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The iconic photo of Angkor Wat
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| Apsaras: bare-breasted beauties belonging to the god-king |
In the morning we visited Angkor Wat, the big draw to Cambodia, and our expectations were high. This temple invariably features in any traveller's atlas or a book of 'Things To See Before You Die'; don't you recognise the 5 lotus-bud towers rising out of the jungle and reflected in the reservoir? It's going to be hard to do justice to this wonderful man-made creation. Maybe it's enough to say that, after such a big build up, it was no disappointment at all, and the image is fixed in my mind's eye, alongside the Taj Mahal. Angkor Wat is so big that it took us a whole morning to tour around and considering it's 1000 years old it's in jolly good nick. We climbed to the top terrace, originally reserved for the high priest and king and no mean feat in 36 degree heat, and were rewarded with the fine views of the huge tropical trees. The bas-reliefs carved into the walls, not only look exquisite but have left a valuable impression of life at the time as well as classic Hindu stories. I'm not alone in loving the carvings of apsaras (celestial women) on the outer gallery wall, based on the god-king's bevy of beauties. Just look at the detail! What with the gallery of a 1000 Buddhas, I got a little muddled about the temple's history of Hindu, god-king and Buddhist religions, but they seem easy going about it so that's OK with me. It was very, very hot and although I had my sun hat and plenty of cool water I overheated and had to find a window with a slight breeze to sit and recover before I passed out. I ended up bright red in the face, puffing, sweating profusely and had swollen feet and still loved the experience.
So, what did we think of that? 11 out of 10 from us all!!!
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