Open Wide - Travels in India and Pakistan (and Thailand & Cambodia) #16: Angkor Again - Cambodia

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Angkor Again

Dawn at Nakhon Bakeng

Christine and I woke up again at 4:30 to watch the sunrise over the jungle of northwestern Cambodia, this time at the Bakheng. Usually the temple is packed and there are elephants that cost $10 to ride up the mountain, because it's so steep. But it was just Christine and I, in the dark, climbing a giant hill with roots and rocks, as the unbelievably red sky held us up from behind. Once you climb the hill you arrive at a terrace area where the temple rises up in front of you, with steps and more steps and lions guarding the way. And so we climbed, legs aching, up the steep steps and agreed to turn around together to look at the beginnings of sunrise that was taking place behind us.

As we turned around both of us could only manage to exhale an "oooohhhhh". Red turned to oranges, yellows, greeny blues as the sun dispersed its light throughout the spectrum and I felt like I was in some Vietnam war movie minus the war, or Gorillas in the Mist, because we were overlooking this thick green jungle that looked black before sunrise, and the mist was lower than the treetops. And if you tried you could probably canoe through the mist it was so thick. There were only seven of us on the top of the temple, and it was so quiet, no one said a word as we all sat silently on the ruins and waited.

And soon, too soon, the orange sun peeked over the horizon and the colour spread everywhere, leaking its light into the sky. The mist found itself unnecessary and lifted; now the sun could protect the trees with its heat. The ruins turned yellow and cast long shadows on the stone floor. Silently everyone climbed down the steps, as Christine and I stayed to look at the rice fields and palm trees below.

We were both so tired that Christine lay down next to a large ruin and fell asleep, and I did the same. After our hammocking adventure the day before, I could now write a book on "sleeping your way around the world (alone)" and we woke up an hour later, luckily still in the shade of the ruins, and we made our way down the steps and the elephant trail to our driver.

Ta Phrom

After breakfast at a roadside stop, we went to Ta Phrom, a set of ruins that was the first discovered by the French, and that are covered in overgrown vines and trees. The trees there are the size of redwoods and grip the ruins as if they were merely toys. As we were walking around in one, we came to a place deep within the ruins where I sat as Christine continued to explore. Covered in vines and rocks that would surely fall if you yelled or coughed, I talked to the 'Apsaras' or celestial beings that are carved into the walls of the temple, and was convinced I had discovered Sleeping Beauty's palace after the 100 year, or in this case, 1000 year sleep.

We headed back to the hotel and then had lunch. In the afternoon we saw more temples, and returned to our sunrise point to see sunset. There were probably 150 people there, chatting, with cameras, laughing, drinking cold drinks. And the sky went red again, and pink, but somehow it didn't matter as much, it was so loud. No reverence from the watchers. So Christine and I waited until everyone left, and we made our way down the elephant path singing the German song we had composed on Phi Phi Island, and looking forward to dinner.

We went for a traditional Cambodian dinner - a.k.a on the side of the road - and headed back to bed. And as heads hit pillows I realized we only had 24 more hours.

Forget it. I can't tell you anymore, I can't describe any of this the way it was. This is all: I have the coldplay song "Don't Panic" running through my head at the chorus: "We live in a beautiful world, yeah we do, yeah we do."


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