July 25, Wednesday to August 1, Wednesday

July 25, Wednesday   to    August 1,  Wednesday

OK DON'T PANICK.   You haven't missed the in between period from the last blog posting. 
I'm just giving you an update from today.  August 1, 2012.

July 25, Wednesday:
This is the day I leave Singapore and fly to Indonesia.  This will be my 25th country so far.  
My flight out leaves on schedule and I arrive on the Island of Java and the city of Jakarta in late afternoon; 11 hours behind Ottawa local time.   At the airport I somehow missed the office where I needed to obtain the travel visa and followed the crowd to the Immigration desk.  After waiting 10 minutes in line, I was sent back to where I missed the office, got my 30 day tourist visa and went back to the Immigration line,  at the back of the line.  20 minutes later I was through without a hitch and looking for a taxi.  I had exchanged by remaining Ringit for Indonesian Rupiahs the Singapore airport, and gotten change in Rupiahs from my travel visa ($25 fee out of my $50 US).  I had enough to pay for the taxi ride which was almost $100,000 Rupiahs.   Thank God the exchange rate is about $10 to each 10,000 Rupiahs.

Although I had printed out a map from Booking.com when I made my hotel reservations, my taxi driver did not seem to know how to read it.   We eventually got there, but through a very round-about way.

I’m staying at the Merlynn Park Hotel.
The notes from this week are going to be extremely short, since I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING while I was here. 
First:   Ramadan has started.  
Second:  I’m hearing strange sounds from the streets below at night (hopefully fire crackers and not gun shots).   If you want to travel anywhere in Jakarta, you have to do so by bus and they are ALWAYS overcrowded.   I took a short walk just as the sunset one night to find a convenience store to purchase some juice and soft drinks, and did not like the look of things.   For some reason I’m not confident about walking these streets, although my hotel is located close to a main boulevard. 
Third:  I'm trying to locate a tour that will take me across the island of Java so that I end up in Bali.

I don’t have access to the internet from my room since the hotel charges $10/hour and when I log on to do any research or to post to my blog, I’m usually on for at least 3 hours.  There is free connection from the hotel   lobby and from the restaurant levels on the 5^th floor, but I end up with bites all over my ankles each time I’m down there.  They look like sand flies or midges, and they bite and sting like crazy.  "Deet" does not seem to deter them either, so I’ve got swollen bites all over my lower legs again and on my arms.  Also, on most days the internet keeps cutting out.  It took me 2 hours to post 1 day of travel photos into my blog yesterday.  
So apologies for not posting more on my blog to catch you up on my travels.

My research on the Internet this week has paid off however and I’ve managed to book a solo tour through the Island of Java, on my way to Bali.   I leave on Wednesday August 1 and arrive in Bali on Sunday August 12. 

August 1, Wednesday
Taking off in about 1 hour on my excursion through Java.

I’ll keep trying to catch up on my blog postings for June & July whenever I can.

Love to all of you who are following my travels and thank you for your patience.

June 17, Sunday - Afternoon

June 17, Sunday   -   Afternoon

After lunch (which was also breakfast by the way !) we pass Angkor Wat once again and continue on to Preah Khan, a smaller temple complex behind Angkor Thom. 

 

 The roads are busy with tourists.  As you can see the main road through the Angkor complex of temples is wide and well maintained.  Secondary roads are also paved, just slightly narrower.  Many of the tourists hire tuk-tuks to move from one temple area to another.

 The moat that surrounds Angkor Wat looks more like a lake, it is so big.

 Beautiful majestic trees create tunnels over the roads

 Another one of the bridges with the statues playing tug of war, not restored. 

If you use your imagination you may be able to see that these are men pulling on a huge rope, like tug of war.

The wall that surrounds one of the temples

We leave the bus and follow the path in to Preah Khan

 The pillars along the way were beautifully carved

The causeway leading to the temple has been restored

 The temple itself is in ruins, but parts of it are in amazing condition

 We enter through the main gate

Just on the side of the gate we can see that a huge tree has grown over the wall and is demolishing it.  It looks like a huge monster is trying to walk over it.

