Pilgrimage to Cambodia Angkor Wat temples (english)

Cambodia- the very name takes us to our Tamil ancestors who have travelled all the way by sea-  ruled the land where very few Indian kings travelled that far- spread Hinduism, Buddhism AND constructed very big temples- bigger than biggest one in India-the famous Angkor Wat and other temples- and still after so many centuries are testimonial to the architecture of south Indian temples.

Cambodia is near Thailand and Vietnam and 2 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia.

It was my dream to visit Shiva temples in Cambodia for several years (as if I have seen all Shiva temples here in India!). After my break from work, now it was possible for me to plan this trip. My wife’s sister’s daughter Sudha Rajagopal joined for the trip and made all plans to the minutest level for this temple visits in Cambodia.

While we see Christianism, Muslim spreading to other countries from its origin places, we will be surprised to see Hinduism were there in other countries,, in olden days Hinduism was there in most of Thailand ,Vietnam and even in Indonesia (where big Ganesh idols are unearthed recently) and later on Buddhism and other religions took over. Over a period of time many big Shiva, Vishnu and Buddhists temples constructed and coexisted.  Many temples are in ruins now due to wars and nature. Like in Srilanka in many Hindu temples, Buddha statues were installed in later date. It is a dream of many to bring back the “Aganda Bharath” existed in olden days,  

I fear in the prevailing situation in Tamil nadu, like humans - temples will be converted soon. .Gods will be converted and as a first step rituals are copied, slokas are copied worship places constructed as per Hindu temples to an alien God.. worst thing is all is done through the converted people and the people who are converted but acting on Hindu names itself mostly with foreign money !!!  A systematic abuse is going on I feel. if we are not careful these people will remove 'vel' from hands of God Murugan and  Trishul from Shiva and insert the cross !!

Nothing is permanent and let us stick on to our way truly to attain salvation without fighting and spreading hatred towards others, at the same time maintaining our dignity unlike our previous generations who allowed these foreign religions to penetrate in India.

Ok.this topic is never ending… let us proceed.

Some history:

History is understood from writings of Chinese travallers, French travellers, inscriptios on stones….. from Christian era,, from available records, Hinduism and Buddhism reached this area around first century and co existed till 12 th century,, from 9^th to 11^th century Shiva was the God revered and in first half of 12^th century God Vishnu was revered (official god of suryavarman II ,the builder of Angkor wat) and later 12^thcentury and from beginning of 13^th century Buddha and Lokeshvara with shiva and vishna had a role and a shaivete reaction in 13^th century led to destruction of some buddha images…at this time Theravada Buddhisam spread from srilanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia with Brahmanic influence attached to Kings and courts…

Cambodia had such beautiful history of jayavarman II from 8^th century, Indravarman !, Yashovarman I, Jayavarman IV, Rajendravarman II, Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII in 12^th century.. there are many history books with full details and I suggest those who are interested in history can look.  (I got poor marks in history in my school days..).

Very interesting part for me is 1000 lingams chiselled on rock bed of the river which originates and go to plains.. the water goes over all lingams and shiva Vishnu sculptures and they believed that this holy water will give good agriculture for the country.. excellent thought isn’t it? Pl see details and pictures added.

At the same time sad points…. No religion teach us hatred. But the poor Cambodians ravaged with big wars, genocides of intellectuals to poor farmers in 19^th century and 20^th century. People cry on seeing mass graves, jails and people affected by bombs and mines planted during wars.. it was told that Americans put bombs equivalent to total bombs used in world war II in Vietnam and Cambodia itself.. so many countries and organisations try to remove these bombs and mines by various methods (including by rats) and hoping they will complete removal in another 10 years ! there are so many who lost their leg, hands and died in their own agriculture land ….but irony is these people use only US dollars now for transactions,

Restoration of ruins:  Countries like India (through our ASI), Switzerland and other countries take over individual ruined temples and try to restore. Still mammoth work is to be done.. but there is HOPE.

Many staff in my hotel is aware of Ramayana and Mahabharata and many names like Sita, Sampath are even relevant now in Cambodia.

So many movies are being taken in Cambodia …during our visit there was a shooting for a Telugu movie and photoshoot of japan.. remember ‘Tomb Raider” English movie??

Let us start our temple run now….

