Angkor, the City of Temples
Cambodia puts a temple on its flag, and once you have stood in front of Angkor Wat at dawn you understand why. Spread across 401 square kilometers of forest in the country's northwest, Angkor Archaeological Park holds 91 temples built between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, when the Khmer Empire ruled much of Southeast Asia from this spot. It is one of the great wonders of the human world, and it asks one thing of you: time.
What to Expect
Your base is Siem Reap, a relaxed riverside town a short tuk-tuk ride from the park gates. Passes come in one-day, three-day and seven-day versions, and the three-day pass is the one to buy. One day gives you Angkor Wat and a blur. Three days give you the temples at their best hours, early morning and late afternoon, with long lunches and a swim in between while the midday heat does its worst. Come between November and February, when the air is dry and the mornings are almost cool.
Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument on earth, and it was built to be a mountain. King Suryavarman II raised it in the first half of the twelfth century and dedicated it to Vishnu. Its five towers represent the peaks of Mount Meru, home of the gods in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, and its vast moat stands in for the ocean that surrounds it. Unusually, the temple faces west, toward the setting sun and the direction associated with death, which is why many scholars believe it was also meant as the king's funerary temple. Walk the galleries slowly. The bas-reliefs run for hundreds of meters, and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, gods and demons pulling a serpent back and forth to stir up the elixir of immortality, is the panel to find. Over the centuries that followed, Angkor Wat passed gradually from Hindu to Buddhist worship, and it has never been abandoned. Saffron-robed monks still walk its corridors today.
Sunrise over the reflecting pools is the cliché worth keeping. Arrive in the dark, find a spot by the northern pool, and watch the five towers turn from silhouette to gold. You will not be alone, but when the sky starts to color, nobody talks.
Angkor Thom and the Bayon belong to a different king and a different faith. After an invading army sacked the city in 1177, Jayavarman VII built a new walled capital and placed the Bayon at its heart, a temple of more than two hundred serene stone faces gazing out in every direction. Enter through the South Gate, where rows of gods and demons line the causeway, and wander until you lose count of the faces. They will not lose track of you.
Ta Prohm is the temple the jungle won. Built by the same king and dedicated to his mother, it was left largely as explorers found it, with silk-cotton and strangler fig roots pouring over its walls like wax down a candle. Go first thing in the morning, before the crowds and the heat arrive together.
Banteay Srei is the half-hour drive out of the main circuit that rewards everyone who makes it. Consecrated in 967, this small temple is carved from pink sandstone in detail so fine it looks almost like lace. Late afternoon light turns it the color of rose gold.
Where to Eat and Drink
Start with fish amok, Cambodia's national dish: fish steamed in banana leaves with coconut milk and kroeung, a fragrant paste of lemongrass, galangal and turmeric. Order lok lak, stir-fried beef with a lime and Kampot pepper dipping sauce, and have num banh chok for breakfast the way locals do, rice noodles under a green fish curry with a heap of fresh herbs. Wander Siem Reap's Old Market for spices and silk, then take an evening drink along the river and let the day's temples settle in.
Why Angkor Still Matters
Angkor has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, and nearly a million international travelers make their way here each year. Yet it has never become a museum. Hindus and Buddhists alike come to pray, and families whose roots run back to the age of the Khmer kings still live and farm among the temples. Here, two great faiths share the same stones, and the site continues to evolve without losing its past.
If Angkor is the start of a longer journey through Southeast Asia, and it should be, I'd love to help you shape it. Schedule a consultation with me and let's build the trip around the pace you actually want to travel at.
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