Going Back Once Again - Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm - August 10, 2007

Ta Prohm - November 4, 2014

Ta Prohm - 14 December 2016

The decisively characteristic thing about this world is its transience. In this sense, centuries have no advantage over the present moment. Thus the continuity of transience cannot give any consolation; the fact that life blossoms among ruins proves not so much the tenacity of life as that of death.
— Franz Kafka

Ta Prohm - August 10, 2007

Ta Prohm - November 2014

Ta Prohm - 14 December 2016

International Tourism to the Angkor Wat region has dramatically increased from 2006 when approximately 900,000 tourists visited. In 2016 the number of foreign tourists was 2,205,000.  Tourism to the region increases each year and naturally they all typically end up touring the ruins.

The ruins are mainly constructed from sandstone.  Millions of footsteps each year on and across the sandstone blocks cause both erosion and stress on the blocks. The material eventually breaks down sooner than if they were just exposed to natural forces. Just as wind and water can wear down rock, so can pedestrian traffic but quicker.

Millions of footsteps on the ground surrounding the ruins also damages the roots of the trees.  Damaged roots lead to diseased trees which collapse and cause additional damage to structures.  Compacted soil around the ruins affects the drainage of the area which affects the stability of the ground beneath the structures.

The international community, for various reasons and motivations, has sponsored and supervised the restoration of many of the temples.

Carving of Devata at Ta Prohm

Buddhism teaches that all things that are dependent upon something else or affected by something else are in flux, changing and not permanent but is impermanent.  The temples of Siem Reap are roughly a thousand years old - a very long time in human terms and perspective but they are far from permanent.

Many of the temples have strangler fig trees, sprung trees, and silk-cotton trees growing in them.  The roots of the trees grow over the tops of the structures, first starting in small crevices between the building blocks and as the roots increase in size - growing deeper and larger separating the building blocks and eventually contributing to the collapse of the structure - a process that ran pretty much from the fall of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century to the 20th century intervention by the Europeans.

The 21st century has ushered in accelerated efforts by nations such as The People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea, and India to "restore" and "save" the wonders of the region.

India sponsored and supervised the "restoration" of the famous "tree" temple, Ta Prohm.  Ta Prohm besides being known a s the Khmer temple ruin with the trees growing on top of it and was also the location for several scenes of the Angeline Jolie film "Laura Croft, Tomb Raider".

The restoration project lasted from 2003 to 2014.  The restoration and conservation effort involved installation of boardwalks and a railing system to control access by visitors as well as to minimize the impact of visitors on the site.

Conservation efforts also included efforts to repair and protect the trees from the stresses induced by visitors, fungal attacks, and instability due to pour drainage at the site.  It had been determined necessary to ensure the health of the existing trees in and on the structures to safeguard the structures.  For many of the structures the flora and the ruins had become inextricably one - literally and figuratively.  The tree root systems in many area support the structure and what would Ta Prohm, "The Tree Temple", be without the trees?

"A man sees what he wants to see, and disregards the rest"  paraphrasing Paul Simon.

So it is with the ruins of Siem Reap area and I am fairly confident of any other 1,000 year old ornate structures built by man.

At first glance and typically during the first visit, the majesty and complexity of the structures are over whelming.  The grandeur of man's works is astonishing.  However a more relaxing pace or second visit reveals that all is not what it originally appears to be.  There is often a hodgepodge of discontinuous carvings, shapes, ill matched textures, ill fitting block work, filled in window openings as well as filled in doorways. This reality was missed by our mind's desire to fill in the blanks when first viewing the massive ruins.  We want the ruins to be what we want them to be and our minds suppress processing the realities that do not fit into our desired interpretation of what we see.

Upon seeing these discontinuities, you are able to be aware that the ruins for a large part have been reconstructed by man.  The ravages and onslaught of time and nature have been mitigated by men far removed from the original builders.  Newer blocks and bricks along with recreations of portions of carved murals have been included into the modern ruins.

