Temples and more temples

I knew it was a mistake to skip a day because everything would run together, but I was a little under the weather yesterday and went to bed early.  And today ... everything is running together.  In short, I saw a lot of interesting temples and wall carvings.  But I can't really remember where or when.

Angkor Wat is a single albeit incredibly impressive twelfth century temple, but the area around here is dotted with the ruins of literally hundreds of temples.  When one goes to "Angkor Wat," one generally visits five or so of the closest or most popular sites.  The word "angkor" is from the Sanskrit for "city," but it refers to a period of Khmer rule from the 9th to the 15th century.  "Wat" means a monastery temple.  Most of the grand temples here are from the Angkor period, but a few are pre-Angkorian and, of course, some are not temples.

On our way to Siem Reap, the city that is the access to Angkor Wat, we rode our bikes to the pre-Angkorian ruins at Sambor Prei Kuk.  Then we had a long bus ride to Siem Reap, arriving on New Year's Eve.  We dined at the Red Piano and joined the masses in the streets.

The next morning we took the bus to the tenth century temple at Banteay Srei.

 Then we rode our bikes back to Pre Rup and Ta Phrom.  The stung and strangler fig trees in Ta Phrom have grown over the temples and walls in a striking manner.





You can see why my mind was a blur by the time we hit Angkor Wat in the afternoon.  This is the iconic picture of the area.  Unfortunately, there was scaffolding on the front, so our view was not quite so beautiful.



Today we cycled to the huge 12th century city complex of Angkor Thom, visiting Preah Khan and the Bayon as well.  The Bayon has hundreds of smiling Buddhas while other temples had incredible wall carvings that told stories of battles, mythology, and everyday life.



I have seen way too many temples in three days to keep straight in my head.  The tour ended today, and while everyone is leaving tomorrow, I have two more days in Siem Reap.  One day I will rent a bicycle and go back to a few of the temples.  The other confusing thing about the temples is that I could not quite understand what they are for or what they represent.  Religion during the Angkor period seemed to be very fluid, with influences from both Buddhism and Hinduism.  Some temples emphasized one religion while other emphasized another.  In addition, some were dedicated to Shiva, some to Buddha, and some to other gods or concepts.  And most are not "temples" in the sense I think of a temple.  Some are funerary and some are dedicated to the king's mother or father.  There apparently was not group worship like in a church or synagogue.  Rather, people made offerings to the gods, but I can't understand when or why.  And there was something about the struggle between good and evil, the gods and the devil.

In short, the last two days have been more confusing than enlightening for me, which makes this a not very interesting blog entry.