It has been longer then I like since we have updated, but this monumental feature should hopefully make up for it. The next news item should be welcome news as well to some of you.
REJOICE! another swag of oversized pictures to dominate your available bandwidth: TEMPLES OF ANGKOR DAY III: GODS AND MONSTERS!
actually i am reluctant to reduce the image size at all - the detail on the full resolution pictures is amazing. to reduce them at all seems a disservice.
See for yourself, get your caffeine on and get started now!
and don't ask what "sarcastrated" means - it made perfect sense at 4am
this sign greeted visitors to the bank in siem reap - shades of jalalabad
i thought a full map covering the majority of the angkor complex might be of interest. there are hundreds if not thousands of temples throughout the region from thailand to vietnam.
Stocked with laughing cow cheese and baguettes, (some canned-tuna for the carnos), we departed reasonably early for the remote temple of Banteay Srei, a 30 km trek past the main angkor group to the north and through some rural areas. well, some areas. to describe an area as "rural" implies there are some non-rural areas, which outside of Pnomh Penh, don't exist. The trip required under 30 minutes...a year prior i had bumped along for a harrowing hour over the small boulders comprising the unfinished road. now it's all glass and the number of visitors to the site has increased exponentially.
just oozing with authenticity
the chainguard came off one of the motos, these roadside khmer mechanics demonstrated some creativity with a stripped screw and an aluminum can
quite a replete kitchen set for her dust pies
perhaps due to an abundance of iron, but the ruddy soil leaves you caked with fine red layer
Banteay Srei - 'citadel of the women' - 10th century (967) - Hindu
It was not that long ago that people were attacked or robbed out at Banteay Srei, but now there is a steady flow of visitors and some posted soldiers
1 - Banteay Srei is total fantasy. a castle in miniature where one would find the fay folk. It's the most "Indian" of the hindu temples and the delicate work has largely survived
2 - the grand causeway is larger then the temple itself
3 - view through the first enclosure wall. all of the temple is constructed of a strong red sandstone that has weathered well, the hue of which suggests a relation to the dust on the road
4 - passage through the second enclosure wall. the frontons above the lintels are each fantastic works of art. randy and adam for some reason didn't think it was a cool idea to come back at night and take some as souvenirs. what squares.
5 - same same, but different
6 - the inner shrines. a year prior you could wander amidst these as the detailed work invites close examination. now they have the entire inner grouping cordioned off. with the large increase in traffic the site, it is understandable and commendable that they would move to protect the delicate carving. however it does make me appreciate having visited prior when it was wide open. You really should visit here sooner rather then later. If the changes in a year are any indication. Read this and be very frightened.
7 - inside the third enclosure wall, the inner group of shrines
8 - at the other end of the spectrum from the Monumentality of the other temples, the miniature quality of these is also appreciable. more intimate.
9 - Eastern fronton of the northern library: At the top, Indra, god of the sky, is scattering celestial rain on a forest inhabited by animals. He rides in a chariot drawn by a three headed elephant and is surrounded by winds and clouds. The rain falls on the wings of birds flying by. A naga rises in the midst of the rain. At the bottom, a pastoral scene shows a young Krishna and his brother surrounded by animals in the forest enjoying the rain.
10 - Eastern fronton of the southern library: Ravana, the multi-headed demon king from Sri Lanka goes to Mt. Kailasa where shiva lives with his wife Parvati. He wants a little parvati of his own, but when he tries to get in, the monkey-men deny him entry. So Ravana starts freakin and lifts the mountain up by it's base. Shiva at the top says "I don't think so" and uses his littlest toe to smash the entire mountain back down on Ravana.
12 - Besides Shiva chilling on his bull Nandi, visible here is the wedding-cake delicate carving in the stone that covers every square inch of Banteay Srei.
13 - the corners of the lintels have some interesting work
14 - you know i love the nagas...
15 - the other ones we have seen to this point all had their faces worn off, but i believe they all once had this level of detail
16 - on the central towers both male and female divities stand in recessed niches. they are in perfect proportion. those are some elongated lobes though (ear).