Part of the Indian restoration of Ta Prohm involved reconstructing a gallery that had collapsed.  For other structures, the reconstruction involved dismantling the structure and reassembling it in a more stable configuration.  Structures that were heavily braced by large timbers in 2007 are now free standing in 2016.

One of my favorite photos of our 2014 visit is of a gallery at Ta Prohm that I did not remember from our earlier visit in 2007 ... a collapsed gallery in 2007 that is now rebuilt as part of the 21st century restoration.

Ta Prohm Gallery - November 20114

The ruins of Cambodia are changing, constantly changing from the forces of nature, time, gravity and man - well intended or not.  The ruins of Cambodia are impermanent just as all other things, that are affected or dependent upon something, are impermanent.

Our trip back to Siem Reap was not going back in time because changes have made that impossible.  The ruins are no where near what they were one thousand years ago.  The ruins are not what they were just nine years ago.  They are not what they were nor are they what they will be.

However, Duangchan and I were able to experience and to enjoy the ruins with a different perspective.  We were able to embrace and accept the ruins as they were ... December 2016.

Although this was our third visit to Ta Prohm, and many changes had occurred since our first visit, there were sights there that had been there all the time ... only to be revealed to us on a third visit.

A carved head surrounded by a tree

Our experiences of this trip has left me wondering though.  I wonder about the futility and cost of restoration programs.  The intervention of man against nature and time will not stop changes.  At best the intervention will delay the manifestation of major change but never prevent it.  At its worst, man's intervention to stop change will create unnatural change or worst of all obliterate the spirit of the original object.  At what point is the original object destroyed leaving only the restorer's vision or interpretation to remain?

We were able to thoroughly enjoy our trip because we were able to appreciate and experience the changes ... to experience the ruins as they are.

Although major restoration work has subsided at Ta Prohm , conservation efforts related to vegetation continues.  Outside the main temple area in a field of moss covered stones distributed among the trees, Cambodian workers continue the effort to document the ruins.  The debris had unique identifying numbers painted on them.  Due to rain, moss, and intense sunlight, many of the stones were losing their identity.  A team of workers were cleaning the areas where the identifications were located and repainting the unique letter/number combinations with white paint.

Restoration work - repainting identification of stones

Thomas Wolfe wrote a novel entitled "You Can't Go Home, Again"

Quoting from the novel ""You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time – back home to the escapes of Time and Memory"

We were not able to go back in time but it was a pleasant as well as rewarding journey, once again, to Ta Prohm. It was an opportunity not to see it as it originally was but how it is today.

Highway 6 Revisited

Monk Walking Along Highway 6 In the Morning

Fifty years ago, I graduated from high school back in Groton, Connecticut.  My last year of high school I spent much of my time sick.  Back in the Fall of 1966 and the Winter of 1967, I was sick with a diagnosed combination of Whooping Cough and severe Bronchitis. From Thanksgiving until Valentine's Day, my physical activity was limited to going to school only.

I spent much of my free time at home listening to Bob Dylan albums on the family stereo in the living room.  Bob Dylan had recently undergone a transformation from folk singer to rock star and I was entering into my transformation period ... a period that all teenagers experience.  As great as my transformation ended up becoming, it did not compare to the world shattering Bob Dylan transformation.

In his sixth studio album, "Highway 61 Revisited" released on 30 August 1965, Bob Dylan's music had become electrified and electrifying.  His lyrics, always strong and poignant, were now showcased by, as well as competed with, rock beats and more complicated rhythms. My favorite song of the album, although not the title song of the album, was "Like A Rolling Stone".  The title song of the album, "Highway 61 Revisited", made an impression on me back then.  Today the lyrics seem non-nonsensical and Bob Dylan's intentions as well as motivations for writing them is suspect to me.  However the title does form a nice foil and segue to this blog entry "Highway 6 Revisited"

In December we returned to Cambodia, Siem Reap specifically, for the third time in nine years.  Why a third time?  I was once asked why I had returned to Machu Pichuu for a second time.  Being polite, I did not reply that I had because I could. I gave the honest answer that I had returned because I had a new camera.  I had purchased A Nikon D2H digital camera and there were some photos that I had not taken on the previous trip that I want to take.

