Preah Vihear a fight between Bhuddists.

Prasat Preah Vihear was built by Suryavarman I sometime between 1002 and 1049, the length of his reign. It is located in the Dangrek Mountains on the border with current day Thailand and current day Cambodia. This has not always been the case and now the " peace" is kept by a United Nations flag. The Thais and the Cambodians (Khmers) have been spatting about this place for years, ever since the French left and before! It has been on my to do list for many years now but something has always stopped me in the past. It was either money (the cost of getting there), timing (I needed to be somewhere else) or mines (either the Thais or the Khmers or both). This time everything fit and I had a friendly driver who could speak a little English. Sweet!

The journey there took us past Bantey Seri and Kbal Speen in the Kulen Plateau. Then it was up and over the Kulen and on up the road to Anglong Veng on the Thai border. Then it was right for 100 km until Preah Vihear Province. Anglong Veng used to be a big spot for Khmer Rouge. They aren't there any more but the town seems to have changed very little over the years and it has an old and well lived in atmosphere, not unlike some far outback town in Aus. The trip was long and the country very flat except close to the border where the Dangrek Mountains loom like sentinels over the country. They are quite high and have an imposing escarpment facing Cambodia. The countryside was dry post rice harvest. There were carpets of green where no rice had been grown from the last season. The rest was scrubby bush interspersed with crops of manioc and indeterminate fruit orchards. After a while it all gets hypnotic and I nodded off.

We arrived at the ticket office, I quite rested and refreshed and my driver a little slower. It should really be called a ticket compound rather than office  because it took up a large area with quite a number of people ready to "do things". You must make it perfectly clear from this point on that you are not a Thai person, that you do not have anything to do with Thailand, least of which is coming from there! At this point I was told that we needed to hire a car to go up the mountain. Did I tell you the temple (Prasat for Ernies sake) is situated on the top of a very high mountain with a cliff clinging to the back wall of the
Temple/Prasat? Well it is ! Our car could not cope with the grade of the hill, so after an exchange of cash we climbed aboard this 4X4 2 door ute thing and climbed up the mountain. I kept my eyes firmly on the floor not wanting to be assailed by a panic attack for fear of heights. I am sure that the views were spectacular as they certainly were when we got to the top! You can say what you like about "spectacular" and "awesome and all those other adjectives but I am here to tell you that the views were all of those things in SPADES! In one direction you could see hundreds of kilometers into Thailand, in the opposite you could see hundreds of kilometers into Cambodia. On the Thai view side in the middle distance you could see the last outpost of Thailand complete with Flag and pole and a few flashy buildings that have a religious air about them. More of that later.

Let out of the car we had a long, for me, arduous walk up a hill past the UN Flagpole to the front Ghopura or for the anglophile "gate".   The Ghopura is in quite a state of disrepair but you can still see the overall structure and some very nice carvings on lintels and roof tops. From the first gate there is a very long avenue of stones to walk up. At least 200 meters quite possibly more. It was "arduous". Up a short set of stairs and you are in gate #2 or should I say the second Ghopura. It is a bit more complicated than the first Ghopura in that it has rooms on either side. There is another very long avenue further up the hill. Fortunately the "way of visit" sign pointed away from the avenue. We followed as requested and got some spectacular views of a tower with a grove of bambooy stuff growing from the roof or what was left of it. It looked like a giant "Gronk" doll, remember those hideous plastic things with a head of funny colored hair sticking out of a hole in the back of the head?