17 - the males sport more of a fierce 'tribal' look
18 - now here is the first of my two favorite carvings at banteay srei...here we see Horse-Head with his chest defiantly puffed out brandishing two heads formerly attached to some wicked demons
19 - I wonder how in Khmer you say: "I'm gonna tear off your head and shit down your neck!"
lets take a closer look at that one...
The trip out to Banteay Srei consumed over half the day, and we still had not made it to Angkor damn Wat yet, the main attraction. Salary Man Randy had to fly out that night, so we skipped a few re-imaginings of "Mt. Meru" originally scheduled for the afternoon. We did however make it by Ta Prohm, another spectacular site. Ta Prohm was earmarked by the Frogs when they first came through here to be left mostly unrestored to preserve an example of how all the temples originally looked to the first 20th century (western) explorers. They cut back the jungle and shored up the architecture, but mostly left things how they found them.
Ta Prohm - "ancestor Brahma" - 12th century (1186) - Buddhist
Note: I am not entirely certain of the locations of the photos, it was a chaotic space
21 - some cool coconut milk is a good thing in this heat
22 - monumental ruin
23
24 - it's plush green jungle ruins here
25 - banyan uber alles
27 - the site may be in ruins but that doesnt mean there isn't some nice work. though banteay srei really spoils with it's quality of detail
28 - the biomatter oozes down the stone. reclamation is in progress.
29 - looks like a giant monster octopus
30 - we saw the work crew we had earlier theorized exists. somebody has to make the rounds to clean off the growth and pluck out the trees taking root in the structures. judging on what we've seen, it must take these guys a year to make a full tour.
31 - man in action
32 - it was easy to see this as some sort of angry tree beast stooping over to tear out a fistful of stone
33
34 - just your average wall o' apsaras, ascetics, buddhas, and nymphs
35
36 - over the wall to the right lies the inner sanctum
37 - lord gautama buddha repository
38 - fat man must have been a Don in the local buddhist mafia. or something. i thought buddhism wasn't particularly heirarchical? guess i should have just asked what his deal was.
We didn't actually stop by Ta Keo, but I thought I would include a few of my older shots of it as it has some interesting characteristics. The stones of these temples would all be laid and placed before any of the ornamental carving began. Ta Keo was just at this stage when work was abandoned for an unknown reason.
40 - Not just another Mt. Meru
41 - Some small pieces of work are completed, but for the most part the stones were left as they came hewn from the quarry.
42 - the result is something of a cubist look
That said, it was time to move on the the main event, the big kahuna, the WAT of ANGKOR WAT.
This was stapled to a tree near where we parked our motos. I imagine the khmer script says something to the effect of "Don't be SMILING SISSY MAN. YOU TOO can be ACTION HERO carry MANY GUNS and lock away BAD PEOPLES!"
Angkor Wat - "the city which is a temple" - early 12th century (1113-50) - Hindu
Angkor Wat is a monster titan temple. It's really big. If you look at the first map of the region, you can see that this single temple site is almost as big as Siem Reap. The largest temple of the Angkor group and one of the most intact.
43 - The massive moat runs around the entirety of Angkor Wat, the sole means of entry and egress a stone causeway rising out of the water. The outer structure of halls connected by once massive gopuras is impressive structure in of itself.
44 - The structure also served the purpose of effectively blocking the view of the temple to those outside its gates. No common peasant can be allowed to set eyes on the grandeur. It's all about melodrama, instead of a visible approach from afar, as soon as you go through this western gateway, BAM you are hit with the full optimal view exploding in front of you. Melodrama is important in any religion.
45 - no, there was never a multi-limbed buddha, this large figure standing in the entry hall is another hindu element repurposed by the buddhists. (originally Vishnu until they decapitated his divine torso and slapped on a buddha-head)
46 - These devatas (female divinities) line the angkor-facing east wall of the west entrance. mystic donut amulets and all.
47 - Ritual dance was an important part of Khmer culture, nobody remembers how to do it though as the Khmer Rouge killed all the artists.
48 - There you have it, the icon adorning the Cambodian flag, and every can of beer and pack of cigarettes produced domestically. There are nine towers in all; the four on the second tier are mostly fallen, however the five on the third tier are in excellent condition. it is something of an architectural trick that it is difficult to see all five at once, the layout is not exactly square.