The same was true for our second trip to Angkor Wat  in November 2014 - we could and I had another new camera - a Nikon D700.  However I also wanted to experience and document life on Tonle Sap that we had only gotten a small introduction to back in August 2007.

Our trip in 2014 was great and we wanted to return the following year only later in the year to better experience the fish harvest on Tonle Sap.  However in 2015, a drought had severely impacted the flood levels of the great lake.

Last November, I contacted some people in Siem Reap and was informed that the water levels had returned to their height back in 2014.  I then determined when the full moons would e in December and in January 2017 since I wanted some photos of Tonle Sap as well as Angkor Wat with a rising Full Moon.  I ended up choosing December for our trip.

One of my objectives, in addition to Full Moon photographs, was to take photographs of the vendors that prepare and sell food along  National Highway 6.  I had wanted to take photographs of them during the last visit to Cambodia but one thing always seemed to lead to another with the end result is that I never took those photographs.  It takes discipline and resolve to take the necessary time to stop and take those photographs as the opportunity presents itself rather than believing or convincing yourself that a better opportunity or even more opportunities lay ahead.  The promise of the future is often broken or does not exist.

National Highway 6 is one of the main roads in Cambodia.  Used in conjunction with National Highway 5, it will either take you to the border with Thailand or to the capital city of Phnom Penh.  On our trips to Angkor Wat, Highway 6 was on our route to Koh Ker, Tonle Sap, and the market town of Damdek so we have become quite familiar with it.

About one-half the way from the city of Siem Reap and Tonle Sap there is a section of the road in Sot Nikum district of Siem Reap Province where many local people have set up stands where they prepare and sell a local specialty food - "sticky rice cooked in coconut milk with black beans inside bamboo over a wood fire".  Of course there is a much more simple name in Cambodia but I don't know it.  Actually we have the same tasty treat here in Isaan that is called "ban khao lam".

As you drive down Highway 2 here in Udon Thani Province towards the intersection that leads you to Kumphawapi, both sides of the highway are lined with little stands where "ban khao lam" is sold - some where it is actually cooked, too.  It is common here in Isaan to discover sections of highways where the local specialty products, such as salt, produce, sausages, carved walking canes, or ban khao lam are sold by the local people.

The specialty food, "sticky rice cooked in coconut milk with black beans inside bamboo over a wood fire", is also available in Malaysia - good food especially sweet treats knows no borders.

We set off on a rainy morning to visit Tonle Sap.  We left Siem Reap around 7:00 AM and we were quickly surrounded in the morning traffic of students on motorbikes and bicycles, as well as workers being transported on all manner of mechanisms on their daily commute to fields, factories, and work places.

Fortunately the rain was only very light showers so it did not impact our journey.

Breakfast is being cooked for a villager

We stopped at on of the first concentrations of vendors that we encountered southeast of Siem Reap.  Fresh batches of the specialty food were being cooked on primitive grills made from bricks placed on crude tables.

A roadside vendor preparing food

The rice-coconut milk-black bean mixture is packed into bamboo tubes.  The ends of the tube are plugged tightly with rice straw.  To create a more consumer friendly and efficient cooking container, the vendors whittle down the bamboo tubes to create a thin skinned container that can easily be peeled apart by the consumer to access the cooked delicious rice mixture inside.

The bamboo tubes are cooked in a horizontal position over wood coals supplemented with bamboo scraps.  At the other end of the grill, finished tubes are placed in two slanted vertical rows, tepee style, over the coals awaiting to be purchased by people.

Many of the vendors along Highway 6 utilize a marketing technique that I had previously seen in Vietnam on the way back to Halong City from Hanoi.  In Vietnam, the vendors were selling either fruit or coconuts along side of the road.  These were small family run stands.  To encourage people to stop and buy their products, the family had their young daughters run the stand.  The young women were beautiful and were fully made-up to further enhance and emphasize their natural beauty. Unfortunately in Vietnam, I was only a passenger in the van speeding along the highway.  However in Cambodia, it was only my wife with our hired drier and guide.  We stopped where ever I wanted and for as long as I wanted.  It is a very effective marketing technique and I suspect that it was one of the first techniques.

