Angkor Day 3: Prasat Kravan, Banteay Kdei, and Ta Prohm

This is part of a series of posts on our March 2012 trip to Cambodia. You can see some previous posts here, here, and here.


Full disclosure: after Kbal Spean, Banteay Srei, and Lake Tonle Sap, Nana and I were pretty exhausted. It turns out that touring all day in 100-degree heat takes a lot out of you. To make matters worse, we both finally succumbed to the stomach bug that had been going around school - a good dozen of our students were sick over the break. So in a rare triumph of common sense, we decided to rearrange our touring schedule so that we could spend the next day asleep.


The day after our day of rest, then, we set out for some highly efficient touring in the heart of the Angkor region: six temples in one day. This post covers the first three.


Prasat Kravan

Prasat Kravan, dedicated to Vishnu in 921, pre-dates most of the other Angkor temples. It shows: the temple has many features more typical of neighboring kingdom of Champa, in modern-day Vietnam. Most importantly, the interior of the main tower of Prasat Kravan has several detailed bas-reliefs carved directly into the red brick walls.

Vishnu.

Lakshmi with devotees.

Vishnu on Garuda.

Close-up of a Vishnu devotee. I don't think we got a good answer as to why there's a hole in his face. Usually, the holes were for applying stucco to rough brick carvings, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Prasat Kravan is also noteworthy for its linear arrangement of towers, though Nana was naturally more drawn to the lion guardian with a massive overbite.

Continuing our long-standing appreciation of stupid animals in need of dental work.

Banteay Kdei

Banteay Kdei was built during the reign of Jayavarman VII, sometime near the end of the 12th century. As a result, it shares many features with Angkor Thom and the Bayon, which are carefully calculated to symbolize harmony between the traditional Hinduism of the Khmer Empire and Jayavarman VII's own Buddhist faith.

The entrance, for instance, is capped with a face-tower, whose four faces simultaneously represent Brahma, the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, and Jayavarman VII himself.

A close-up of a Garuda carving. Garuda, the mount of Vishnu, was important to both Hinduism and Buddhism.

The naga was also important to both faiths.

Banteay Kdei has been in nearly continuous use for centuries. Today, it's still the site of several small Buddhist altars, including this one tucked inside one of the eastern galleries.

Banteay Kdei still has traces of the reddish paint originally used to decorate the temples.

Here, below the two apsara.

Banteay Kdei isn't in great shape, but that's part of its charm. This was the first of the truly ruined temples we visited - lots of fun to explore!

As far as I could tell, the tower was held together with luggage straps.

Two demons with bulging eyes.

Banteay Kdei is also a good spot to catch one of the iconic sights of Angkor: huge silk cotton trees growing out of the ruined temple walls.

Overall, the feel of Bantey Kdei is very similar to that of Ta Prohm (below) - both are forest temples built in the jumbled and labyrinthine style of Jayavarman VII. But Bantey Kdei, being smaller and much less famous, has the advantage of being much quieter, though also significantly less impressive.

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is a sprawling temple monastery and university built in the late 12th century, during the reign of Jayavarman VII. Until recently, Ta Prohm had been left largely untouched since its "rediscovery" in the 20th century. The result is a very photogenic breed of chaos that makes Ta Prohm one of the most popular sites in the Angkor region.

If you ever see a photo of an enormous tree growing out of a temple wall, chances are it was taken at Ta Prohm.

Ta Prohm gets pretty crowded, which can take away some of the charm.

Luckily, our guide knew all the good little nooks and crannies away from the crowd, so we got to spend most of our visit feeling like we had the place to ourselves. That's really what Ta Prohm is about: playing explorer for a bit.

That's actually an enormous termite mound blocking the gallery. Ew.

Ta Prohm, unlike the other major Angkor sites, was originally dedicated as a Buddhist temple. As a result, it's one of the few temples built by Jayavarman VII to forego the careful blending of Hindu and Buddhism symbolism characteristic of his architectural style. Instead, Ta Prohm's symbolism is primarily Buddhist, but with touches drawn from the shared mythology of the two faiths.

The image of the hairy hermit appears to be universal.

However, the original Buddhist imagery of Ta Prohm has been largely destroyed. This is because Jayavarman VII's successors rejected his Buddhist faith and re-established Hinduism as the state religion, to the exclusion of all other faiths. Thus Ta Prohm is covered with empty niches that used to hold countless carvings of the Buddha.

