It is not known exactly when Angkor Wat and the neighbouring city of Angkor Thom were built, but it is widely believed to have been during the reign of King Suryavarman in the 12th century (AD). It was built as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu, but later it was converted into a Buddhist shrine. Not without controversy it seems, looking at the beheaded buddha statues.
The Angkor Wat area consists of a large surrounding moat, a high wall and, behind it, the main temple with five towers within a square of long galleries. The “backs” of the galleries are covered in beautiful and vibrant reliefs illustrating Hindu myths and royal history.
Throughout the temple there are reliefs of young bare-breasted women. These are so-called “apsaras”, nymphs or temple dancers who have a kind of godlike status in Hinduism. They are beautiful, seductive and excellent dancers. Many of the apsara reliefs bear traces of having been touched, something that is now forbidden after it has given the reliefs a kind of glossy surface. On apsaras, it is clear which parts have been touched the most…
Just north of Angkor Wat is Angkor Thom, a royal city built by King Jayavarman VII. There are several temples here, most famously the Bayon where all the towers bear the face of the king looking in all directions. In total there are 200 faces here.
Angkor Wat was more or less abandoned in the 16th century and the jungle vegetation took over. However, restoration of the temple began a century ago and has continued into modern times.
In Angkor Thom there are buildings so damaged by trees that they are beyond repair. The most famous is Ta Promh, which was the setting for the film ‘Lara Croft – Tomb raider.’ It looks as if aliens have invaded there. But it’s a tree called ‘spong’ that develops long and thick roots that burst their way through the stone.
In a small, unassuming building on the outskirts of Siem Reap, we find something we have dreamed of experiencing for years. It houses the “hero rats”, small rodents trained to find the deadly remnants of war, buried mines and old bombs that still maim and kill people, especially children.
It was Belgian Bart Weetjens who came up with the idea that this rat, which is virtually blind in daylight but has remarkably sensitive olfactory organs, could be used in mine clearance.
You can see how it works in the clip below. Once the rat has sniffed out an explosive object, the trainer clicks a metal moj and the rat goes off to get a reward.
In Cambodia, where there are large areas of landmines and many unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War, African giant pouched rats have been helping to clear large areas since 2014. They are known as hero rats for a reason, and they have even been trained to detect early stages of tuberculosis in humans. They really are little heroes!
The town of Siem Reap itself, which is the starting point for visiting Angkor Vat and Angkor Thom, is a somewhat anonymous small town but with elements of tourist traps. One such is ‘Pub Street’ a wide pedestrian street that with adjacent blocks most resembles something borrowed from Bangkok. We only pass it when we walk home from Embassy, the sister restaurant to Sombok in Phnom Penh. Just as brilliantly good, with a slightly different profile.
Here are some final pictures from Siem Reap:
This is the final part of three that describes our journey in Southeast Asia. To read more about the dramatic and somewhat similar history of the three countries, go here.