The third gate prooved nearly to be the last. The final sanctuary lay within the walls of a central building which in turn was surrounded by a covered gallery. Walking along inside the gallery was a welcom respite from the blazing sun outside, so cool. Ritual was continuing as it had for centuries. There were 2 monks, a lot of incence and cash dotted everywhere. In the back behind the votive area stood the gods; Bhudda, Vishnu and Shiva. Quite splendid. Humbled at the scene I backed quietly out and went in search of the cliff. This was right behind the back wall of the Prasat. It was very steep, plunging vertically for about 300 feet. Needless to say I kept a safe psychotic distance from that particular thing. Picture for yourself a 63 year old man, portly in stature trying to peer over the cliff from say about 10 meters distance. Talk about an exercise in futility. Well that was it, we walked for about 3km up a hill through an enormous and quite old temple out the back and to the almost cliff edge. Then we (my driver and I, who had now become quite solicitous as to my state of health - cf: the walk up.) turned about and at a relaxed, if not a little tentative pace we walked back down the hill. We passed the temple and various groups of what appeared to be locals and military relatives having picnics. We approached what could only be described as a military observation post complete with a bereted soldier that looked very fit. To my suprise my driver walked on in, had a chat and looked through a very military looking set of binoculars. I gingerly followed and to the second obbo point. When I looked through the binocs I was looking at a Thai soldier in thier observation point looking through his binocs at me! In true Aussie fashion and in solidarity with my Khmer colleagues I gave him the bird. I thouroughly enjoyed my little visit with the military. It all looked so impossibly complicated and stupid. But you can see why they like to keep the view.

All that was needed now was to point the car in the general direction and head for Stung Treng some 250km away. I planned to stay the night and catch the bus to the 4000 Islands the next day. We arrived late in the afternoon, the sun setting on a dusty and dirty river town one stop before the border. It took some finding but eventually we found my hotel. I had a fourth floor room overlooking the Mekong for $20 US and they had a lift! Kaloo Kalay. No dragging my gigantic pack up any stairs for this little black duck. Stung Treng itself is quite a large bustling riverside city. The large market is very close to the hotel  and provided me with dinner. A very nice piece of bbqed chook and some fried noodles with other stuff of indeterminate and determinate natures. I have to say tho, that given the chance I would probably avoid this place like the plague. Next stop Don Det, Mike and Tip, Dave, Mini et al 

The Kulen Plateau.

There are times in my life when I have had  really intense experiences. I have this sort of epiphany about halfway through the experience and know without doubt that I will never forget this. Going to the Kulen Mountains was just such an occasion. It started very early in the morning in Siem Reap, anxious for a quick getaway and avoiding the rush hour, my diver and I made our way out toward Bantey Srei in airconditioned luxury.

The Kulen Mountains have a special draw for me. In my studies of Khmer history, I had read about a city that Jayavarman II had built on this plateau on the Kulen Plateau. The city was built in about the 9th century and was to all intents quite spectacular. It was called Mayahadrapura or something like that. The thing is that that was about 12 centuries ago !  Since then the jungle has swallowed everything up. The plateau is not flat but is riven by valleys and ridges. There are also large area of sandstone rock platforms with exposed surfaces, rilled and folded in what looks like the bottom of a very old river. Everything else is thick dense jungle.

As I mentioned before, we left Siem Reap by car. This was to get to the top of the plateau. They have a strange arrangement with the road up the mountain. There is only one road and it is very narrow, full of hairpins and up the steep sides of a plateau. So you can only go up in the morning. In the afternoon you can only go down. Once you arrive at the top you have to hire a man with a motorbike to take you across the plateau and into a maze of very small one man tracks through the jungle. My driver was so small and light I could have picked him up with one hand Mr Atlas style. As a trials motorcycle rider he could have beaten the best! His skills of balance and determination were prodigeous. He steered me across acres of rock platform through gullies, over ridges and up small cliffs. He rode  along jungle tracks just wide enough to just fit the width of the bike (needless to say I had to brush branches and greenery off me all the time. At least I was so much taller than he that I could see clearly ahead at what was coming). Only twice did I have to get off and walk, once when the track was too steep for 2 and once when the track was submerged in a muddy reedy creek. Long stretches of deep sand were no obstacle, he just paddled through with feet out reaching like ski sticks. This was all done on a step - through with me on the back!

