Cambodia. May 11, 2017
Thanks to our friend Emilie de B. who is a friend of the owners, we stayed at this charming boutique hotel with only five rooms located in a beautiful lush garden on the north side of Siem Reap: Maison Polanka. If you are in Siem Reap this is where you want to stay!
Angkor was the capital city of the Khmer Empire which flourished from the 9th to the 15th century. During the 11th and 13th centuries, Angkor was the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world and is reported to be today the world largest religious site with its impressive concentration of temples, Angkor Wat being the most famous of all.
At its peak, Angkor's dominance was based on sophisticated water management and advanced agriculture techniques, the remains of which can still be seen today with the various canals surrounding some of the temples of Angkor.
Angkor Wat from the southwest in the early 13th century
We couldn't possibly give you a detailed or accurate account of the history of Angkor and its temples - but if you are interested to learn more about this fascinating city and rich religious complex, we highly recommend the well written books by Michel Petrotchenko, a French national, who lives in Bangkok and is "un amoureux et spécialiste" of Angkor. The main book "Angkor Temples & Architecture" is available on Kindle/Amazon.
We started our temple tour with our guide, Ponloue, with the amazing temple Ta Prohm, also known as the Jungle Temple. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm is in much the same condition in which it was found: The combination of giant silk trees growing out of the ruins and the surrounding jungle is giving a unique feel to the site which was the set of scenes out of the movie "The Raiders of the Lost Ark".
After a stop at Preah Khan and Baphon - if we detail each temple here, you will quickly get an overdose - we visited the impressive Bayon temple.
Bayon is a surprisingly very compact temple compared to Angkor Wat. Bayon once consisted of around 200 smiling stone faces carved and painted onto around 50 towers. The remaining 37 towers today still create an awe-inspiring power.
The next day we drove 20 miles northwest from Siem Reap to visit the Banteay Srei temple. This temple owes its place among Angkor's "must see" sites to the exceptional fine quality of the carvings covering every available surface of the pink sandstone.
Banteay Srei is also well known, having been rediscovered in 1914 by French archaeologists and famously looted by André Malraux who would later become the French Minister for Cultural Affairs. Not nice André!
After dinner downtown Siem Reap, Rocco and Pierre had an Asian Foot Massage, or rather Foot Cleaning. You dip your feet into a fish tank and an army of toothless fishes nibble the dead skin off your feet. Very creepy feeling...
Keeping the best for the end, the last temple we visited was Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is by some measures the largest religious complex in the world and considered as the crowning achievement in Khmer art and architecture.
