Hit or Miss: Visiting the temples of Angkor

Type: Walking and Tuk tuk ride tour combined

Date:  27 June 2019

Mode: By foot and by tuk tuk ride

Duration: One day (5:00 am to 5:00 pm)

Expenses:  Angkor temples ticket (37 USD), Tuk tuk fare (10 USD), Snacks, Offering, water bottles (See expenses table)

Difficulty: warned not to give money to children, backpack getting heavy, heat of the sun

Highlight: UN heritage site, archaeological site, historical site, tourist center, meditation areas, pilgrimage sites for Buddhists and Hindus

Lessons/ Notes: Maximize the number of temples to visit per day, hire a tuk tuk driver who knows your language, negotiate fare price if on tight budget

After taking a bath from the house of the driver, I made a sign to him to send me to the place to buy ticket for Angkor Wat. We then headed to the Visitors Centre of Siem Reap and reached the place at 4:30 am. It was still closed so I took time to take photos of what can be seen inside the centre because the environment was still dark.

At 4:50 am one window opened. It is the booth selling 1 day pass for 37 USD. One by one, the other windows opened too. Options for 3 and 7 days passes are also available for 62 and 72 USD respectively. I only bought 1 day pass as I was thinking that I can tour around Angkor Wat - that one complex, even how big it is. I imagined silence and jungle around the place where I can meditate. Indeed, my expectation about the possibility of going around it for one day was a hit. I mean, my expectation came true. But to my wonderment, the Angkor area is a huge complex consisting of hundreds of hectares area and has many temples scattered far from each other. Angkor Wat is only one of those temples! Each location of temple is a town away from each other. The day pass ticket can be used to visit all of those temples unlimitedly for one day.

Upon purchase of the ticket, the teller took a mugshot photo of me. The photo is then printed on my ticket. The ticket bears the price, date of validity, and my photo. It can only be used by the one in the photo (non-transferable).

I was able to get a ticket at 4:50 am. My driver immediately sent me to the Angkor Wat. I told him that my battery is weak and he lent me his powerbank without any hesitation. He also gave me a sign that I can use it until the afternoon when we see each other again.

He left me at the entrance just outside the moat at the western side. Cambodian guides greeted me at that point and offered to guide me at 18 USD but I told them that I can manage to proceed on my own. The price gradually lowered but I did not avail of it as I am on limited budget. Besides, I have read much about the temple. But along the way, I envied the tourists with a guides because the guides could narrate the history of the temples and the different parts of it. They can paint a picture of the past while visitors are looking and touching at the actual piece of art right in front of them. Speaking of touching, most of the areas especially at the interiors of the temples cannot be touched. I too care to follow the rules to pay respect to the people and the rich historic heritage of the Khmer Empire. Nevertheless, I contented myself with just walking and meditating alone and appreciating the huge and myriad pieces of art. I felt delighted realising that the pieces of art presented themselves to me in my own lens sans the imagination provided by a tour guide.

It was still dark when I reached the entrance pathway of the complex. The path is a plastic floating bridge. The screetching sound can be heard as visitors traverse the bridge across the moat and walk towards the temple. It was at dawn, when darkness and light struggled towards the day, I found myself sitting down at the southern lake inside the complex. The lake is relatively small. The depth shows a heavy siltation that made the lake shallow through the years. The lake at the northern side also has the same depth of water.

Gradually, the light had won and taken over the day. The sharp rays of the sun was seen gradually erupting at the east and at the back of the temple. The visage of the temple becomes more detailed as it covers the sharp rays of the sun which spontaneously forces the horizon to expand and overpower the sky. Visitors from all parts of the world focused their cameras which had been eagerly waiting for the sunrise. While they were busy taking photos and videos of the sunrise against the facade of the majestic temple, I took opportunity to look at their faces. They were all filled with wonder and awe. Like the mirror generated by the water on the lake, I could imagine how my face looks as I felt the mysticism created by the aura of the temple's pinnacles as they are covered with the rays of the sun.

When the sun has completely conquered the sky and illuminated the whole temple complex, I started to walk towards the pathway to the central temple. Then I entered the temple at the center. As I saw each wall and corner of the temple, I was mesmerised by the perfection of art created by humans. All corners, bulges, depths and heights are filled with human touch of art. No part was left behind. I then thought that the place is really more than just a piece of art, perhaps it is a place of worship and the place itself is the greatest expression of human worship to the divine.

I was carried away by the silence to meditate. People who were noisy outside became silent inside the temple. I don't know if they are invited to meditation or are merely mum because of the beauty that each vision presents.

