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 002 : Cambodia : 22 Dec :Phnom Penh

Second day of the Cambodia trip, planned to visit the palace grounds. As in Bangkok, here also the place grounds means only a part of temples within the palace is open for public. Took a Moto to the Royal Palace.  Walked around to visit all buildings within the compound.  There is a very good miniature of the Ankor Wat temple within the compound (below)

Yesterday, I booked a seat in a bus to go to Siem Reap through the Hotel.  It costs 11 USD.  My bus starts at 2.15pm and so I had to return to hotel to get picked up by the bus company.  At 2pm, they picked me up in a minivan to go to the bus company from where the bus starts (Makong Express).  It is not the most luxurious bus but good enough with A/c and nice seats.  On board, they supplied water bottle and some snacks.  English announcements were made when we start, break and when we reach Siem Reap.  Along the way, they asked everyone whether anybody is coming to pickup at Siem Reap and if not they offered tuk-tuk service to get into the city (of course for a fee).  This, I think a good service (though seems simple, no such services elsewhere like when I traveled from Vientine to Luang Prabang in Laos).  What was more interesting is that when we reached Siem Reap, they park the bus within their campus, closed the main door, made sure that all people who came to receive the guests are met and then opened the door.  This is because of many  tuk-tuk drivers waiting right outside the door. 

First feel-good thing when I arrived at Siem Reap is that they brought a 15 seater mini-bus just to receive a single passenger to the bus company.  Also, they hold a name board (which I am used to in an Airport but not in a bus company where only our bus arrived at that time and my bus was half empty).  This time the hotel I booked was right at the heart of Siem Reap's happening spots (Pub street, night markets).  By the time I reached the hotel, it was already 9pm.  So walked out to have my dinner and was sitting at one of the pubs at pub street well beyond 12 midnight.  It gave an immediate pulse of how the night scene is.  There are more and more tourists flooding into the street and slowly the crowd started reducing after 12.

Travel 001 : Cambodia : 21 Dec : Phnom Penh

Looking back at the blog, I was supposed to write on my Thailand trip but had done many trips after that. So, here goes the latest trip while I still remember them

21 dec morning, my trip started with a flight from Singapore Changi to Phnom Penh by Jet Star. Landing at Phnom Penh airport, it was a breeze to get an on-landing visa. There were multiple people in a single counter servicing, getting application forms, verifying it, by the time you reach the cashier counter, your visa is magically ready for us to pay 20US$ and collect the passport. Interesting to see that at the immigration counter, all my 10 finger's print were taken. There was also an webcam if they want to take a picture. I guess they didn't use it because I had an on-landing visa with photograph.

Walking out of the airport, SIM cards were available without any registration for 5 USD. I was using the SIM for local calls, couple of international calls and all my iPhone data requirements (emails, maps, online trading, browsing) and still didn't run out at the end of my week-long trip.

Walked out of the airport skipping all prepaid taxis, tuk-tuks and came to the main road. took a tuk-tuk to my hotel and settled for 5 USD (Would have cost 10 USD if i took the prepaid). the hotel was bigger and luxurious than I expected (Sunway) but a bit away from all the main attractions (like palace, national museum, riverside streets). It was not a problem for me since I planned to stay only one night and Motos (a simple motor bike which is available everywhere and cheap). Since my stay was only one night, didn't waste anytime and got a Moto to go to The killing fields (Choeung Ek). As one can read in any travel book, this is a place more than 10 km from the city and used by Pol Pot to kill thousands of people who were arrested during his regime in 70s. The moto started with 10 USD (two way) and settled for 7 USD. The entrance fee (5 USD) include a talking guide in many languages. As this site don't have any buildings or structures to visualize how it was in 70s, the talking guide was very useful to imagine how it might have been in the 70s when thousands of innocent lives were killed. The memorial tower still contains most of the original skulls and bones found there.

As the Moto was waiting for me, I asked him to drop me at Tuol Sleng museum instead of the hotel. Tuol Sleng was once a school which was converted into a prison by Pol Pot. It was here that all the prisoners were kept, tortured and killed initially. As the volume increases, Choeung Ek was used to transport the prisoners and kill them in masses. This place again looks exactly like a school from the outside but as we walk through the classrooms, we can see all the cots, torturing equipments used. In one of the blocks, the classrooms were further partitioned to accommodate one prisoner per partition. With this museum visit, this day went with knowing all about Pol Pot and also full of sad moments.

As it was nearing the night. I stopped my sightseeing for the day and searching for a good Indian restaurant. As I had my iPhone with local SIM, I can use the map and walk to a restaurant which was near the Independence monument. All the main roads were named properly and all the cut roads are named by numbers. So, it was easy to locate cross streets with street numbers. Found the "Dosa corner" and had my Indian dinner shot before returning to the hotel. It was a one dollar Moto ride.

After taking a short break, it was time to explore some night scene. I took a Moto to Naga entertainment world as it was advertised as a big entertainment complex. When I saw it for myself, I realized that it was like a Los Vegas for Cambodia. One big building complex which contains a hotel, hundreds of gambling tables and slot machines in a open layout, a disco club and a KTV. It was free to walk around the tables and slot machines (as opposed to paying 100 SGD to even enter into one of the two casinos in Singapore which is free for tourists). Walked around the casino (no appetite to try) and sit in the club for a beer. Took a tuk-tuk (well it was late at night and so no Motos) and back to hotel.