Angkor Wat - The Jewel in the Crown

Naga at the Bridge

The Central (Royal) Gate at the Entrance Wall

Angkor Wat has been on my bucket list since the mid 90's when we visited Thailand and first heard that the Angkor area was being opened to tourism.  The romantic vision of temples overgrown with vegetation, hidden from view for centuries, forbidden to the public by the Khymer Rouge, has stayed in my mind since that time.  The actual visit lived up to expectations.  Having seen the silhouette of the temple many times, I wasn't prepared for the size of the complex.  Originally a Hindu temple, the whole temple area is surrounded by a moat representing ocean.  To reach the main temple complex, you must pass over the moat and then through an entrance gate which spans at least two football fields.  There are three separate entrances based on the three main Hindu castes--one for the Royals and Brahmins, one for the middle classes, and one for the workers. 

Reflecting Pool at Angkor Wat Temple
 

After walking through the entrance gate, you walk at least another 3 football fields to the reflecting pool and finally to the temple itself.  Large outer corridors are covered with bas relief sculptures representing Hindu myths such as the Ramayana.  Beyond are a series of platforms leading to the main five towers, the central and tallest of which represents Mount Meru, home of the Hindu gods. The stairway to the top tier was closed on this particular occasion because of a Buddhist holiday, but maybe that was fortunate for our travel-weary group. 



A Buddhist blessing

Although the temple was originally Hindu, it was converted to Buddhist worship when Cambodia itself became principally Buddhist.  Many images of the Buddha were left in the temple by supplicants; a large number, however, were spirited away before the temple complex came under the protection of the current caretakers.  UNESCO has contributed much time and money to saving and preserving the site.  The site is worthy of much more time and attention than we were able to give during our short visit, but we had a flight to catch (and, of course, some shopping to do), so we headed back to our bus.