The temple is build with big blocks of rocks. Such rocks were shaped and embellished with art to create a masterpiece of a building with thousands of details beyond the mind can count and imagine. Each wall has a bas relief. There is one thing I noticed in Angkor Wat about the persons standing in the bas releif. Each of them cover their groin area especially where the genitals are located. This is the opposite of the bas relief in Bayon temple where the person's groin area is not covered with the hand. One hand is raised or both. Angkor Wat does not show the head of the Buddha while in Bayon, the head occupies the pinnacle of each point in the temple. And then the head of the Buddha is crowned with lotus flower.

The Angkor Wat has many corners that serve as altars to pray. People can give their offerings of any kind - money, fruits, vegetables, food, meat, etc. Some pray by groups and others individually. I also prayed in those altars remembering the glory of God. I thought that there is no difference between humans in their search for God or the ultimate principle where they can attain peace and meaning to their lives. As we learned in philosophy, the ultimate aim of life is happiness, but I soon realised that what we ultimately aim is the meaning of life by which we can draw happiness. Happiness is only an effect of a life filled with meaning. As I meditate on the pinnacle of Angkor Wat, I concretely realised once more that Viktor Frankle's proposition is true - that at the pinnacle of man's search is meaning. Life then fulfills its existence if it reaches its meaning and not merely obtaining happiness.

After exploring the interior of the temple, I went out and trekked around the walls surrounding the complex. The walls are thick and hard but are slowly softened by elements of time. I started trekking from the northern side, then walked around at the outside of the wall along the western side. I entered the complex again at the western side and walked around the walls from the inside along the southern side until the eastern side. The walls are covered with thick forest at most part of its length. Some parts have pathways to safely walk through but some parts are really covered with dark canopy of trees. At the eastern side, I saw many stuppa structures. I was informed later that the area serves as a cemetery for the dead and each stuppa serve as a crypt for each person.

The moat of Angkor Wat as seen in google map seems to be narrow and shallow but trekking along its sides gave me the impression that is it relatively wide, long and deep. I can only imagine the genius of humans at those times when mathematics and science were still at their nascent stage and are outside of educational institutions (now called universities). In fact, I surmised that those ancient wisdom, knowledge, science and technology are all gone, marginalised or compartmentalised as knowledge and learning are confined to the premises of institutions.

There is a temple at the southern protective wall of the temple where I devoted for meditation and rest. I positioned myself like the Buddha with my left hand resting on my left leg and the right hand holding my light leg. I meditated with focus until I slept. Suddenly, a black image like a devil started shouting at me and telling me why I am in that place. Then I was awakened and realised that I am not at home. I am far away from the Philippines and that I am still working in Indonesia. Then the voice continued to reverberate in my ears yelling at me and mocking me why I am enjoying myself in foreign land whereas my origin is filled with chaos. The voice kept disturbing my head until it got very heavy and I almost lost sanity. I decided to go out of that darkness and see the light outside the wall. Then I decided to go back to where I was originally. I calmed myself before leaving the place. I made a prayer that God may bring peace to my soul and peace to my country as well.

It was there where I realised that whatever I want the world to be, I can obtain it only if I change the way I look at the world. I realised that man's greatest enemy is himself. If he conquers himself, he can conquer even the most fearful enemy. These are lines that appear to be cliche but those are the thoughts that gave meaning to my travels in Cambodia. I then resolved to make such realisation concrete wherever I may be.

I finished exploring the entire Angkor Wat at 12:30 noon. The sun was at its peak and the heat directly pierces through the skin. This sight should weaken my focus and stop exploring, but as I looked at mapsme, there are still nearby temples that I can visit. I then went out of Angkor Wat and went back to the entrance which is near the road going to Angkor Thom.

I continued to walk towards the direction of Angkor Thom where Bayon temple is located. I was determined to walk for 3 more kilometers even if I felt my back severed by my heavy backpack. Tuktuk drivers are scattered around and they invited me for a ride but I declined . Then another driver offered to send me there for 3 USD then finally at 1 USD. He told me that it is not peak season in Angkor Wat that time. They could see thinning number of visitors along June to October. I then agreed and immediately gave the money to him. True enough, the road is very long and though there are trees, the environment is really hot. I thanked him for inviting me to a ride. I told him that I had a driver who sent me that morning and already paid him. I realised then that I should have asked my main driver to stay and waited for me and gave me a ride from one temple to another. I was reminded though that I had a different arrangement with my main driver - to sleep in his house in the evening which was already fast approaching.

