Day 10: Our First Look at Angkor Temples

After a fun night of bargaining and walking around the famous night market in Siem Reap, we began the day with an excellent breakfast at the hotel. Shortly after, we hopped aboard a new bus that we will be using for the remainder of the trip and soon arrived at the temple ticket office to have photo IDs made that would allow us to enter the sacred Khmer temples that are our primary reason for visiting Siem Reap.

We then went to our first stop of the day, Preah Ko, which translated to "Sacred Cow." We arrived when the sun was shining perfectly on the buildings, illuminating every detail and crevice of the thousand year old structure. At this temple, there were six separate shrines, each dedicated to the three main Hindu gods; Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, and their three wives. The wives' temples were behind their husbands and, in this perfect sunlight, shadows from their husbands' temples were covering theirs. This highlighted the importance that men have over women in Khmer culture, and how traces from this cultural preference are still shown in Cambodia today. This prevailing belief that men are superior to women is shown when girls are more likely to drop out of school than boys, and how girls in school are more likely to have greater responsibilities in the household. It was amazing to see the attention to detail that was put into the carving of each individual stone. It was also astounding to realize that this temple was made in the 9th century, while Europe was still culturally stuck in the Middle Ages. This temple displayed how much the Khmer people care about their religions, both Hinduism and Buddhism, and it shows the lasting impact of their devotion to their gods.

After a very short ride in the bus, we arrived at our second site, the Bakong temple. To get there, we crossed a beautiful moat adorned with various flowers and plants that seemed like something out of a movie. Something that stood out to me was the various methods of restoration at each temple. Mr. Gass wondered to what length one goes to preserve an ancient place, and when it would be time to let it crumble. Some were held up with new bricks, while others were maintained with various forms of scaffolding. After walking up the steep steps and admiring the detailed work in each piece of stone, each of us took a seat at a peaceful place along the water, or watched the people come and go from the temple. It was mesmerizing to watch the flow of both the water and the people, as they came to and fro to enjoy this sacred place. We then boarded the bus and went our final temple of the day, Lolei. We only stayed here for a few minutes, however, because the shrines were not visible due to restoration. We took a few pictures of various wild cats and dogs, but what stood out most were two monkeys that were tied to a tree. This was especially sad because elsewhere we only saw them in the wild. Mr. Por Heng, our guide, was able to pet one monkey without any rebuttal from the animal, but it was heartbreaking to see these free animals being domesticated.

We then enjoyed a lunch of spring rolls, salad, soup and pork at a local restaurant near the temples. After eating, the group went to lay in hammocks under a covering that provided relief from the warm day. After this relaxing experience, went drove to Prasat Bakong High School, where we spoke to the director of the school and an American member of the Peace Corps who taught there. The director appeared quite proud of the fact that Michelle Obama has visited the school in 2015. We asked various questions about the school and its students, trying to compare the school with the one we visited in Battambang a few days ago, but the most meaningful part of the experience was talking to the American teacher about the impact that her time there had both on her and the surrounding community. An hour later, we boarded the bus again and went to an artisan cowhide carving shop, which also served as a school. We had a brief tour of the facilities and saw how the students lived and worked, and watched them in an English class, led by a teacher from Singapore, as we passed. The master artist paired each of his apprentices, aged nine to eighteen, with one of our students. and his students helped the Parker kids to design and create their own leather carvings. It was intriguing to see how talented each of the students were, and fun to see the artistic talent that we had within our own group. We then dyed our creations with a red stain, and, while waiting for them to dry, walked into the main building to hear beautiful songs that the apprentices were singing for us, ranging from traditional Khmer songs to American Christmas music. After thanking our student-teachers, we went back to the hotel for some free time, before enjoying a tasty dinner of beet salad, gazpacho soup, pepper seafood spaghetti and fruit ice cream for dessert at a local Siem Reap restaurant. Once arriving at the hotel, we had a quick debrief to discuss our individual impressions of the day, before venturing out to enjoy the offerings of the various various night markets in the neighborhood. All in all, a great day was had by all!

Written by Dina and Isabella

Photos by Rachel G