Can you imagine what it must have felt like for an explorer to come upon the ruins of Machu Picchu high up in the Andes for the first time?
That feeling of elation as he stumbled upon some vast, untouched archaeological ruin unseen by man.
That was the kind of feeling I had when I visited one of Cambodia’s ancient temples of Anchor Wat.
Cambodia, a country in South East Asia still reeling from the aftermath of its recent horrific genocidal past, is a country where tourism is still in its infancy.
The day I visited Bang Melea, one of the more out-of-the-way temples, there was only a handful of tourists there.
Not only that, but there was a strong sense of how recent the discovery of the temple actually was, and how little had been done to develop it for tourism. It was a fabulous ruin, with the jungle still running wild through it. The gnarled roots of trees had taken a stranglehold of the 500 year old structures, in some cases their trunks were actually growing out of the walls. Around the grounds slabs of sandstone with engravings, probably of great historical value, were simply strewn about casually. There were so many we were walking over them.
At any second I feared some official was going to appear and ask us to leave-that the government had decided to let the archaeologists in to do their work, to label and date the slabs, and to put up barriers around the inner temple, or start building interpretative centres. We were literally able to clamber on top of high walls if we wished, in and out through chambers. It was archaeology in the raw.
All the slabs were covered in a green lichen moss. It was quiet, and the day I visited butterflies of many different varieties were flitting about the place.
Two young Cambodian teenagers were playing among the ruins as we explored, swinging from branches and vaulting across dodgy mounds of slabs. There was dust still on many of the carvings, indicating once more how untouched the ruins were.
The temples are the best thing about Cambodia. They were the most romantic, inspiring historical ruins I have ever seen.
They would appeal to people who like their history in the raw so to speak, and like to be adventurous about exploring ancient ruins.
If you are into archaeology at all or someone who is curious about the history of the Asian empires, or the Khmer people you would love the temples.
Cambodia has such a horrific history and is still coming to terms with the horrors of the Pol Pot regime. However there ruins give the people something to be justifiably proud of.
The main temple of Anchar Wat itself I expected to be bigger, or more imposing than it actually was. At o
ne of the temples, Wat Prohm the hordes of Japanese tourists with snapping cameras were painful to bear. But Wat Prohm was the most beautiful and stunning in the Anchar Wat comples. The quieter they are, the more atmospheric they are but when there are hordes of tourists you lose the magic.
And these temples are just too small to be able to dilute the din from huge tour groups. In some sense they are all about the atmosphere, so any amount of tourists there and you are already losing out to the mystery of the ruins.
However some of the other temples are big enough to handle larger numbers.
Be prepared when you visit to be accosted by many vendors , desperate little poor kids trying in a persuasive and persistent manner trying to sell you postcards, books on the temples, tourist trinkets or bottles of water and other refreshments like fresh pineapples fancily sliced .
Times like this you are reminded of how poor the country actually is.
At each of the main temples is a slew of numbered restaurants, vendors and rickshaw drivers hanging around waiting for their passengers.
Many tourists opted to rent bicycles which is also an excellent way of getting around as the temples are not very far from eachother.
At the end of the day of sightseeing, all the tourists make the trek up one of the hills to watch the sun set on Anchar Wat.
Here all the tourists who were dispersed at various temples throughout the day converge. Some tourists are brought up the hill on the backs of elephants.
Like a movie or something to watch the sunset.
The day we were there, it was pretty cloudy, so there was nothing to see.
It is worth having a read up on the significance of the temples before hand. The more knowledge you have of the history , the more of an appreciation you will have for this valuable piece of Cambodian heritage.
Siem Reap itself, the gateway city to the temples, is nothing special. And the built up hotels are pretty obnoxious looking. However with tourism comes welcome facilities such as a wide range of possibilities for eating there. Make sure you try the national dish Amok while in Cambodia, a type of coconut fish curry.
Quite good washed down with an Anchor beer.
That feeling of elation as he stumbled upon some vast, untouched archaeological ruin unseen by man.
That was the kind of feeling I had when I visited one of Cambodia’s ancient temples of Anchor Wat.
Cambodia, a country in South East Asia still reeling from the aftermath of its recent horrific genocidal past, is a country where tourism is still in its infancy.
The day I visited Bang Melea, one of the more out-of-the-way temples, there was only a handful of tourists there.
Not only that, but there was a strong sense of how recent the discovery of the temple actually was, and how little had been done to develop it for tourism. It was a fabulous ruin, with the jungle still running wild through it. The gnarled roots of trees had taken a stranglehold of the 500 year old structures, in some cases their trunks were actually growing out of the walls. Around the grounds slabs of sandstone with engravings, probably of great historical value, were simply strewn about casually. There were so many we were walking over them.
At any second I feared some official was going to appear and ask us to leave-that the government had decided to let the archaeologists in to do their work, to label and date the slabs, and to put up barriers around the inner temple, or start building interpretative centres. We were literally able to clamber on top of high walls if we wished, in and out through chambers. It was archaeology in the raw.
All the slabs were covered in a green lichen moss. It was quiet, and the day I visited butterflies of many different varieties were flitting about the place.
Two young Cambodian teenagers were playing among the ruins as we explored, swinging from branches and vaulting across dodgy mounds of slabs. There was dust still on many of the carvings, indicating once more how untouched the ruins were.
The temples are the best thing about Cambodia. They were the most romantic, inspiring historical ruins I have ever seen.
They would appeal to people who like their history in the raw so to speak, and like to be adventurous about exploring ancient ruins.
If you are into archaeology at all or someone who is curious about the history of the Asian empires, or the Khmer people you would love the temples.
Cambodia has such a horrific history and is still coming to terms with the horrors of the Pol Pot regime. However there ruins give the people something to be justifiably proud of.
The main temple of Anchar Wat itself I expected to be bigger, or more imposing than it actually was. At o
ne of the temples, Wat Prohm the hordes of Japanese tourists with snapping cameras were painful to bear. But Wat Prohm was the most beautiful and stunning in the Anchar Wat comples. The quieter they are, the more atmospheric they are but when there are hordes of tourists you lose the magic.And these temples are just too small to be able to dilute the din from huge tour groups. In some sense they are all about the atmosphere, so any amount of tourists there and you are already losing out to the mystery of the ruins.
However some of the other temples are big enough to handle larger numbers.
Be prepared when you visit to be accosted by many vendors , desperate little poor kids trying in a persuasive and persistent manner trying to sell you postcards, books on the temples, tourist trinkets or bottles of water and other refreshments like fresh pineapples fancily sliced .
Times like this you are reminded of how poor the country actually is.
At each of the main temples is a slew of numbered restaurants, vendors and rickshaw drivers hanging around waiting for their passengers.
Many tourists opted to rent bicycles which is also an excellent way of getting around as the temples are not very far from eachother.
At the end of the day of sightseeing, all the tourists make the trek up one of the hills to watch the sun set on Anchar Wat.
Here all the tourists who were dispersed at various temples throughout the day converge. Some tourists are brought up the hill on the backs of elephants.
Like a movie or something to watch the sunset.
The day we were there, it was pretty cloudy, so there was nothing to see.
It is worth having a read up on the significance of the temples before hand. The more knowledge you have of the history , the more of an appreciation you will have for this valuable piece of Cambodian heritage.
Siem Reap itself, the gateway city to the temples, is nothing special. And the built up hotels are pretty obnoxious looking. However with tourism comes welcome facilities such as a wide range of possibilities for eating there. Make sure you try the national dish Amok while in Cambodia, a type of coconut fish curry.
Quite good washed down with an Anchor beer.