We had revisited National Highway 6 and it had satiated our appetite literally and figuratively.  We had been fortunate to be able to return and experience what we had only glimpsed on previous visits.  Our trip was great with many places revisited and more stories as well as photographs to share.

I have yet another new camera but although we intend to return to Cambodia once again this year, we will first be going to Bhutan ... off to Bhutan for the first time with a new camera to experience another corner of Allen's World.

Hopefully I will apply lessons that I have learned elsewhere to stop and take those photographs the first time.  I must remember to take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves rather than expecting it to be better a little further up ahead. 

So it is in life - we need to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves rather than expecting or waiting for things to be better later, for often later never comes.  Unlike Highway 61 or National Highway 6, we are unable to revisit life.

A New Gallery - "Back In Time - Angkor Wat"

A new photo gallery is now available on my photography website.

http://www.hale-worldphotography.com/Back-In-Time-Angkor-Wat

This gallery of 35 photographs from our trip to Angkor Wat a year ago is a departure from my normal practice for my photographic work.  I typically post and populate my galleries with color photographs.  I prefer color because, for me, it better represents the reality of the moment that was captured.

For a photographer, or any artist, it is important to maintain an open mind and, more importantly, to continually refine one's style and improve one's skills.  I have started to venture a little more into black and white for some of my photographs.  For this series of photographs, in particular, the use of black and white is appropriate and, now in my opinion, preferable to color.

The ruins of Angkor Wat and its environs are a profusion of vegetation and weathered stone.  I find that in most cases the focus on the muted tones of the ruins are distracted by the vegetation in color photographs.

On Facebook, I recently seen and enjoyed many photographs from the 1880s and early 1900s of Southeast Asia.  I also noted how popular the postings were.

For this gallery I decided to try to capture more of the mood of the ruins than can be conveyed in an "as shot" reality of today.  To capture my interpretation of the mood for the ruins, I post processed my shots to convert them into a more 1880s and early 1900s photographs.

My goal is to provide a more unique opportunity to clients to purchase different type and style photographs of the Angkor Wat and its environs than is so commonly available from others.

Cambodian Soybean Harvest

Workers Secure Truck Load of Soybeans

When my wife and I travelled to Cambodia the first week of last November, our visit was timed to coincide with the full moon which signified the start of the fishing season on Tonle Sap Lake.

Our timing was about a week too early for the rice harvest.  We saw many rice fields where heavy golden panicles of rice were bowed almost as if in homage to the Earth or deities of the land.  We did see a couple of fields that had been harvested but nothing that would warrant stopping to photograph.  I did notice that the rice in the region was growing in very wet soil but not in paddies as is the standard in Isaan.  At harvest time in Isaan the rice paddies are parched and not muddy as in Cambodia.  Our rain stops in September and by November the ground is dusty and cracked until the rains return in April or May.

All was not lost in our quest to witness and photograph people going about their daily lives and activities.  On our way in the afternoon from the ruins of Koh Ker to the ruins of Beng Mealea along the paved two lane Cambodian National Highway 105, we came upon a hectic sight.

The area through which Highway 105 traverses about 20 kilometers south of Koh Ker is a hilly agricultural area.  The area is speckled with solitary huge trees - a reminder and testament to the rain forest that covered the land not all that long ago.  The forests have been logged out and the land converted into farm land in response to the economic realities of today in Southeast Asia.  Just as in Lao, vast expanses of Cambodia have been cleared to grow crops for markets in China and Thailand.

Soybeans and bananas now are grown along Cambodian National Highway where forests once stood.



Typical Cambodian Farm Home Along National Highway 105



Soybeans Drying Along the Roadside

It turned out they had missed the soybean harvest by just a day or two.  We did not see any machinery or people harvesting the soybean crop.  What we did see were many large tarps spread out along both sides of the highway and around the various farm houses.  The tarps were covered with a thin layer of soybeans.  The soybeans were exposed to dry out in the strong sun and breezes.  The same process is utilized in Thailand, Lao, and People's Republic of China for the rice harvest.  Dried, dehydrated product can be stored however moist, or improperly dried product will be ruined by mold and also become spoiled through fermentation.



