Cambodia Yong And The Temple of Doom

Preah Khan is a huge, highly explorable monastic complex. Preah Khan means sacred sword. Architecturally similar Ta Prohm, which was dedicated to Jayavarman VII's mother, Preah Khan is dedicated to his father.

I got confused with all the explanation from our guide on our second day in the park. This king, that king. Then this king’s son. See. I’m not a fan of history when it comes to remembering the name of certain king with number I, II, IV, V, XI at the back. Why can’t they be more creative and think out of the box? Why should they follow the name of other people and differentiate it with just number at the back? It’s like I’m Au Yong Thean Seng, and my great great grandson will be Au Yong Thean Seng XI.

Then chill got into our spine. What did she saw? I was beside her when she took the photo but I calmed them that it was the red beam from the camera that caused the reflection to the gem on the statue’s head. But still, they were not convinced and deleted the photo from the camera instantly. So, I also have no proof to what they had actually witnessed… (X-Files music please)

After that, we went further inside Preah Khan and soon reached a tarmac area. Besides the tarmac is building which resembles the Rome architecture. Looks like one of those ancient legislative council building. The special thing about this monument is the column support is cylindrical shape. To be frank, even structural engineers nowadays seldom design column other than rectangular shape.

Next stop is Neak Pean. Nothing really special at here. It’s like a giant wading pool for us. However, it’s a special place for the locals here. Neak Pean served as an absolution function, and the waters were thought to have healing properties. Originally known as Rajasri, Neak Pean took its modern tag, which means coiled serpents, from the coiled nagas that encircled the temple. During the dry season when the water is low, you can see a statue of the horse, saving drowning sailors. Erm... if you ask me what that means…. Erm… all I can say is…. Have you watched Troy?

It was already afternoon by the time we headed to our next temple. Some of my members had already given up venturing further. We would prefer to snap photos from afar and claimed that we had visited the place even though we didn’t really go in. But there was this one temple that we glad not to give a miss was East Mebon. It was surprisingly not hot there. One reason is it was windy. Another which I noticed is the material used to build this temple. Volcanic rock. The porous nature of this rock makes it absorbs the heat rather than reflecting it. Just like the cooling fin on the engine block. Our guide told us that there was one French lady who spent a year at this temple to help preserve the tower there. I’m not sure whether he exaggerated when he claimed the lady even slept on the tower during night time. I wonder how she eased herself.

We had a lunch break in the park but this time in a “more” luxurious restaurant to save some travel time.

Then came the moment we’ve been waiting for in this trip. The temple that I used to remember when I was studying Asian history. Not which, not where, not why, and not when. Yup, you got it. It’s Angkor What Wat. At the right hand side entrance from the front, our guide brought us to a statue which unfolds an incident of how it survived pouring M16 shots. My guide told us that there were some thieves trying to steal ancient artefact from Angkor Wat. The statue alerted the patrolling soldiers at the outer gate of Angkor Wat by “falling” itself to the ground. The aware soldier fired gunshots towards the statue directions and killed the thieves. You’ll get to see the gunshot marks left on the pillar of the entrance to this statue.  

There is another weird sculpting on the wall as you enter past this statue chamber. For some odd reason, the sculpting depicting a smiling lady was found just beside the entrance area. I guess the sculptor must be too bored by sculpting the same thing over and over again that he decided to do something different from the rest. Well, he surely did. Many tourists knew about this and took photo of it.

Inside Angkor Wat, there is thousand of sculpting narrating ancient history from the deities’ war to daily human activities. My tour guide took the extra mile to tell us the story of each sculpting that we nearly missed out to visit the other part of Angkor Wat. The visual impact of Angkor Wat, particularly on one's first visit, is awesome. However, since the hype is on Angkor Wat is too high, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t meet my high expectation. Angkor Wat is a well preserved temple in Cambodia. That’s what makes it stand out from the other temples. But sometimes it’s the ruin of certain landmark that nearly demolished or collapsed that makes it more appealing to people because we might keep on wondering how nice it could be if it is still at its original shape but in reality it no longer that. Just like Pisa Tower. Nobody would take notice of this tower if it’s not inclining.

At the upper-most of our tour of this temple, the central tower on the third level houses four Buddha images, each facing a different cardinal point. Some say it is good luck to pay homage to all four Buddha images before departing Angkor. I get to peep a hole which was made famous because of Tony Leong’s act in one of the scene in the movie, “In The Mood for Love”. Because I never watched this type of hard-to-understand-yet-get-so-many-award movie, I thought Tony Leung was kissing the pillar instead. After googling, in that movie he was actually whispering several years worth of secrets into the hole in that wall, before plugging the hole with mud - a method he states a secret can be kept. I assured you. I know his secret already!

Getting to Angkor Wat in a group sometimes can be very attention-grabbing. Because you get to do thing you won’t usually do alone without feeling very shy after doing it. If a few people do it then the effect of shyness are being shared or divided. That’s why you get to do funny thing like this. 

And jumping around Angkor Wat like this. Don’t be surprised Angkor Wat will collapse one day because of some half-wits like us!

At about 6.30PM, we got out from Angkor Wat to take some photos of the golden glistening view of the temple surrounding.

Since Cambodia has influence from the European army those days, it is not surprising to find “French loaf” in their cuisine. Basically, it is baguette with some ham and sliced prickled cucumber. Trust me. It’s nice and you shouldn’t give it a miss. After a hectic day, a good rest is necessary for tomorrow sunrise view of Angkor Wat.