Angkor Wat?

“Ankor What ?” is what I said when first hearing of this phenomenon. To be quite honest I have to confess my ignorance of having not knowing virtually anything about this United Nations Heritage Site which was recognized in 1990, other than recognizing the photos of it from some travel brochure. So when all the fuss was made about getting up at 4:30 am to go and photo the sunrise I was taken aback but figured there must be something to it, so up in the darkest hours to ride the bus for the 5 km trek to witness this must do activity. Needless to say I was not disappointed along with the thousand or so other early risers to witness the break of dawn and the shadows of Anchor Wat casting itself mystically across the mirror pond in the foreground. Just one of those things one has to experience personally and no words to express the divine encounter. We would visit the grounds later the next morning as today there was to be a special Buddhist ceremony and access was denied the tourist throngs.

After breakfast we returned to the site to visit five of the other Wats. “Wat” is the generic name for temple and Angkor is the name for “city”. The first temple we visited was for my money, the most intriguing. The faces carved into the stone walls and towers were truly mesmerizing. I could have spent hours there but there was so much to see we had to keep moving. (See my Youtube video http://youtu.be/c-Gd8qKLo58 ) to get a sense of the grandeur of one of the smaller temples. The heat and the humidity of the day made the hotel pool a refreshing respite for our active group. Did someone say “Pool Party”?

The following day we were back at the “City Temple” but at a more reasonable hour. I consider ourselves lucky to have been able to tour the Wat in a very open and free manner. You could climb over and under and up or down anything. It is only a matter of time before they put some restrictions on where you will be able to wander. No insurance company in North America would ever underwrite a liability policy with the access we were allowed. (See my 2^nd video http://youtu.be/Uux70illOfY ) Apparently someone did fall down a staircase a few years back and was killed. The rumour is that the third level will be closed off next year and access denied until some repairs are completed. This also happens to be the place where the film "Temple Raider" starring Angelina Jolie was filmed. I never saw the movie but we had our picture taken in what apparently was an infamous doorframe where a notable scene was filmed. Guess we'll have to rent the movie when we get back. We returned at 3:30 to beat the crowds for the sunset but all our efforts were somewhat in vain as the clouds materialized and even though I know the sun went down we were not privy to its exit.

Siem Reap itself was quite an interesting place but undoubtedly would not exist except for the fact it is catering to those making the pilgrimage to the temple. Our guide said 6,000 to 7,000 tourists a day pay $40 for a three day pass. If you can believe this, according to our guide, Angkor Wat was sold to a Vietnamese consortium for 1 ½ to 2 million dollars back in the 90’s and only has to give back to the Cambodian government 40% for restoration purposes. Next to the Louisianna Purchase and the sale of Alaska by the Russians to the Americans, that has got to go down as one of the best deals of the century. Donald Trump, eat your heart out.