Having investigated the temples of the small circuit on Monday with only a small amount of background reading, we decided we needed a more authoritative source to help us more deeply appreciate their history. I picked up an electronic guidebook by one of the French conservators of the temples in the early 20th century, Maurice Glaize. The work was originally published in 1944 and reissued in subsequent decades. The version we have is a translation from the French.
The introduction to the guidebook states:
"It is preferable, particularly in the hot season, to leave early in the morning and to return before eleven o’clock."
After Monday's epic journey, we made the wise decision to get up with the sun and to leave on the bikes at 6am.
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| Srah Srang |
We started the tour in an anti-clockwise direction, beginning where we had left off at the royal bathing pool Srah Srang - a 700 x 300m rectangle of water that reflected the morning sun as we sat eating our simple breakfast of bread. The sun had already arced relatively high up into the sky, ready to beat down on us later if we dallied too long at the temples.
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| Pre Rup |
Around the corner was Pre Rup. This is one of the earlier angkorian constructions, erected in 961, and takes the form of pyramid - referred to by Maurice as a 'temple-mountain'. This meant the first set of steps for us to climb. Being still early in the day, the temperature was cool and we were alone, which allowed us to appreciate the weight of history in the brickwork. The towers look different to the carved sandstone structures of Angkor Thom and have the familiar form of the iconic towers of Angkor Wat.
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| Rice fields of the East Baray |
Our next stop took us into a large rectangular area known as the East Baray. This is a 7 x 1.7km man-made area of water, which is now dry, but was once fed by the Siem Reap river. Although dry, it is home to acres of lush green paddy fields and tree-lined roads, which made our cycle ride particularly pleasant.
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| Eastern Mebon |
When the baray was full, the Eastern Mebon would have been accessible only by boat. Fortunately, we could walk into the temple, which was similar in style to Pre Rup but which had some charming, almost life-size statues of elephants. These were realistically detailed and even their trunks had survived over 1000 years of weathering and battery.
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| Various building materials at Eastern Mebon |
It was here that the guidebook came into its own, giving us chapter and verse on the detailed carvings of various Hindu deities. We learned to distinguish the different building materials (laterite for the base, bricks for the towers and sandstone for the sculpted elephants), as well as note that the bare brickwork would have originally been covered in plaster, none of which has survived. The photo above shows the three main building materials: red laterite in the foreground, and brick towers standing on carved sandstone plinths. Yet more astonishing was the revelation that no mortar was used to bind the bricks together.
While the text of the guidebook was authoritative and informative, the tone was at times a little dry and scholarly and, in places, revealed a tendency to Gallic arrogance in the author. Of Eastern Mebon, he wrote:
"even though the decoration remains slightly affected and is occasionally reminiscent in its complexity of certain failings in the Baroque style."
Some of the more pleasing architectural accomplishments are favourably compared to the views of Versailles. It made for an amusing companion, although we had to get past the academic language (in the geometric topography of Angkor, everything is 'axial' to something else) and school ourselves in technical archaeological and architectural terms. Here is a quick primer for anyone preparing to read the book (the glossary doesn't cover many of these):
laterite - soil that is red (from iron oxides), develops in tropical areas, and is cut into large bricks.
gopura - gateway, or entrance pavilion.
anastylosis - archaeological reconstruction of a ruin (mostly using original materials).
as atlantes - a carved figure used as a column (from the plural of Atlas)
quincunx - five points, four of which form a square with the fifth at the centre (many of the towers in Angkor are arranged in this fashion).
stele - a stone slab that often bears an inscription (much of the historical knowledge of the temples comes from steles erected at the site).
groined vault - an architectural feature in which the roof is formed of intersecting 'barrel vaults' (the 'groin' is the point of intersection), which is often seen in churches.
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| Ta Som |
Out of the baray, we came upon Ta Som and were greeted by one of the smiling faces of Bayon. This temple was like a smaller version of Ta Prohm, which we had seen on Monday, as the jungle was in an advanced state of taking over the stone structures. With fewer people around, it was an adventure through the ruined temple and around the fallen blocks of sandstone.
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| Neak Pean causeway |
Our guidebook described Neak Pean as sitting "in the middle of the now dry northern baray", so it was with some surprise that we accessed it via a lengthy causeway over a mirror-like lake filled with a submerged, and dead, forest.
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| Submerged forest at the Northern Baray |
On the island, Neak Pean (meaning 'entwined serpents'), was slightly underwhelming. The eponymous serpents were submerged in a pool that was apparently constructed to resemble a lake in the Himalayas thought to have healing properties.
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| Prah Khan |
Prah Khan was our final stop was Prah Khan - an enormous complex. Entering the mini-city and crossing the moat felt as though we were explorers and clambering through the series of fairly ruined chambers felt as though we were on the set of Indiana Jones. The doorways are not of uniform size - some seemingly made for a man twice my size, while others were only passable if stooping.
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| Tree at Prah Khan |
Here too, vegetation has asserted its natural dominion and envelops the man-made structures. In one room, we walked directly underneath a tree that had planted roots either side of the building and had broken through the ceiling.
Seeing first one monkey and then several more, scattered either side of the road, chewing on rambutan, we naturally pulled over. We and other tourists grinned at the cute little primates, with their human-like expressions and mannerisms. We snapped photographs and laughed when they mounted our bikes ("it thinks its people"). We stopped laughing when one particularly obstinate monkey made himself at home on the saddle of K's bike and fell asleep. Waking and bearing his teeth if we tried to retrieve the cycle, we didn't fancy our chances against an enraged animal. I finally resolved matters by buying some bananas and tempting the little varmint away.
After our close encounter of the simian kind, we decided to make a beeline for home. Heading out of the south gate, we passed the queue of tuk-tuks delivering goggle-eyes tourists and bypassed Angkor Wat for the second time. We will make a special trip for this one.
All told, it was a 38km tour, which includes an additional 5km for doubling back to take a few extra photos. This is in contrast to the 30km we undertook on the 'short' tour, much of which is the round-trip from town. We were back by mid-afternoon and relaxed for the rest of the day with a well-earned beer.
For hungry explorers, I prepared egg noodles with courgette, bean sprouts, fried tofu and a poached egg. A little mix of fried garlic, lime leaf, galangal and chilli topped the egg for a piquant hit.
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