Travel 004 : Cambodia : 23 Dec : Angkor Wat bas-reliefs

So far, I walked from the main entrance straight up to the first level (that is to climb up the first set of steps of the pyramid) and from the first level, explored each level fully on the way to reach the highest level.  I deliberately left the most important (at least for me) part of the Angkor Wat.  That is the vast bas-reliefs around the temple that carries many sculptures of scenes from the Hindu epics Ramayana, Mahabaratha, Bhagavatha purana and the king who built this temple.  So on my way back, I took time to go around the entire perimeter and look, observe, photograph all.  Among the vast number of sculptures, few of them comes to top of my head every time I think of Angkor Wat.  One is the way Ravana (the villan of Ramayana) is represented in all the temples across Angkor.  We all know Ravana has ten heads and twenty hands.  Typically in India, all ten heads are shown sequentially.  But in Angkor, Ravana has three layers of heads, four at the bottom, four at the middle and two at the top.

At another wall, there are elaborate details of 37 heavens and 32 hells.  Somewhere in the middle of the picture, Yama (the God of death) decides whether a person goes to hell or heaven. Then various heavens and hells are depicted with fine details.  In the picture, those who were chosen to go to hell are pushed down.

Later when I walked around the shopping areas in Siem Reap, one painting was keep attracting me every time I see it and made me determine to buy one of them before leaving Cambodia.  It is the scene, where Devas and Asuras milk the ocean to get the Amrutham (the elixir of immortality).  This scene is sculptured elaborately in the walls of Angkor Wat with 92 Asuras and 88 Devas.  the difference here is that the Ravana is at the far end of the asuras queue and Hanuman is at the far end of the Devas queue.  I guess this is unique here as I don't think this is there in the stories I heard in my childhood.  The ocean below contains many number of ocean creatures, in the centre is Vishnu balancing and above Indran is holding the top of the mountain steady.

Another scene is a general war between Gods and Asuras.  As usual, this is also there in a large wall with hundreds of people fighting.  Among them are 23 Hindu gods on his own bird or animal Vahana (vehicle).  Here Vishnu is on Garuda

Though most of the Angkor Wat is covered with various epics which are incarnations of Lord Vishnu, in the scene of battle of Gods with Asuras, there is Shiva, Murugan (Son of Shiva), Brahma, Agni, Indran, Yama and others are present.  Here, Lord Brahma on his vahana Hamsa.

The last section of the wall I visited produces elaborate scenes of the battle between Rama and Ravana that is the climax of the epic Ramayana.  In the picture, Rama is standing on Hanuman and fighting.  Behind him is Vibhishanan and Lakshmanan.  Even the arrows that are flowing around are presented clearly.

Finally, when I walked out of the temple, the statue of Vishnu standing tall at the right side entrance.  This is believed to be the original Vishnu who was in the main sanctuary at the top of the temple.  With so much seen, I walked out of the temple with a hope that such a heritage which is sustained over centuries will survive many more centuries to come.

 


 