Soybeans Drying In the Sun In Front of a Home



Sacks of Soybeans Being Loaded for Markets in Thailand or PRC (China)

We stopped along the road where there were several tandem trucks and large single trailer trucks were being filled by hand with large sacks of soybeans.  The location was a marshaling station for the nearby farms. The trucks were from a middleman in Phnom Penh with the final destination for the crop being either Thailand or PRC (China).

I rushed out from our car as soon as it stopped and started taking photographs.  A man, a man who was clearly in charge, walked over to me and asked politely in fairly good English what I was doing.  I explained to him how I liked (was obsessed?) in taking photographs of people and then writing stories about the people and related photographs on the Internet.  I showed him some of the photos that I had taken.  That was it - we were then "buddies".

I have never had a problem photographing here in Southeast Asia.  The people have been very receptive to being photographed.  I do not expect them to pose and let them know to just carry on with what they are doing. I share some of the shots that I have taken and they quickly relax.  Inevitably they end up joking and laughing over my enthusiasm and efforts to get that "perfect" shot.  There have been many times, that the people have pointed out someone or something that they though that I would be interested in shooting - I always make it a point to take that shot and share with them.

It turned out that the "man in charge" was an ethnic Chinese business man from the capital.  I bring up the fact that he was ethnic Chinese not in any judgmental or prejudicial sense but for the readers to better understand the conditions; the realities of today.  Throughout Southeast Asia, many of the business people, bankers, and merchants are ethnic Chinese - a fact that the local indigenous people are very aware of.  In some cases there is an underlying resentment of the ethnic Chinese prosperity.  In 1969, there were serious race riots in Malaysia against the ethnic Chinese.  Ethnic Chinese were also victimized in Vietnam earlier last year over the actions of China regarding oil exploration in disputed waters.  Things do not happen out of a vacuum - there are always underlying conditions that serve as catalysts.

Anyhow - the business man and his wife serve as middlemen for buyers in either Thailand or the People's Republic of China (PRC).  I asked the man how much money did he pay for a bag of soybeans.  I always try to learn and understand the value of the various crops that I witness being harvested.  He said that he did not know - he was responsible for arranging for the loading along with transportation of the product to final market, and it was his wife who handled the money.  I confirmed that his wife handled the family finances.  I told him that I handled our family finances and not to tell my wife that his wife handled his.  I joked with him about not telling my wife because then she would want to be the "Big Boss"  Just then Duang showed up to check and make sure that I was alright.  The man knew that I had been joking so I told Duang that I wanted to know how much was a bag of soybeans but he didn't know.  Apparently believing that the man would better understand her English better than mine, Duang asked him in English.  He told her that he didn't know because his wife handled the money and that she was the "Big Boss".  Duang caught on quickly and said to me "Me too, I want to be Big Boss - you give money to me to take care! See just like this man!"  The three of us enjoyed a good laugh.

We had come upon a frantic situation along the road.  Besides loading up the trucks with bags of soybeans, people were hurriedly folding up the tarps to completely encase the soybeans.  The sky had taken on the look which is typical for late afternoon monsoon rain.  Soybeans getting wet would be a disaster for everyone involved in the ongoing transaction.

Rolling Up A Tarp to Protect Soybeans from Rain

The weather forecast for the day had been for rain showers with a 57% chance of rain and 12.5mm (1/2") accumulation.  How did I know?  How do I still remember?  Prior to leaving our home, as I typically do prior to our big trips, I printed the weather forecast from the Internet and pasted it in the journal that I carry.

Well the adage about not believing everything that you read on the Internet proved true on the trip.  Without exaggerating - we had approximately 15 drops of rain hit the car's windshield during our entire trip - including the forecast of 79% probability of 20.9mm of rain the next day - which happened to be our best weather day!

