waiting out monsoon in the temples of angkor wat

angkor wat is amazing! yes, it was crowded and touristy, but our tuk tuk driver, hindar, did a great job of keeping us away from the crowds. we visited the main temples of angkor wat, the banyon, the jungle temple of ta phron, the 12th century monastery of benteay kdei and the prasat kravan. what neither ariel or i appreciated before coming to angkor was the huge influence hindu culture has had over southeast asia, especially cambodia. in fact, the cambodian language is a derivative of hindi! the temples are both hindu and buddhist and depending on who is in power, they switch back and forth. hindu culture came to cambodia through trade. boats would put into ports along the vietnamese coast on sea trade routes from bengal to china. the temples are filled with buddhas (or, the buddhas and pieces of buddhas that survived the khmer rouge) and the walls are covered in carvings of scenes from hindu mythology. the most impressive was 'the churning of the ocean of milk' which we saw depicted again and again. i am not sure if i have the details right, but i seem to remember that the gods and the demons are tugging on opposite ends of a long serpent who is coiled around mt. mandala. the tug of war between the gods and demons produces an elixir of immortality that everyone wants. we could recognize vishnu, hanuman and shiva in the carvings. i guess the gods win, but if that is depicted in the temples, we missed it, all we saw was the 'churning'.

the level of preservation is amazing, considering many of these temples are 1000 years old. all of the temples that we visited are being restored and preserved by cambodia in partnership with international ngos and non-profits. at the front gates to many temples land mine survivors played traditional music to raise money. the music was beautiful and set a perfect atmosphere to explore the temples.

the most famous pictures of the temples of angkor come from ta phrom, the jungle temple. here huge trees grow right out of the temple and huge vines encircle the statues. we have some amazing pictures off my camera, but i can't get them off right now. the above pictures are ariel's and cover only angkor wat. even with so many tourists the temples were large enough that we could explore on our own, away from other people. we sat in the temples and read, talked and thought.

in the afternoon the monsoon clouds piled up again and we got stuck in the entrance of a ruined monastery while we waited out the downpour. some of our happiest times in south east asia so far have been spent waiting out the rains. the rain fell in sheets outside and dripped steadily through the limestone blocks above us. the only ones there, we felt so alone and ancient. it was powerful and we had a great time waiting out the rain.

the woman who ran our guesthouse in phnom penh told us it was a crime to spend only one day at angkor. for us, it was perfect. we ended our very long day back at the three spired temple of angkor wat to watch the sunset. we stayed until the temple closed, the monsoon clouds reflected the light beautifully. more pictures soon, i hope.