The entire site is in ruins but beautiful to behold.  

 Buddha drawing turned into a Hindu drawing by adding crossed legs and hair knot.

 A threshhold that is beautifully carved and which as servived for centuries

 From the other side of the wall, we can see the rest of the tree

 One of the beautifully decorated door lintels

 Some of the carvings have also servived

This is not a tall man, but as you can see, he would have to stoop to get through the doorway.  They must have been very short people when this temple was first built.

 Another building which has been demolished by the growth of a tree.  They cut this one down at some point in time.

Door openings all line up…… 

so do the windows!

Now there’s a puzzle waiting to be solved.

 This one looks like it might be an original Hindu statue and not a Buddha coverted to a Hindu

 I find it amazing to see some perfectly preserved carvings among the ruins.  Again, the type of stone used may be the secret to preservation

 As we leave the site, we find these two little local boys playing along the pathway

We return to the gate and exit the site of Preah Kahn

We make our way by bus to the South Gate of Angkor Thom: King Jayavarman VII, Angkor builder  

Faces of Buddha at the top of the gate

and elephants at the bottom

 From this point of view you can see both

We then drove a short distance to Angkor Thom

 Along a narrower route filled with tuk-tuks

 Terrace of the Elephants, Angkor Thom

We made our way to the Bayon, within the Angkor Thom complex. The tourist brochure indicated that if you could only see two sites within the entire Angkor complex, it should be Angkor Wat and Bayon. Classic Khmer art and architecture.

 This is where there are many stuppas with Buddha faces on them

 Amazing !

and carved reliefs that look suspiciously new

We walked from there to Baphuon at Angkor Thom. It is a temple-mountain because of its shape and was one of the biggest religious buildings of ancient Cambodia. According to an inscription on site, it is considered to have been built in the Xl th century and preceded the building of Angkor Thom.

 Angkor Thom

 Elevated walkway to Baphuon, much narrower than others we have seen

 Still impressive and quite massive

 Looks like there's another puzzle to be solved.  That's a person standing at the crossroads, just to give you an idea of the size of the stones that need to fit back into the puzzle.

Reclining Buddha,  added at a later date to Baphuon Temple.  You really need to use your imagination here and you can only distinguish the head.  Start with the ear that is sticking up in the air and you should be able to find the Buddha

It was only mid afternoon, around 3 pm, it had started to rain and everyone was dead on their feet. Scott asked for our opinion and it was a resounding “BACK TO THE HOTEL” and no other site visits for today. 

On the way to where the bus was waiting, we got a close up look at the Terrace of the Elephants. 
 
Eroded, but the elephant figures are still visible.  Amazing.

 Some monks were visiting and did not mind having their picture taken

 On the drive out of the park we got a glimpse of yet another bridge with the giant figures pulling a rope, but this one had some of the faces restored. 

There was a huge Naga at the end of the bridge.Mayve the figures are pulling on a snake, not a rope ! ?

 We drove back to the hotel and had a few hours to shower and rest before going out for our evening meal. We went to a beautiful outdoor restaurant for dinner, since today was Violet’s birthday and we were celebrating.


 I tried a different type of appetizer that night: A BUG ! I must say it tasted OK since it had probably been soaked in some type of sauce before being baked or fried with herbs. It was my first bug …. and most likely my last ! 


I did follow that up with a delicious meal and a nice glass of red wine.



Happy birthday Violet !

June 17, Sunday - Morning

June 17, Sunday - Morning

Sunday and it was so early (4:30 or 5:00) I can’t even remember at what time we had to get up to leave for the first sight of the famous temple.  No breakfast, and in the dark, we made our way to the Temples of Angkor to see the sunrise over Angkor Wat.  I had my head lamp with me to light my way, but I must say that the walk from where the bus dropped us off, into the Angkor Wat site, was in total darkness.  We walked across a causeway, and I knew there was water on both sides, but could not see a thing.  As we neared the main temple, the skies slowly lightened.  It was a “pinch me… Am I really here?” moment when the spires started to appear after walking through some ancient stone gates.  Still too dark to take pictures however.  Finally, our local guide led us to a nearby temple and we sat on the stairs to wait for the sun to rise.  We waited in vain I’m sorry to say, since the clouds made the sunrise impossible to see.  It just gradually became lighter until finally I could take pictures.  The crowds were huge along the pond near the front of the main Angkor Wat temple, but we had a great view from the steps where we were sitting.