After 30 minutes at the marshaling area, we recommenced our journey to what we were confident were the mysteries and sights that awaited us at Beng Mealea.  It was several kilometers down the highway before our nostrils were cleared of the earthy, perhaps even musty, odor of soybeans drying in the air.  However that scent remains a strong memory today of a great stop along a road in Cambodia.

The Bayon

 

 

 

The Bayon

Our full day of touring the ruins of Siem Reap included an afternoon visit to The Bayon.

Bayon is a ruined Buddhist temple.  Most of the ruins in the Siem Reap area started as Hindu temples however Bayon, Ta Prohm, and Preah Khan were constructed under auspices of the Mahayana Buddhist King, Jayavarman  VII.  Jayavarman VII was only the second Buddhist Khmer King up to the late 12th century, Jayavarman VII.

King Jayavarman VII was a Mahayana Buddhist.  The Mahayana Buddhist tradition involves the concept of Bodhisavatta - a person who has enlightenment as their goal.  Avalokitesvara is a highly revered Bodhisavatta in Mahayana Buddhism and is embodiment of the compassion of all Buddhas.  Avalokitsvara (Lokesvara) had the goal of becoming enlightened (liberated) BUT had vowed to help all others to attain their enlightenment before achieving his enlightenment. Yesterday's blog, "Stone Face", gave some information regarding the linkage of King Jayavarman VII and Lokesvara.

There are six qualities attributable to Avalokitsvara (Lokesvara) are:

Great compassion
Great loving-kindness
Lion courage
Universal light
Leader of devas and people
The great omnipresent Brahman

Historical accounts, records and monuments demonstrate that King Jayavarman VII was very compassionate and went to great lengths, 107 hospital built, along with many public works projects to care for his people.

Jayavarman VII also lead the Khmer army to rid their lands of Cham occupiers as well as to extend the Khmer empire. Without a doubt this serves as manifestation of lion courage - after all, who forcibly removes invaders and conquers enemy territory by being branded a coward?

He was also perceived as a great king.  Today is considered the greatest of the Khmer kings.  No doubt he was aware of his greatness during his lifetime.

But to get back to Bayon ... Bayon was constructed during the reign of Jayavarman VII and his son, Indravarman II, also a devout Buddhist as the state temple.  Besides being the only Angkor state shrine built from the start to be a Mahayana Buddhist shrine dedicated to Buddha, Bayon was the last state temple built in Angkor.

Bayon Temple

The most imposing features of Bayon are the temple towers with great stone faces on their sides.  There are 216 stone faces at Bayon. Some people theorize that the faces are of  Avalokitsvara (Lokesvara) and others believe that the faces of Jayavarman VII. I believe the theory that both are correct.  Being a devout Mahayana Buddhist, what better way for King Jayavarman VII and his son, who continued construction of the temple, to honor the Bodhisvatta Lokesvara and the king himself  than to use the king's visage for the Bodhisvatta on the towers?  In Thailand there is a common saying of "Good for me, good for you"  Using the king's face honors the king, memorializes his greatness and links him to religious "immortality".

Face Tower of Bayon

The temple of Bayon has gone through several modification over the past 900 years.  Jayavarman VII's successor, his son, continued the construction of the Buddhist temple.  However the next king, Jayavaram VIII, was a Hindu and he had many of the Buddhist symbols removed or defaced.  Jayavaram VIII was succeeded by his son-in-law - a Buddhist.  Over time, modifications, and additions were made by various kings in accordance with their religious beliefs and architecture norms of their times.  With the end of the Khmer empire the temple was abandoned and left to the forces of time and Nature.

Multiple Face Towers of Bayon

In the early 1900's, the French start conserving and reconstruction of the ruins utilizing the anastylosis process.  Anastylosis is a process of reconstruction where the original elements of the structure are used to the maximum extent possible. Pieces of the building are put into their original location.  Where pieces are missing new pieces are created out of plaster, cement and resins can be used.  In the case of structures that are in danger of collapse, components of the structure are numbered, and the structure is dismantled.  After modifying and strengthening the foundation to provide stability, the structure is reassembled in a stable configuration.

Bayon in the 1930's was the first ruin to be reconstructed at the Angkor complex using the anastylosis process.