The sites to see were another part of what was such an amazing journey. Our first stop, after about 30mins bumping up and down on the saddle like a demented ballon was a huge stone Elephant , life size carved from the rock and standing sentenel - like on it's own. Beside it across a short gap were a frog not much smaller than a very small car and two very large Lions. They all sit in the middle of nowhere like some ancient Easter Island head as if waiting to be transported to thier final resting point. There is no percievable reason for them in the near vicinity. Thay are not part of a bigger complex, there are no laterite walls surrounding, just a flattened bowl with a small spring. The statues are beautifully carved and give off an imposing aura.

The next stop was what my driver called a "Prasat". In Khmer this means temple and sure it was. There were 3 towers, the middle one pretty much still standing but  only just. The two on either side have just about fully collapsed the towers are made of brick. You cannot see mortar between the courses as they did not use mortar to hold them together. Apparently they use a form of glue made from the sap of a tree and sugar and some other stuff. You could not slip the proverbial cigarette paper between the bricks. We are talking here about a tower about 35 feet high with each course slightly "corbelled" upon the other so that the roof finally is formed as the walls lean into each other. The Engineering skills are amazing when you remember this was done in the 9th century, about 200 years before the Normans started building huge castles in England.

The next stop was just a big, big mound which resolved itself into a large Laterite platforn with an inset of a Linga platform in the middle. Looking about I could see the outline of the wall that surrounded the original temple at a distance of about 30 -40 meters. Lying about were piles of stones that would have formed the temple  and of course the unbiquitous bricks.

The next stop was another Prasat. It was a single tower made of brick sitting on a laterite platform surrounded by a low wall of laterite blocks. It was spectacular in the sense that there it stood alone with the encroaching  jungle held back by some obdurate slashing on the part of unseen people. You look at ths wall of vegitation and can see the mammoth battle it would take to keep it cowed. The effect on me was to think about these towers in the context of the city that they were part of. It must have been amazing.

For the next stop my driver asked me if I would like to see Laksmi and Vishnu and Shiva carved in rock. I of course said "YES!" . We went to this area of rocks and following a path between large rocks we came to a grove  with large rocks buried in the ground which were covered in carvings of the afformentioned gods and what not. Though ancient and worn with weathering you could still make out the exquisite carving and some of the detail it was incredible. The way the roacks were slowly sinking into the surface soil was quite artistic. Again I was assailed with the questions ; why here? What was going on here that people would create this sculptural graffitti all around the rock surfaces? The carvings did not appear to have come from a building they are just covering the surrounding rocks apparently randomly. In times like this I need an expert.

Our last stop was on the return to the "town" was at an unremarkable break in the forest with the merest suggestion of structure. It was the site of another Prasat but it had long since melted back into the compost of the jungle floor. Just pile to indicate the central tower and the surrounding wall. For me it was interesting. I would love to have had a trowel and a brush and gone fossicking.

Our return to the town after some 3 hours riding was physically rewarding. My little man took me to the temple of the reclining bhudda. A big visit spot for the locals. To see the bhudda you have to climb up about 30 feet on concrete stairs suspended in mid air! The Bhudda, reclining, is carved into the top of a huge rock. He is about 10 meters long and has a big smile. He is surrounded by locals praying for thier, and others lives. Joss sticks smouldering between two hands in prayer shape they entone thier prayers humbly before the man.

My man took me back to the car I came in and my other driver. He took me to the river with the lingams carved in its bed and then to the waterfalls that attract so many local Khmer tourists. By the time I had finished this I was a virtual cripple. I could hardly put one foot in front of the other I was so tired stiff and sore. The hours trip back to Siem Reap and the trip down the mountain went very quickly assisted by me falling asleep in the car!

It was an amazing journey, I hope the photos below do it some justice. They are in a roughly chronological order so you should be able to follow the story in them. If not please tell me and I will try to do better. The next blog will be about Preah Vihear and the trip into Laos. Cheers chaps. 

