Cambodia - Angkor
By David Ellis
Losing
the keys to the house is one thing, but it’s another thing altogether
to lose the house as well – plus a whole community of hundreds of
farms, trading markets and even palaces and temples that once spread
over 400 square kilometres.
Yet that’s exactly what happened
when the old Cambodian capital of Angkor was sacked by the raiding
Ayutthaya people of then-Siam (now Thailand) in 1431, and Angkor’s
entire population fled 315km to the safety of what is now Phnom Penh.
Behind
them they left what had been the world’s largest pre-industrial city
whose kings influenced a vast area extending as far afield as Vietnam,
China and the Bay of Bengal.
But surprisingly Angkor’s raiders
had little interest in occupying the city after their attack and
retreated back to their homeland, leaving the now-abandoned community
of timber buildings – that included Angkor’s palace that was of wooden
construction – to decay into the jungle in the damp of the tropical
humidity and seasonal monsoons.
All that is, except for a vast
temple complex that had somehow been built of stone, and which was
surrounded by a moat which provided a ring of protection from the
encroaching jungle.
For centuries Angkor lay forgotten in the
jungle. A few wandering Buddhist monks stumbled upon the vast temples
as they sought-out jungle communities for conversion from the Hindu to
their own faith, and based on their tales it wasn’t long before many
myths and legends began to arise about “the lost temple in the jungle.”
One
of the first western monks to see the temples was the Portuguese
Antonio da Magdalena in 1586, and he was so astonished at what he’d
stumbled upon that he wrote: “It is of such extraordinary construction
that it is not possible to describe it with a pen… it is like no other
building in the world (and has) towers and decoration and all the
refinements which the human genius can conceive of.”
But it was
in 1860 that the French explorer Henri Mouhot came upon the temple, and
it was his reports on his return to France that led to a whole new
interest – particularly after he wrote romantically for a French
newspaper that “the lost temple rivals that of Solomon and (was)
erected by some ancient Michelangelo…”
Coincidentally the French
government adopted Cambodia as a protectorate in 1863 and following the
extraordinary world-wide interest in Mouhot’s reports about the Angkor
temples, decided upon a restoration program for the jungle complex
whose first buildings were created in AD802.
That restoration
work still continues today on the more-than 100 temples that make-up
the 81ha complex of Angkor Wat (Angkor means City and Wat means
Temple,) and which draw more than one-million visitors a year.
There
are few restrictions on where visitors may roam, but those in the know
say it’s impossible to fully understand the complex and its
extraordinary architectural detail without the help of a well-versed
local guide.
And it’s also worth getting away from the actual
stone temple complex and taking a bit of a jungle walk into where the
original city of Angkor once surrounded the temples, as whilst all the
buildings have long gone it’s still possible to find outlines of some
of the original streets.
As well, the neighbouring town of Siem
Reap that’s developed on the back of Angkor Wat is a bustling hive of
activity and a fascinating second face of this part of Cambodia. It’s
got plentiful accommodation from simple guesthouses to five-star
resorts, and good-value restaurants and lively nightlife activities are
not hard to find – particularly along the aptly-named Pub Street.
And
a must-do is a cold drink on a hot day in the classic art deco bar of
the Foreign Correspondents’ Club near the Royal Palace, a former
governor’s mansion overlooking the Siem Reap River and now part of the
luxury FCC Angkor Hotel.
GETTING THERE
Specialist
Indochina tour operator Wendy Wu Tours has three- and four-day land
only packages which take in the Angkor Wat temples and Siem Reap. They
include accommodation and some meals, airport transfers, private
touring with local English-speaking guides and entrance fees, and cost
from $290 to $475 per person twin share.
For more detail contact Wendy Wu Tours 1300-727-998, visit www.wendywutours.com.au or see travel agents.
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