 Angkor Wat,  not quite sunrise because of the clouds, but still impressive to see it appear in the dawn

 As it got lighter, I was able to move closer to the pond for my shot at the "reflection" picture that everyone wants.

We had some time to wait until our local guide would begin our tour of the grounds, so I walked around, as many of the others in our group did, to take pictures.

 Here is the temple where we sat on the steps waiting for the sunrise.  Most of the people from our group are sitting on the stairs.

 A look back at the gates we had passed through in the dark, and the causeway we walked on, without seeing them at all.

 This is a complete shot of the back gate, with the causeway to the left.

From the window of one temple (where we sat) looking across the causeway to its twin temple on the other side.
Finally our guide got the show on the road and we walked toward the great temple.

 At the main from entrance, looking across the front.

 Beautiful bas reliefs adorned the walls of the front and side galleries

 There are bas relief carvings all around the walls of the inner galleries; many still in excellent condition. They all recount epic tales. 

 A view of the galleries and the huge bas relief that adorns it.

We are able to cross over to an inner courtyard half way down the side.

 The steps back up to the gallery to continue our site visit of Angkor Wat

 Some of the bas relief still has a bit of colour left in the areas that suffered less damage

 This is a shot of the side entrance to the temple,  there are four in total:  front, back and both sides.

 And the bas relief adorns ALL the columns throughout the temple

 The view from the back

 It is HUGE !   This picture, taken from the back of the complex gives you a good idea of the size of the galleries where the bas relief carvings are located.  A true work of art that needs to be preserved.  That's why it was identified as a World Heritage Site.

And here is a great shot of our group with Angkor Wat in the background.  PINCH ME !   I'm really here.

Our guide takes us through these galleries, shows us one of the inner courtyards protecting the inner complex, and we reach the other side of the site.  Not sure, but I seem to recall it was west (front) to east (back),  which is strange since most temples face east !  But I remember making a mental note to remember to return to the west gate if we got lost, by thinking of the phrase“Go west young man!”   

In order to preserve the bas relief carvings from further damage, the “World Monuments Fund Conservation Project is focused on reinstating the roof’s damaged ancient drainage system.  This requires replacing some earlier restoration efforts with more current technologies. This work includes: documenting the stone, dissembling the gallery roof, removing Portland cement from previous restoration efforts, desalinating any infected stones, conserving the roof stones that require intervention, restoring and stabilizing the original ancient Khmer passive drainage system, and resetting the roof stones.”

 This is the path at the east end of the complex, leading out to the back gate

 A view of the East side of Angkor Wat.
We walked all around the complex (like a giant C) and ended up at the other side entrance to the main inner complex, where we had a welcoming committee waiting for us.

 The place was filled with baby monkeys and their mothers

 And more kept coming while we were there.

 It was so funny to watch these tiny babies at play.  They were hilarious.  Got them on film as well.

 It must have been a "Mommy and me" hang out.  Mommies rested and groomed each other while the babies ran around.

"Oh, oh!  There's something scary under there."

We continued on our way inside the complex, going through the second level courtyard, through more galleries,

 An inner courtyard like the one we saw on the other side.  Check out how small the people are and how huge this temple really is.  And this is less than one quater of the temple of Angkor Wat.

 We are now on the third level,  inner courtyard, looking up at the 4rth level.  This is one of the reasons these are called "mountain temples".  We needed to wait at this level yet again, for the gates to open to the inner, top level, Angkor Wat temple.

 The adornments are everywhere and are beautiful.

 Some of the adornments over the doorways.

Beautifully preserved compared to the surrounding area because of the type of stones used to carve them in.