It sounds great.  What could go wrong?  Well a great deal can and does go wrong.  Reconstruction involves a great deal of interpretation in assembling or envisioning a final structure from a pile of rubble.  Reconstruction and restoration involves handling original components that are subjected to damage. There is no guaranty that all the architectural elements used are from the original structure.  Over the hundreds of years that the structures were abandoned, pieces were inevitably  moved from one site to another for all kinds of reasons.

In addition, prior to an accord in 1964, reconstructors did not have protocols for the utilization of new materials particularly ensuring that the new materials are readily recognizable.  There are also criteria now that substantial components can only be added to ensure the stability of the structure.

Much of the reconstruction work on Angkor Wat that we saw in August 2007 was to repair damage caused and eliminate the defects created by the use of modern materials and techniques in the gallery roofs during previous reconstruction efforts.  Modern construction unlike the original configuration of the roof allowed water to enter the galleries and flow over the murals.  In addition, the infiltrating water leached salts and chemicals of the modern bonding materials which also attacked the murals.  Once again - "no good deed goes unpunished"  Perhaps reconstructors should have an oath similar to doctors - "First, do no harm ..."

The result of all the good intentions and best interpretations of outsiders, the restored ruins of the Khmer temples have a great deal of confusion as well as discontinuity in them today.  Close scrutiny of the ruins or photographs of the ruins reveals many details that do not fit in with their surroundings - in some places the result is confusion and chaos.  Although not consistent and most likely not historically authentic, the ruins are still spectacular.  There are the ways that things are supposed to be and then there is the way that they are.  A visit to Angkor Wat affirms that often the ways that things are more than adequate to appreciate and enjoy their grandeur.

We spent a very quick one hour fifteen minute visit at Bayon, exploring the ground level structures.  We did not have the opportunity to explore the upper terraces or even the ground level galleries.  It was by our own choice not our guides.  Long days and many sites toured lead to exhaustion - physical as well as mental. However I view this as yet another reason to return soon.

Stone Face

Stone Face Tower of Ta Nei

Tuesday, 4 November, our first full day touring the ruins of Siem Reap started  early and was a very busy day for us.

Our first stop was to witness sunrise at Angkor Wat.  We witnessed sunrise with many other tourists - including the dreaded bus tours from China, Russia, and South Korea.  I had read a great deal about the crowds at the ruins for sunrise.  I did not necessarily have a desire to photograph the sunrise and more importantly for me, deal with hordes of people all jostling to photograph the same pictures.  Our guide recommended that we go.

We arrived 5:30 A.M. at the reflecting pool to the left of the ruins as you face the ruins - the prime location for sunrise and sunsets.  Despite the time, there were a couple of hundred photographers already there.  All the spots at the edge of pond were already occupied. The vast majority of the people were either using cell phones or tablets to capture the event.  Fortunately there is a slight upwards slope from the pond.  I had brought my tripod so taking advantage of the tripod and moving away from the pond's edge I was able to shoot over the heads of the other people.  All in all the experience was not nearly as stressful or unpleasant as I had anticipated.  I would not discourage anyone from trying to shoot an Angkor Wat sunrise based upon our experience.  My advise would be to arrive there early with lowered expectations, with no desire to be at the water's edge.  I also recommend that you arrive with a couple friends to block off the areas around - especially directly in front of your camera setup.

After the sunrise, while the bus loads of people, returned to their hotels or went to restaurants for breakfast, we drove over to a very popular temple ruin, Ta Prohm, the "Tree Temple" of the film "Laura Croft, Tomb Raider" fame.  Arriving at the vacant temple at 6:40 A.M., we spent one hour touring the ruins at our leisure, one hour enjoying the only sounds of birds, monkeys, and insects waking up along with the click of our cameras as the early morning sunlight filtered down through the forest canopy chasing away the shadows.

After completing our tour of Ta Prohm, we experienced a very special treat.  Lead by our guide, we walked roughly 15 minutes through the "jungle" to another temple - "Ta Nei".  Many resources refer to the terrain between the ruins as the jungle.  In all my travels I have yet to find the jungle, or at least my vision of the jungle from all those Tarzan movies of my boyhood.  I have been in many rain forests since my days as a youth.  I would categorize the terrain more as a forest - dense new growth perhaps 25 to 30 years old with very well defined sandy trails.

