Travel Bits: September 2015

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September 2015 has been a busy month at work for me. Because of this, I had not been writing much. Thus, I missed my self-set quota of publishing one travel article every two weeks on this blog. Now that things have cleared up a bit at work, I hope to be blogging more regularly.

In this month, I managed to find some time to travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The purpose of this trip is to visit the world famous archeological temple sites that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing of Angkor. As a keen student of history and archaeology in my free time, I had read and researched much on Angkorean history. However, no photographs or research can match the feeling of personally standing in the midst of these magnificent temples. While what remain today of these temples are but a shadow of the grandeur of the original buildings in their heydays; standing on what was and is still considered holy temple grounds and walking the hallways of the temples that were built and crafted manually hundreds of years ago literally bring history to life!

The most famous of these ancient temples is Angkor Wat. But visiting just Angkor Wat alone is not enough. To fully appreciate the history and culture of Angkor, one must also visit Angkor Thom which includes the magnificent Baphuon and the mysterious and awesome Bayon with its 216 faces of Avalokiteshvara that were carved on 54 towers, each tower bearing 4 faces of Avalokiteshvara. And there are also Ta Prohm and Banteay Srei. Little known but no less impressive Ta Keo is another important site to visit. Pre Rup, with its pyramid-shaped facade built to resemble a mountain should also be on any visitor's itinerary.

My recommendation for those visiting the Angkor temple sites for the first time is to first spend some time touring the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap. This museum houses many Angkorean artefacts spread over 8 galleries. Learning a bit about the history and culture of the people who built the Angkor temples before visiting the sites would allow a much deeper appreciation of what you will see during your field trips.

The author, Timothy Tan at Pre Rup, Siem Reap, Cambodia (2015)


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