Ahhhh, Ta Prohm. Admittedly, this was my favorite part of the day. Not taking anything away from the rest of the sites and experiences, this was just such an amazingly unique place. The icing on the cake being that there were so many passageways and separate areas within this temple that you could very easily find yourself alone for good periods of time just taking in the magnitude how interwoven civilization and nature had become.  The Earth has really swallowed this place up, however instead of destroying it while it’s done so, it’s seemed to embrace the ruins and complement them even more so.

Ta Prohm again at the classic “kodak photo point” including a little stage built in front of the tree for all the camera happy tourists.

We couldn’t resist.  I tried to find the person carrying the largest camera hoping that their photography skills would be proportional to camera size…but still we came out a little blurry. That being said, this place was pretty freaking difficult to shoot, so dark near the ruins and eye level, and so bright above the wall looking into the sky…. anyhow, the photo is still one of the best of the trip. I really wish we had more of all 4 of us.

These trees have to be over a hundred years old, they really are amazing. The roots really do seem more like reptiles than they do like plants.

One of the many passageways deep in the heart of Ta Prohm.

At another temple, this shows a little better just how daunting climbing these relics was.  The climb was definitely worth it, the view at the top was unreal. Skip to the end of this post to see what I mean.

Riding Elephants. And so began Jessica and Melinda’s obsession with elephants on this trip. Little did we know at this point that we would find our selves on Ko Chang (Elephant Island) 2 days from that point.  We paid way too much money to ride these hairy creatures for little more than a mile up to the top of a hill, but looking back I think Jessica would still be happy paying any amount to do it all over again. We disembarked our large earred friends atop a hilltop temple that overlooked all of the Angkor Wat complex.

We wound up beating the crowds to a unknown place we soon discovered was a must stop destination to view the sunset, go figure. I perched myself in the perfect angle to shoot the Angkor Towers and we relaxed for a very long and beautiful hour as the sun set over the Cambodian sky. It really was a surreal moment.

Looking back it seems like we were only here for a second.  We really spent a good 10 hours here, but I could spend an entire week here and still feel like it went by in the blink of an eye. Angkor Wat really is one of the most amazing place in all the world.  Unless the government stops keeping the profits for themselves soon and starts protecting this place a little better, it may not be around that much longer for anyone else to enjoy. There are some restoration efforts ongoing (seen above by the green tent) however these do nothing to address the hordes of tourists constantly.

I know, debbie downer…. sorry. But it’s true. I really was changed by this place and feel as though some light should be shed on it’s frailty.