The principal sanctuary (4rth or top level) of Angkor Wat is called Bakan.  Finally we are allowed to climb the wooden stairs which have been built to preserve the stone ones, and ensure safety for the tourists.  At one point many of the stone staircases were open for tourists to use, but “supposedly” some idiot decided to run down the steps, lost his footing and plunged to his death a few years ago; hence the added security now.  {I googled this on the internet but only found the same comment from other tourists who heard it from their guide.  Fact or Fiction?}

 Looking down from the 4rth level back to the 3rd, where Violet was waiting for the crowds to have cleared the staircase before coming up.  Smart lady !

The following are photos of the 4rth level, or Bakan,  the inner sanctum of Angkor Wat (Angkor means “Capital City” & Wat is a Khmer word for “Temple Grounds”.)  

“Angkor Wat is the largest Hindu temple complex in the world. It was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12^th century. When King Suryavarman died, Angkor Wat became his tomb. Within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.”  Though the complex was Hindu in origin (explains all the carvings of women) it was converted to a Buddhist temple in the late 13^th century. “Although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.” 

 Did you know that the image of Angkor Wat appears on the Cambodian flag !

 On one of the info plaques I find out that Bakan, the 4rth and top level, had been covered by a wooden roof at some point, which may explain the strange architecture of the inner spires.

 A view of the front, 3rd level portion, where people are not allowed to enter yet.

Statue: Bhudda sitting on a Naga.   

From the front of the 4rth level, I get a great shot at the grounds below.  We can even see the temple where we sat this morning on the steps, waiting for dawn to arrive, and the gates and wall surrounding Angkor Wat at the back.   Bonus:  I got a shot of the Hot Air Balloon in the distance.

 The inner courtyard of Bakan

 The corridors of Bakan

And the decorated bas reliefs everywhere

From the back of the 4rth level.

As I finish my turn around the top level of Angkor Wat and get ready to come down the stairs again to the 3^rd inner courtyard, I spot some dancers who look a lot like the ones we saw the night before.

 Peacock dancers.
We make our way back out of the complex, down to level 3 and across some areas which have been colourfully decorated. This is “Preah Poan (Thousand Buddhas), a cruciform gallery dating from the“middle period” when the prestige of Angkor Wat spread across Buddhist Asia. The pillars in these galleries are covered with 41 inscriptions, largely in Khmer, sometimes in Pali, they date primarily from the 16^th to the 18^th centuries.”

 Preah Poan (Thousand Buddhas)

 It is an active temple, and people burn incense to help their prayers on their way to Buddha.

The cruciform area's ceiling still retains some of the original colours

As we make our way out of the temple, back across the grounds and through the gates we passed in complete darkness this morning, we come across a beautiful Buddha statue.

 Another area where individuals burn incense

 And yet another path leading to the outer walls of the complex.  You can actually walk from one temple area to another if you have a lot of time and don't mind the heat.

We arrive back to the causeway across the moat / lake that surrounds Angkor Wat.
 
  This is something else we had not seen in the dark as we walked in this morning

 Looking back towards the Angkor Wat entrance gates

 As we near the other end, we can see that the causeway has only been partially repaired.  Repeated floodings continue to cause damage on these sites.

 At the end of the causeway are giant Nagas, guarding the entrance (back view)

(Front view)  As you can see, they are huge.

We are tired and hungry and it isn’t even 11 am yet !  I did not write up my notes for these days of touring the Angkor Wat temples, and I can’t remember where we ate lunch that day, all I know from my photos is that we stopped for approximately 1 hour, then continued touring the other temple sites.  Since it was only 1 hour, it had to be the day we ate at the open air restaurant area near Angkor Wat.   I was hesitant to eat there because I wasn’t sure of the sanitary or refrigeration conditions, but the food turned out to be quite good (though I did stick to a vegetarian meal and did not risk eating meat).

My biggest regret from our 3 days of touring temples within the Angkor complex was that we were not given a map with the temple sites we would be visiting.  MUST NOT FORGET TO ADD THAT IN MY CRITIQUE AT THE END OF THE TRIP.  My research on the internet, after the fact, helped to identify some of the sites we visited, but I may have gotten some of them wrong.  I also picked up a Siem Reap Angkor Visitors Guide just before leaving on the last day.  It has helped me with my notes as well.