The fields to the right and left of the causeway once containted a dense city, stairs leading down from both sides of the causeway connecting its streets. The two large "libraries" mid-field (the left is currently being restored) are impressive themselves, though dwarfed by the structure behind them.
49 - a favorite in my 'person taking picture of other person' series. especially the kid who is made to hold his monk-sack. (the yellow bag, er nevermind...)
50 - i dug out my "angkor reflected in water," pic just because you're all so special
51 - and here is angkor reflected on cattle. note: the cattle of cambodia are particularly aggressive, and prone to charging.
52 - Taken from the cruciform "Terrace of Honor” (where the king would receive visitors, making them walk to him down that looong causeway) looking towards the southernmost western entrance to the galleries. sentinel lions in foreground with a cartoonish aspect.
53 - the main structure forming the base of the temple is an enormous gallery of bas-reliefs. they are delineated on the map above. of course i took some pictures of the particularly brutal scenes, which happens to be most of the almost kilometer long expanse of ten foot high carvings.
54 - The infamous “Churning of the Ocean of Milk” wherein the gods and demons, who have been fighting over who can produce an elixir of immortality from the Ocean of Milk (this process involves much “churning” evidently) work together to, um, take this this big snake, wrap it around a mountain, and churn the hell out of the ocean. All sorts of wacky mayhem ensues, but ultimately they produce the elixir and live happily forever. This is the myth scene that is credited for inspiring those awesome naga balustrades and statues in front of the south entrance to angkor thom and preah kahn. This picture only shows the left side illustrating the gods, several meters to the right the demons are straining in reverse. It's too large to get a complete image of - i could post others if there was a desire expressed.
55 - Nose Rings are cool. This section showed scenes from Heaven and Hell. The top half the former and the bottom of the latter. Of course I mostly documented the latter. Heaven looked predictably boring, it is always the prospects of Hell that excite the imagination of men.
56 - One of the many intense scenes along the “wall of war”
57 - The back (eastern) side of Angkor Wat, the windows with the vertical stone slats allow light to enter the galleries.
58 - Angkor Wat combines several temple design elements we have seen before in innovative ways. It is a representation of Mt. Meru, but instead of an exposed pyramid, vaulted halls and pillars create internal space throughout. The vaulted halls here continue to follow internal staircases as shown here.
59 - From inside the second tier looking up towards the third level. The central staircase is inexplicably blocked off, lending a forbidding facade.
60 - the exterior of the second tier is somewhat stark, but the inside is elaborately carved. Thousands of apsaras cavort about, and this is the only place where we’ve seen them in groups of two or three, smiling coquettishly .
61 - i said “arms interlocked and smiling coquettishly” wheres my picture?!
62 - Originally only the King and the High Priest were allowed to ascend to the third level. Now any asshole can scale the treacherous excuse for a staircase with their oversized feet.
63 - Northwest tower seen from the third level.
64 - Though I had originally assumed it to be a gaff of early rushed restoration, the french actually did not do much with Angkor Wat. The local buddhists did a restoration job sometime in the 19th century, with some unfortunate results. That pillar came from somewhere else and will be sorely missed.
65 - some detail of the central most tower.
66 - The central tower contains four shallow buddha shrines that face outwards in the cardinal directions. So there it is, the inner sanctum of one of the most intense centers of spirituality on our planet. The spot vibrates righteously. Actually, it’s not the innermost sanctum. Originally inside the tower was an open space containing Vishnite statuary, but the buddhists restructured it to its current configuration long ago. We had a strong desire to sledge our way past one of the sacred lord gautamas and gain access to the central core. THAT is where the treasures must await proper looting. I’m sure the french were way ahead of any aspiring Crofts/Jones on that one...
67 - We matched the descent of the sun, taking in different parts of the structure at different levels of lighting.
68 - Stopping to burn a little incense, we allowed a small ration of harmony to seep through the ennui of our jaded sarcastrated callous selves, because this just isn’t something one experiences terribly often...
Next: Turning Japanese