We started from Chennai on 24^th night to Cambodia via KL… there was big halt of 7 hours in KL airport as our next flight to Siem Reap (in cambodia where most of temples including famous Angkor Wat is there).. we reached on 25^th evening to seam reap airport and went straight to hotel.

It is advisable to book hotel rooms in advance to avoid last minute glitches for our full stay in Cambodia. Cost of living for tourists is high. While Cambodian Riel is 4000 for USD almost all transactions are in USD. For a team of 2 at an average 100 dollars required for decent stay, food, internal transport excluding entry fees for temples per person. We can buy single day/ 3-day entry tickets for temples based on our programme of stay. We need to remember there is dress code (most Indians dress like in European nowadays!) and government has given visitors code of conduct procedures. For museums etc separate tickets have to be bought.

There are more than 25 temple complex to be seen and many of the temples we need to climb up. We need good stamina to finish all the visits. 

My fitbit said I walked 62.86  km in this trip and climbed equivalent  to 108 floors from 25^th march to 1^st April  ( 85% in 3 days in Siem Reap)  till landed in chennai !    just for record and to have an idea of temple run !

We should be lucky with climate also as very hot sun (April -june) or rain will spoil our programme. Best months are Dec, January and best timing to start is early morning to avoid crowds.

For transport we preferred to “Tuk Tuk” motorised rikshaw which is cheaper than cars. Most of the tourists prefer tuk tuk for all temple/tourist places as they are nearby.

Like in any tourist spot, big negotiation is required every where… Sudha usually starts with 1/3 rd of quoted price and almost she will settle!

There is free wi-fi in hotels and many places (it is free in flights also in this stretch) and for our usual useless whatsapp forwards no issue.

For south Indian vegetarians no issue for food in Siem Reap and capital Phnom Penh… there are several south Indian restaurants there… Dosas, fried rice, curd rice etc etc.,

I have made a small brief description of temples/other areas visited. Historians has written big volume of books on these temples and I am introducing these temples in few lines !

Day 1: 

1.    Siem Reap national museum:  a good one which gives a good beginning of history and geaography of area with good video descriptions. Must visit. Our hotel was justs walkable distance,

2.    Night market, pub street:  as the name suggests night market caters for everyone….Wait… good shops for cloths, paintings, ice creams, masaj parlours, pubs, food..we stayed in siem reap for 5 days and after my angkor visit I had a good foot massage for half an hour- really required (at 4 dollars).. a good Indian restaurant is also here…

Day 2:

3.    Pre Rup:    It is a temple mountain of combined brick, laterite and sand stone construction. Built by king Rajendravarman in early 960s. dedicated to God Shiva. Mere look of entrance, many will stay back in ground. Has steap rise and small tread and has plenty of steps!

4.    Banteay samre: King suryavarman II built this temple in 12^th century. And dedicated to Vishnu. It is one of the most complet restored complex. (no big maintenance now). It is called ‘citadel of the samre’…it has elobarate architecture and fine carvings.

5.    East Mebon: king Rajendraverman II built this temple in honour of his parents..there are five sanctuaries depiciting  God Shiva, paravathi as lingam,and statues and also for Vishnu and brahma..it is arranged in the form representing Mt Meru. (there were several holes in buildings to have decorative stucco layer for easy sticking… elephant sculptures guarding temple, beautiful lintels (in one of the lintels, Indra was riding in 3 headed elephant), 2 elephants sprinkling water on Lakshmi sitting),garuda, and many other hindu gods are depicited here.

6.    Ta Som: it is a small temple built in 12^th century by king jayavarman VII. Now, big trees and roots encircle the structures in many places.

7.    Neak poan, Kraol Ko:

Neak poan is an artificial island where a buddha temple is there and assosicated with Preah khan temple.

Kraol ko was built by king jayavarman II as a buddhist temple… a small temple..with lesser crowd..enjoyed.

8.    Preah Khan: a buddhist temple built by king Jayavarman VII with beautiful devatas carved …several structures preserved nicely. Causeways featuring snakes, devas and asuras are seen here also. During cham invasion devastated. Hall of dance is also well preserved,  There is a stupa inside.. we counted ..there were nearly 40 door ways !!! in the other end we could see 2 headless soldiers..There were Shiva lingas in some areas.. This temple is so big in central, west, east ,north, south sections.. I honestly admit, I could not visit some sections….so tired.

