I can think of no better way to spend the first
day of a new year than to go tuk-tuking and templing in the company of good
friends. Mine was spent visiting the Cambodian temples of Preah Khan, Ta Som,
East Mebong, Banteay Kdei and Pre Rup, with good buddy Marianne and new friend
Steve, and our trusty tuk-tuk driver Vibol, who hugged me when we first met
again – a very un-Cambodian thing to do and so very sweet!
First temple of the day was Preah Khan. The words
mean ‘sacred sword’ and it was supposedly named for the ceremonial sword King Jayavarman
II passed down to his heir. Apparently, whoever possesses this sword has the
right to be Cambodia ’s
king. The temple has been a monastery, a university and, later, an
interdenominational worshipping place for the followers of Shiva, Buddhu,
Vishnu and 282 other gods – their tolerance of other faiths is to be admired.
The site is dominated by huge kapok trees, some
of which emerge directly from cracks between the ancient stones and, if you’re
lucky enough to find a quiet spot, you can sit and listen to the leaves fall. The
temple itself has a long central alley way, with lots of side passages
branching off it that are perfect for exploring. Marianne nicknamed me
Indiannie Jones here, after my habit of scrambling over the
ruins and disappearing through every portal and down every side alley in search of new and interesting carvings, stones,
trees to photograph.
Preah Khan is where I received my first blessing
of the day. Many of the temples still have small buddhas or other sacred
statues where old women, usually widows with shaved heads, will pass on a
blessing from their god and tie a simple woollen bracelet on your arm, in
return for a small donation. Here, I had to crouch down next to the woman, who
took my hand and spoke some words in Khmer, before blowing the bad spirits
away.
Next, as Steve hadn’t eaten any breakfast and we
were all flagging in the 35-degree midday heat and high humidity, we went for an
early lunch. Vibol always knows good places to eat and, on this day of
tuk-tuking, he was looking after us particularly well, with an ice-filled chilly
bin holding water bottles, cans of coke and refreshing towlettes!
After 40 minutes or so, we set off again, this
time to Ta Som. This is a Buddhist temple and was built in the 12th century by
King Jayavarman VII. It is quite a small complex but has some huge stone faces
built into its gate structures, one of which is being strangled to pieces by a
huge strangler fig tree.
Banteay Kdei is one of my favourite temples and is
reached through a cruciform gopura (ornamental
tower) topped with huge faces, currently under restoration, and a 300-metre
stroll through the forest. Time, the jungle and humans have inflicted severe
damage on this temple complex but with a little searching you can still locate well-preserved
and intricate sculptural reliefs and statues of female divinities. Here I also
received my second blessing of the day, so now I am almost certain to have long
life and good health and a positive 2013!
Our last temple for the day was Pre Rup, which
means ‘turning of the body’, referring to part of the local cremation ritual. Built
in 962 and also consecrated to Shiva, it is another pyramidal structure. Lions
guard the precipitous stairways that lead up the centre of its four sides but,
unfortunately, they are no match for the eager tourist. The site is a favourite
for sunset-seekers so hordes of tourists descend on the place in the late
afternoon, scrambling desperately up the ruins in search of the perfect spot to
watch the sun go down. However, the reality is that you only get a view of the
trees of the forest canopy from the temple top, so I came down to road level to
photograph the temple’s stone towers and the tourists sitting on those towers
silhouetted against the evening sky.
We escaped before the sun had set, leaving the
tourists to negotiate those stairways in the darkening gloom and enjoying the
refreshing breeze as Vibol guided our trusty tuk-tuk back to town. It had been
a near perfect day!
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