Today, Ta Prohm is quickly changing, as an Indian-led team has taken a more aggressive approach to restoration. In fact, a huge portion of the middle precincts of the temple is off-limits to tourists as a major restoration project is underway. 

This is a departure from the established approach to conserving the temple, and reactions to the project have been mixed, especially among those who see some value in keeping at least one of the major Angkor temples in a semi-ruined state. 

Thailand Travel Madness

Let me preface this by saying that Justin and I are safe and sound in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in our hotel. But about ten hours ago it did not look like this would be the case.

First, we were about three stops along on the subway when we realized we forgot the camera. So Justin had to go back to the apartment while I continued on to take care of converting money and we were running late.

Then we get to the front of the check in line and the lady says "Can I see the credit card you used for the booking?" But we had our card number stolen between booking and now so it's the same account but different number. But no, this is not acceptable We have to identify the number on the card which somebody stole a few weeks ago and we no longer have. OH CRAP.

So Justin calls Capital One on Skype to ask for the old number and they say NOPE DON'T HAVE IT EITHER. Clock is ticking. 15 min until flight check in closes.

And the sick thing is the old cards WERE IN MY LUGGAGE but I threw them out last night while packing. Plus Justin cut them up. I try calling our neighbors to ask if they can go look in the trash outside the apartment but nobody is picking up. (Maybe they could detect why I was calling). 10 minutes until flight closes.

I am searching my email frantically for an e-receipt or something and checking online shopping accounts but everything only has the last 4 digits "for security" and we need the last 8. The person who stole our account had an easier time getting our number than we are having. My hands are shaking so hard I can barely type on the iPhone.

AND THEN the heavens part and the angels burst into song. JUSTIN HAS FOUND THE NUMBER! In his madness, he had created a scanned copy of our credit cards and uploaded it to Google Docs. WHO DOES THIS? "They suggest that you do that before major trips," he says modestly. They also suggest you not forget that you did it, but at this point he is such a hero I don't even care.

Moral of the story: Don't get your identity stolen. Also, get an iPhone.

Wednesday Weirdness: J-Pop at the Canal City Mall

They only look like toddlers in mismatched neon frilly frocks. And yes, the fans are mostly twenty-something men.

Just when I think I've started to figure this place out.

(PS: Shut up, it's still Wednesday in the US.)

Heading to Thailand!

Nana and I are heading to the "northern capital" of Chiang Mai, Thailand for Golden Week this Saturday. Right now, we're smack in the middle of the typical pre-break crunch.

However, we have a couple finished posts in the pipeline scheduled to publish late this week and early next, so hopefully there's no interruption in your regularly scheduled programming. Just don't take this as a sign that we've started blogging on vacation!

Siem Reap: Apsara Dancers

One evening in Siem Reap we did the tourist thing and went out for dinner and a show. Giant dinner theater, huge buffet, teeming masses - you know the drill. Though we were understandably exhausted after a long day of touring, I'm glad we went: the dancing was fascinating, not least for the stark contrast between the glacial formality of the apsara dance and the up-tempo humor of the peasant dances.

The apsara dance, Cambodia's classical dance style, is based on the poses of the apsara carvings found in the ancient Khmer temples. As a formal dance discipline, it's actually pretty recent, codified by a Cambodian princess in the mid-20th century, though it's based on traditions that are much older than that.

Some of the dances tell stories from Hindu mythology. This one seems to involve some kind of monkey-demon falling in love with an apsara.

The apsara dances were interesting, but on the whole I preferred the peasant dances. Like many peasant dances from around the world, these numbers were all about thinly-veiled flirtation, spun around the stylized motions of everyday life. 

In one dance, for example, a mixed group of young men and young women are at work catching fish and crabs in a rice paddy. A central pair seem to take a particular fancy to one another, and spend the rest of the dance trying to get some time alone. They eventually succeed, and a universally identifiable marriage proposal ensues. All done with tons of energy and superb comic timing. Funny stuff - but a little too quick to catch on camera in such low light. 

The shots below are from a different dance - a percussive number involving coconuts.

After the show, guests were invited onto the stage to take a photo with the dancers. After the initial bull rush of Chinese and Korean tour groups subsided, Nana made her way to the stage with a second wave of Aussies and Japanese.