9.    Ta Prohm: in 1186, king jayaarman II built this temple dedicated to his mother.  Big tree roots encircle big temple complex.. a buddhist cult many lintels have excellent carvings..many areas are aggressively restored now.. proud to see our indian flag here. our government join the combodian government for restoration of this temple.. i thought restoration takes so much money and time and how our ancestors built it?

10.      Ta Keo: early 11^th century.. very steap steps to go to top.. with lesser tread and more rise steps…dedicated to God Shiva. we ran temple to temple to cover all but it is time. till 5 30 pm only they allow.. we are late.. happy to see outside atleast !

11.      AHA handicraft center:   it is like our khadi shop selling local made products… paintings drawn by local painters are sold in many places. We did window shopping. we can see shiva lingas are made even now by the cambodian artizans (in display)

  

     Day 3:

12.      Angkor Thom : this ‘Great city’ was built by Jayavaarman VII in late 12^th century as capital. Spanning 9 sqkm there are several monuments.abondoned in 1600 it was found by early western visitor later. The main gate has 2 rows devas and asuras on both sides with naga and in a tug of war.(remember churning of milk ocean!)..south gate is very famous…there were so many images depicting Hindu stories with lots of animals like elephants, monkeys… the city is representing mountains and oceans surrounded Bayons Mount Meru… Prasat bayon temple with faces are lovely sight to see and must visit place. It is a perfectly aligned square city and had hospitals ! you will not forget these faces. it is so huge complex we need at least 4 hours to go around.. it is suggested to get more information on google as to write about Angkor Thom and Angkor wat we need to write a seperate book . so huge ! we also covered kings palce, his swimming pool, carvings of elephants......

13.      Angkor WAT:  Built by Tamil king Suryavarman II this temple is the Biggest temple in world. One of the main attractions in Cambodia.. many tourists visits this place. Vishnu was presiding deity in this temple..We could see ramayan incidants in a big wall, mahabharath incidents in another wall, the churning of ocean by devas and asuras in another big wall (I took photo with Devas)))…we need to spend atleast half a day to see…walk, walk and more walk….it is “a city which is a temple”…no words can describe it..one has to experience the grandeur of it…the main diety Vishnu facing west. Battle of lanka, battle of gurkshetra, hanuman meeting shiva, kamadaganam by shiva, vishnus vitory over asuras…even lintels has excellent carvings….. those who have interest with architecture it is a treasure…suggested to go early with good amount of water, caps etc., Must visit place…better to hire a guide or buy an exclusive book read it once before start.

14.      Phnom Bakheng: it is a temple built on mountain by King Yasovarman in 9^th century..for God Shiva.. there are many shiva lingams still existing in ruins of gopurams.. (at the main mandapam buddha is installed ). This area is very famous for sunset seeing. We need to climb a hill for 45 minutes..interestingly a nandhi is facing this hill where so many shiva lingams are there. Big crowd is there in evenings and rationing is done to allow tourists in final stretch.. due to clouds we could not see fill sunset..but I was happy seeing so many shiva lingams prayed by most tourists..

     Day 4:

15.      Ton Le sap lake, floating village:  During our trip, my manni- shanthi kalyanaraman - messaged me not to miss floating village. This village  floats during monsoon times and foundation on big tree poles. During our trip we could see poles only and there was enough water for our boat just to float in canals. In the main lake there was a floating hotel and we enjoyed a good tea. Must visit place in monsoon.

16.      Apopo humanitarian- Hero rats: There are many organisations in Cambodia to take out buried mines which is a bigger problem here. This organisation trains rats -yes rats- to identify buried mines so that trained persons remove that with caution. There is a demonstration how these rats identify mines and hats off to the hero rats and organisation. Still they say it will take another 10 years to remove mines.

17.      War museaum: arms, tanks used in wars are displayed here. they say all these were used during wars. You can even take an AK 47 and pose. I posed with an assault rifle to shoot a mango !

18.      Phare- the Cambodian circus: No animals only humans… had a lovely time of one hour and their acrobatics were excellent with a small story…. good sound laugh after many years..

      Day 5:

19.      Banteay srei- it is a 10^th century temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The buildings are miniature in nature with excellent carvings… it is widely praised as ‘precious gem’ or ‘jewel of khmer art’’…loved the temple.