I felt my thirst as I talked to the driver who is parking his ride. I bought bottled water first before  heading to Bayon Temple. At the entrance, an officer stopped me and checked my ticket. I then showed it to him and while he returned to me, he told me that I look like a Cambodian. I thanked him for the compliment.

At the Angkor  Wat, I could feel Hinduism, but at the Bayon temple, I could concretely feel Buddhism. Each pinnacle of the temple has a head of Buddha etched in deep meditation and with lips smiling in a neutral state - neither happy nor sad. My mind couldn't help but ask, is that gesture a sign of indifference to the world or a sign of the attainment of nirvana  - an everlasting inner peace? Many answers crept through my mind as I gazed each head of the Buddha. I remembered that in spite of the luxury he enjoys at the realm of his father, he was still restless. He is surrounded by women, got married and sired a child but left his family to look for the meaning of this life.


Like Angkor Wat, Bayon is built with big blocks of stones piled on top of each other. At the intersection of stones towards the top and ceiling, there was a strategy that builders did in order that the weight of each stone element balances with the weight of the lower stones and the stones beside it. It was just mysteriously built. This and many other questions popped out of my mind as felt the many spirits hovering around the place. Those spirits of political power, the arts, language, math, science, heaven, earth, and the divine. All those seem to accompany me from the lower level to the highest level of the temple. At the pinnacle of the temple are four corners representing the 4 divine states of Buddhism - kindness, compassion, sympathy, and equanimity.




After Bayon Temple, I was led to a path perpendicular to the entrance that led to the Baphuon. At the entrance of the Baphuon, the temple at the middle seems to be small but it becomes larger as one approaches. Unlike the Angkor Wat and Bayon, this temple has no humans etched on the walls. But the image at the back of the temple surprised me. It is an image of the reclining Buddha. I only realised that when I looked back from my journey and saw a peaceful and serene Buddha in deep meditation while reclining.

I continued walking until I reached the Terrace of the Elephants and Terrace of the Leper King. The thirst for exploration was intensified as I finished exploring each temple. I then remembered what my Indian friend told me that one day is not enough to visit the temples. I was wondering then why temples? Are there not only one temple in Angkor Wat? It was only then that I realised what he meant. There are actually many temples in the Angkor area and they are far away from each other. The same ticket can be used to enter all the temples as long as it is still valid. And the same tuk tuk driver can drive you to all of them as long as you hired him/her for the whole day. Angkor Wat opens at 5:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm. Others open at 7:30 am.

It was then 4:30 pm and I decided to stop exploring for the night is near. I settled in nearby tents selling shirts and mementos of all sorts. Each shirt without lining is 2 USD but I bargained for 6 pcs at 10 USD. It's good that I did not buy much because the same shirts were only 1 USD/piece at the Night Market of the city.

At that point, my problem was how to call my driver. I did not buy a Cambodian SIM card. I only have a GPS that allowed me to access google map and maps me. Another problem was that, I was already weak to walk back to the Ticket Center ( around 11 kms away) where my driver will pick me up. I have a limited budget, I cannot afford to spend much more than the intended amount.

Nevertheless, I asked a tuktuk driver if he can send me to the Ticket Center, He told me, it's 8 USD. But I told him, it's only one way so he reduced it to 5 USD. Still I could not afford it. I then told him to send me to Angkor Wat entrance for 3 USD and help me to call my tuktuk driver to pick me up there. He agreed. Upon reaching Angkor Wat, he called my driver and informed me that the latter already agreed to pick me up to the new location. That new driver told me that there is not assurance that my driver that morning will pick me up again. I told him that he gave me his powerbank (appears to be of good quality). He then smiled in awe and told me that it was wonderful. He left and went back to Angkor Thom.

I took time to talk to other tuktuk drivers around. They could speak basic English. In fact, one of them volunteered to call my driver again and he told that he was already on the way. When my driver arrived, all my doubts against his goodness was cast away. It was an instance when internet connectivity is inferior to human connectivity. I realised then that there are still humans that can be trusted. There are still "others" who treat humans as human even in this world of economic prioritisation and human objectification.



Explored areas:
Angkor Wat and its environs including the outer protective walls
Bayon Temple where Buddha's head tops the pinnacles of the temple

Baphuon Temple where the reclining Buddha is

Realisation: 
In our desire to change the world, we should first change ourselves.
Trust was given; hence, trust was received.
Humans treated as humans will in turn treat others as humans (not cash machines).