A day in the temples.

,This was to be my first and only day of viewing the temples at Angkor (the area around Siem Reap). I had organised a tuk tuk driver the day before, negotiating what seemed to me to be a fair price ($20 US). The photos below are a chronological tour of the day so I hope the pics will fill in the detail of the story.

We started off a the very respectable hour of 9am. It was an overcast day promising rain at some time. It was also very hot (about 34 degrees) so I was not concerned about getting wet. The first site I wanted to see was Auk Yum. It is the oldest site at Angkor being about 8th/9th century CE. The actual builder is unknown because evidence shows that the original temple was built over at a later time. There is a lintel stone in the site that was dated by the inscription to a particular date (Saturday 10 June 674). This part was reused from somewhere else so the temple must be younger than this time.  When looked at it is just a pile of stones emerging from the bank of the Western Baray, but putting it in the context of its history even the pile of stones becomes very interesting. We drove tothe siteon the main road past the airport, our return was along the top of the wall/ bank of the Western Baray (this has a Khmer name  which I can't remember and am too lazy to go and look up). The first 7 photos are of Auk Yum and the next 3 are of the Wesren Baray - 2 of the water and one of the road on top of the bank. The Baray is huge, I mean very huge, apparently at least the size of Sydney Harbour! It is hard to comprehend unless you actually look at it through your own eyes. It is quite breathtaking. There is an Island in the middle with a temple in it. I could have hired a boat to go and have a look  but the asking price was too high (more than the cost of my tuk tuk man for all day!).

We then drove back past the airport and into Angkor Thom, through the city and out the Eastern ( Victory) gate to Spean Thma ( Stone Bridge in modern Khmer )  The next 4 photos are of the bridge. It is dated to the 16th century and is interesting from  several points. The construction of the arches isby a method called corbeling which produces narrow arches as the walls are made with over lapping layers. It is not thestrongest wayof building an arch which was exacerbated by it being built on sand. The river moved leaving it luckily high and dry. Of aesthetic interest is the trees growing over the rocks Tomb Raider style.

The next temple and set of photos (4) is called  Ta Nei it was built in the late 12th century bu Jayavarman VII and is in the Bayon style. It was enlarged by Indravarman  II. It is a smaller scale temple hidden away from the main drag and surrounded by jungle. The outer walls seem mainly intact but the inner area is festooned with piles of rock around the central sanctuary. I chose to look at this place because of the name, it sounds like the name of one of my neighbours grandchildren. It turned out to be a good choice as it was quite small, out of the way and there were no other tourists there.

We went for a lazy lunch in a reateraunt in front of the Ta Keo temple (In the temple mountain style).  The meal was very nice and I had a chance to relax and rest up ready for the next and final temple for the day, The Bakheng.  

Prasat Bakheng (Bakheng temple) is built on Phenom Bakheng a large hill not far from Angkor Wat. It was built in the 9th/10th century by king Yasovarman I. It was the stae temple of the first city at Angkor called Yasodharapura. The city was 4km square with Bakheng being in the centre. To get to thetemple you have to walk up a hill for about 2 km. It was about 2pm when I attempted the climb and I arrived a soaking sweaty mess after about 1 hour and many stops to catch breath and re charge. The temple up the top is undergoing extensive restoration necessary to prevent it collapsing and raining down the hill. From the upper platform youget absolutely stunning views 360 degree around. You can see the tops of Angkor Wat peering through the trees and you can see almost the full extent of the Western Baray. The views are stunning and well worth the climb. On the right day sunset or sunrise would be truely spectacular.ji

On the walk down the hill I bumpedinto a woman from Sydney who was an archeologist. We hada long chat about things archeological. It isquite uncanny how these coincidences occur. This was my last templefor the day. My driver took me back to my hotel where Ihad a relaxing shower and snooze before a night out on Pub Street Stay tuned for the next blog from the Kulen Plateau.