The first major artifact that we encountered at Ta Nei was a face tower - stone block tower with caeved blocks forming large faces at each of the cardinal compass points.  Face towers are a common sight in the Siem Reap area.

Who is the stone face?  A mythological animal?  Some long ago King? Perhaps some Animist deity?  Hindu deity?  A Buddhist deity?  One thing for certain the face is neither Christian or European.

Another obvious truth about the stone face is that it is of some one or something that is very revered attributable to the size and numbers of the faces.  Another indication to the extent of the face's importance and perhaps its power is its orientation at N, S, E, and W points of the compass.

Many sources state that the face is of the king.  Other sources state that the face is a representation of Lokesvara, the Bodhisatava of infinite compassion.  Some sources state that the faces are guardians of the Khmer Empires cardinal compass points.

Representation of Lokesvara the Bodhisatava of infinite compassion?  What is that and what is that all about?  First of all, a Bodhisatava is anyone who is motivated by compassion to attain liberation (enlightenment) for benefit of all others.  Buddha prior to becoming enlightened is referred to as a Bodhisatava in his previous lives.  Bodhisatavas are on the path to liberation and considered further along the path to enlightenment than others in that their goal is to become fully enlightened.

In Buddhism doctrine, Lokesvara (Avalokitsvara) was a Bodhisatava that made a vow to help people during times of difficulty (Aren't all times, times of difficulty?) as well as to delay his achieving of enlightenment until after assisting every person to attain their enlightenment. He is the representation of the compassion of all the Buddhas.

As for the King ... Ta Nei was constructed as a Buddhist temple in the late 12th century by King Jayavarman VII who reigned from around 1181 to 1218. Jayavarman VII was a great king in all senses of the term.  He lead an army that ousted Cham invaders that had killed the previous Khmer King, pillaged the capital, and perhaps worst of all made off with the Apsara dancers. Besides ridding the kingdom of the Cham invaders, he extended Khmer control up the Mekong River Valley up to current day Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic.

During his thirty year reign, King Jayavarman VII was responsible for a monumental construction program.  Projects for the public good included hospitals (102 of them!), reservoirs, and rest homes along the highways for travelers.  He also had Buddhist temples such as Ta Prohm, and Preah Khan built.  He commenced construction of the magnificent state temple, The Bayon.

King Jayavarman VII was also responsible developing the city of Angkor Thom - a metropolis of perhaps over 100,000 people in the late 12th and early 13th century.

It is inscribed on a monument that "He suffered from the illnesses of his subjects more than from his own ..." His stated goal was to alleviate the suffering of his people. He lived to be 85 to 90 years old - astounding for someone in the 13th century.

There are some statues existing today that are supposed to be of King Jayavarman VII and ... his face closely resembles the stone faces of structures built during his reign.

Who is the face?  I believe that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. For me the stone face is that of King Jayavarman VII as the representation and embodiment of Lokesvara, the Bodhisatva of infinite compassion.  The orientation of his face on each tower(s) signifies the extent of his power and glory across his land.

Ta Nei is a small temple ruin but a special ruin.  There is no vehicle access to the site.  The lack of a road prevents tour buses with their hordes of tourists from accessing the ruins and drastically limits the number of visitors to the temple site. This provides a tranquil place to explore, experience, and appreciate the ruins in a relaxed atmosphere at your own individual pace. We ended up spending a thoroughly enjoyable 45 minutes at Ta Nei.

As I wandered about exploring and photographing the ruins with our guide, Duang took advantage of the Buddhist temple to do some praying.  Often during our tour of the ruins, she would pray and worship - connecting with places where people were worshipping one thousand years ago.

Stone Carving Over Doorway

Our guide once again had taken us to special place without hordes of visitors destroying the atmosphere of a special place linking today to a long ago time.  Our visit to Ta Nei was a special memory that we cherish.