Travel 003 : Cambodia : 23 Dec : Angkor Wat

It was delayed a bit when I woke up and so walked around and had food.  Inquired the hotel to see what kind of transportation I can take to visit the temples.  It is normal that people hire car or tuk-tuk on a daily basis to visit various temples.  Half-a-day tuk-tuk goes for 8USD and full day tuk-tuk goes for 15 USD.  I asked the hotel to bring me a tuk-tuk to start at 12 noon so that it will be half a day.  My idea was to try this tuk-tuk for today and depends on how friendly he is, to continue with him for the rest of the days.  I had some preparations back in Singapore before I start the trip and so I wanted to start with Angkor Wat temple and go as many temples as possible.  At 12 noon, I met the tuk-tuk driver Hong.  Had a little chat with him about visiting Angkor Wat and other temples.  He brought his own map and seems to be well known around all the temples.  So we started our journey towards Angkor Wat in the tuk-tuk.  Every foreign visitor should buy a ticket to visit pretty much any temple.  The temples are spread across an area of around 50 kilometers.  So it is a good thing that I can buy one pass at one place which is valid for all the temples.  Our first stop was to go to the ticketing place which is in between Siem Reap city and Angkor Wat.  There are one day, three days and one week pass.  As I planned to stay for five days in Siem Reap, I opted to get an week pass which cost USD 60.  It is a pretty good system where my photo was taken on a webcam, I got a laminated pass with my photograph on it.  The pass is valid for one month and within the month, i can visit any seven days to the temples.  Everyday I get into the temple complex (just on the main road leading to Angkor Wat), they see the pass and punch on the corresponding date.  So the punching for 23 dec is done and I was on the way to Angkor Wat.  Reaching at Angkor Wat, the first thing hit me was all the little children trying to sell anything from magnets to books. As it was my first temple stop, I bought a hat (though December is the coolest non-rainy month, the mercury still hits over 30) and a book (though I have the lonely planet book on Cambodia, this one is purely about all the temples).  The more you move away from them, the more the price drops.  The book price started at 15 USD and at last I got it for 7 USD.  But at a later day in another temple, someone was trying to sell the same book for as little as 1 USD.

Well.  After all these, here I am entering the Angkor Wat that is the main temple of the Siem Reap ruins.  As many know, Angkor Wat is the largest religious complex and initially built for the Hindu god Vishnu.  Being someone who follow this religion, I felt both happy and sad when I walked around this temple.  I am sad that such a large temple with every piece of wall reflecting the Hindu epics in large scale has been "converted" to a Buddist temple by simply replacing the central god to Buddha in the 15th century and it is still the same.  Happy that such ruins are still being kept at considerably good condition in a country away from India where Buddism is the main religion now.  The temple covers over one kilometer of length from front to back and so need some level of energy to visit.  also, it is built like a pyramid wherein one has to ascend few levels to eventually reach the central sanctuary.  The guide books depict that the moat (large water that surrounds the entire temple compound) represents the ocean and the pyramid structure in the middle represents the mount meru on which the god recides.  What I was thinking is that, in Indian history, many forts are built with a surrounding moat which contains wild water creatures like crocodile so that it is difficult for enemies to cross the moat to reach the fort wall.  Though Angkor Wat is principally a temple, its large campus and enormous space beyond the various structures that is within the compound means possibly that the rulers also view this  as a safe place for his subjects.  Many of the temples I visited in the first two days are in similar structure that it takes lot of energy to climb so many steps (some has wooden steps and some had the original stone steps).  In this aspect, it is wheelchair unfriendly.  This makes me wonder if the builders meant to say that in order to reach the Supreme, one has to be deterministic and pass many difficulties (like walking and climbing up many steps).

I walked up to pass through all the levels, stopping and exploring each level.  Here and across many temples, it pays to look around every small piece of the wall as the sculptures are everywhere.  The final set of steps are very steep that a set of wooden steps with handrails are built over the original stone steps and still it is very steep to be careful.  Reaching at the top to the main sanctuary, the view from top is rewarding and the wind is pleasing to the body which was sweat with all the climbing.  At the center of the peak, there is a reclining Buddha who is still worshiped.


No.  I didn't forget the most interesting thing of Angkor wat.

Life is complex 001 : Singapore airport sign

Happens to be in the changi airport.  While waiting for the skytrain to go from T1 to T2, saw this monitor

It lists all flight status at terminal 1 which is fine.  But, for all terminal 2 flights, it just says "Go to terminal 2".

My problem is I know my flight is from terminal 2 but came to terminal 1 to explore.  I want to know what is the status of my flight at terminal 2.  Unfortunately, i have to go to terminal 2 to find out. There is already the terminal number above the monitors and if required, they can add another column for the terminal number.  Noticed that at every terminal, display shows other terminal's info but says Go to terminal... .  Was there any usability study ?

Life is complex.