20.      Kulen- reclining Budha, 1000 lingas, waterfalls – The reclining buddha is carved in a very big rock and must see temple. There are Vishnu statues, shiva linga in this complex prayed by all… I did abishegam with water to the shiva linga on the day happened to be the pradosham day..

Adjacent to is river Kbal Spean  and in its rocky bed 1000 lingas are carved (sahasralingas) and water flows over it. There are sculptures of shiva uma and mahavishnu which were not visible. Carved in 9^th ,11^th and 12^th century.  Valley of 1000 lingas they call…this holy water further goes to agriculture fields and the Kings thought of welfare of land through this holy water.  I planned and carried a small stone taken from holy Kailash (moortham)and I put the stone in between shivalingas with prayers for the welfare of all cambodians.

Down below we can go to a water fall.. (like most chennaities after seeing a water fall I had a good bath !}, I also met some tourists from tamilnadu here.

21.      Beng Mealea: a trip here will reveal a hidden gem in the middle of jungle devoid of restoration signs. Built ny king suryavarman II in 12^th century for Maha Vishnu.. temple in ruins with vegetations everywhere, there are lot of wooden starirs to go around with lots of photo positions! A must visit place to enjoy unaltered natural visit of a ruined temple.

22.      Roaming around visiting hotels, shops in Seam Reap:  final founding, buing missed items and other shoppings, telling bye to Indian hotel staff where we took food….felt very tired and came back fast…

Day 6:   Bus travel from Seam Reap to Phnom Pen (capital of Cambodia) – 7 hours by volvo and checking in hotel in evening. Nice south Indian thali meals in hotel amutham.. 

   

      Day 7:   Capital: Phnom Penh:  (6 hours bus ride from seam reap)

          1,  Choeung Ek genocidal center;  It is hard to believe in recent times (1975-79) people were massacred by so called powerful.  Right from intellectuals, doctors, farmers, students, common men, kids were murdered and put in mass graves. Here political prisoners of Khmer Rouge were murdered as in Tuol sleng detention center. Government has constructed a stupa in which human skulls of around 5000 were displayed..many ribs, bones….

I could see tourists cry in front of these praying for ancestors of Cambodians. The earphone conducted tour gave lots of information how they were murdered and buried. When we could just imagine the plight of ordinary people die like this we get emotions and of course angry.

(I thought how our ancestors died in independence struggle and how many were killed. We never gave importance on individuals for their sacrifice but only gave credit to Gandhis).

I prayed for all the souls for a minute.

          2.  Tuol sleng genocide museum and prison:

This was a high school earlier. It was converted as a security prison called S 21 by khmer rouge regime. The executioners of course documented photos of prisoners and all those are displayed in museum.. how they are tortured, bath once in a week by common pipe, meagre food,, (may be they would have thought why feed them when anyway they are going to be killed)).. I could enter the prison cell (a very small plywood portioned room) and my heart wept for them.

          3.  Tuol Tem Poung AKA Russian market:  to my surprise Russion influence is there now in many areas and originally (by practice) I thought in market they sell AK 47… but nice cloths, momentoes etc., were sold…

          4. National Museum:  a must visit place wherein many sculptures recovered from 8^th centyry were kept. There were big shiva lingas, nandhis, vishnus, buddhas and architectural lintels which give a picture of how olden days Cambodia was and as I could see there is a respect of hiduism with shiva and Vishnu are very famous even with commoners.

          5.  Royal palace, silver pagoda:  very big palace with lot of big buildings… there are Kings courts, pakodas, and what I liked was a emerald buddha in a prayer hall where many seen praying. (I could not meet King!)

          6. Riverside park:  good walkway alongside river..

          7. Wat Phnom: it is a buddhist temple built in 1372 and tallest religious structure in city. There were prayer going on in main hall and I also joined. The capital got its name from this hill.. it is on a hill and a 10 minutes climb...

          8. Central Market:  a big complex…with lots of small shops for cloths, shoes etc,etc, I had a tender coconut in a cup!

          9. Misc… hotels etc: walk walk more walk .. just to enjoy Phnom phen.

I have just indicated places to visit and a small brief on each location.

I strongly recommend everyone to visit cambodia and see how akanda bharath was there in olden days !!

I have arbitrarily selected around 500 photos out of around 5000 just to feel the grand temples and other areas.  I thank sudha for excellent planning and took my photos in this memorable visit......

Hope we will atleast in next generations see "Akanda Bharath".