What an incredible day! It’s probably one of the busiest and most amazing days of our tour. Bright and early at 5:15 a.m. we departed for one of the most magnificent sites in the world, the Angkor Wat temple complex, which is said to be the largest religious structure in the world. This Hindu temple was constructed over a 37 year period by 300,000 workers. It was constructed during the reign of Suryavarman II (1113-1150) as a temple dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu.
We arrived at the temple in full darkness, but gradually the sky began to lighten as dawn approached. Around 7:00 a.m. the sky became pink and orange and then the bright sun made its dramatic appearance. It would only last a few minutes, but was well worth the wait. It was a marvellous sight to see the grandeur of the great monument of the powerful Khmer Empire become more and more visible with the growing light.
Our guides took us through the temple corridors to see part of the 1.2 km long relief murals of various scenes from Hindu epics. The highlight was the “churning of the sea of milk,” a scene which shows the Hindu creation story. There were demigods and demons involved in a tug of war using a great naga or serpent as their rope to churn the sea and produce an elixir of immortality. The 160 foot long mural is a masterpiece and is amongst the finest relief carvings in the world. Throughout the temple complex are 1,800 relief carvings of beautiful and scantily- clad dancers called apsaras. Some of us climbed to the sacred third floor of the main building to get a terrific panoramic view of this true wonder of the world.
We returned to the hotel at 9:00 a.m. for a brunch and a nice long break until 3:00 p.m. when we headed out to see Angkor Thom and the stunning Buddhist temple of Bayon built by the greatest Khmer ruler Jayavarman II (1181-1220). We started first at the Leper King and Elephant terraces and walked to the Bayon with its many towers (now 54 - originally 62) with four massive faces on each side. The faces were actually of the king himself portrayed as Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. We would see his face again as we stopped at one of the gates on the way back to the hotel. Here we saw the 3D version of the churning of the sea of milk with demons on one side of the road and demigods on the other.
In the evening we had an absolutely delightful candle-lit dinner at the early 12th century Banteay Samre temple where we were entertained by a traditional Cambodian dance troupe who were all elegantly attired. After dinner we returned to the hotel, exhausted after a hard day of spectacular sightseeing.
