I have been remiss in blogging while in Cambodia. Another powerful experience. The Raffles Grande Angkor is, hands down, the finest hotel we have stayed in. The temples are more awe inspiring then I can describe and the conditions of the Lake People in the floating villages more heart wrenching and disturbing than I care to describe.
First, the temples. We visited five sites; Taprohm, Angkor Wat, Bantay Srei, the Elephant Terrace and Bayon Temple.
Rather than labor to describe what we've seen, I've stolen a quote from Henry Mouhot's "Travels in Siam, Cambodia and Laos 1858 - 1860".
"What strikes the observer with not less admiration than the grandeur, regularity, beauty of these majestic buildings, is the immense size and prodigious number of of the blocks of stone of which they are constructed. In this temple alone are as many as 1532 columns. What means of transport,what a multitude of workmen, must this have required, seeing that the mountain of which the stone was hewn is thirty miles distant! In each block are to be seen holes 2-1/2 centimeters in diameter and 3 in depth, number varying with the size of the block; but the columns and the sculptured portions of the building bear no traces of them. According to a Cambodian legend, these are the prints of the fingers of a giant, who, after kneading an enormous quantity of clay, had cut it into blocks and carved it, turning it into a hard, and at the same time, light stone by pouring over it some marvelous liquid.
All mouldings, sculptures, and bas-reliefs appear to have been executed after erection of the building. The stones are everywhere fitted together in so perfect a manner that you can scarcely see where are the joining; there is neither sign of mortar nor mark of the chisel, the surface being as polished as marble.
Was this incomparable edifice the work of a single genius, who conceived the idea, and watched over the execution of it? One is tempted to think so; for no part of it is deficient, faulty, or consistent. To what epoch does it owe it's origin? As before remarked, neither tradition nor written inscriptions furnish any certain information upon this point; or rather, I should say, these latter are as a sealed book for want of an interpreter; and they may, perchance, throw light on the subject when some European savant shall succeed in deciphering them.
Sad fragility of human things! How many centuries and thousands of generations have passed away, of which history, probably, will never tell us anything; what riches and treasures of art will remain for ever buried beneath these ruins; how many distinguished men - artists, sovereign, and warriors - whose names were worthy of immortality, are now forgotten, laid to rest under the thick dust which covers these tombs!"
Guess who we met at the Bayon Temple?
Need a hint? Check out the black Suburban.
We used more a traditional Cambodian transport:
This blog is already too long. I'll share our experience in the floating village in the next post.
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Location:Siem Reap, Cambodia
