The Angkor Wat Complex, Cambodia

A while ago my uncle Joe asked me to post pictures of my trip to the Angkor Wat complex outside of the town of Siem Reap, Cambodia. One of the restaurants near my hotel was called “Angkor What?” which was also my question before I came to South East Asia. Angkor was the ancient capital center of the Khmer Kingdom that lasted from the 9th to 15th century. The ruins of Angkor were abandoned for many years, being cared for at times by a few monks, and fortunately spared from the Khmer Rouge’s destruction. Being abandoned for so many years, nature entwined herself into many of the buildings. Nature spills into the city of Angkor Thom above, and below trees grow out of a building.
Angkor Wat is the name of the main temple. Like many others, Angkor Wat are dedicated to Khmer Kings, who are understood as ruler-gods, following the Hindu mythology that was the dominant religious tradition. There’s symbolism all over. Angkor Wat is designed to evoke the temple-mount Meru, home of the gods; there are also sculptures of god/desses and mythical animals; carvings linings the wall that tell sacred stories, like the Ramayana, and the Churning of the Sea; along with many other carvings that tell historical narratives of the time. Yitaudl stands in front of it here.
Another interesting temple was the Bayon for the huge faces built into the structure. It seems it could be faces of one of the gods, Vishnu or Shiva; or, perhaps King Jayavarman VII himself who commissioned it; or, a few say maybe the face of the Buddha when the dominance of Hinduism give way to Buddhism toward the end of Khmer rule. The Khmer kingship system follows the Hindu tradition of the devaraja, or literally god-king, whose rule is by nature sacred and absolute. The current dynasty in Thailand follows the Theravada Buddhist system of the dhammaraja, literally the dhamma-king. The dhammaraja's rule is effective and sacred insofar as the monarch exemplifies dhamma (or dharma, the Buddhist truth).
The Khmer were in Thailand at one point, and Siam has adopted some of the Khmer kingships practices from them. For instance Thailand uses Hindu Brahmins and rituals and even much Khmer vocabulary associated with the devaraja tradition, which makes sense given the supreme reverence given to the monarch here in the kingdom.

Since Buddhism became the dominant religion, many Buddha images find a home in the temples, and they are sacred to many Buddhist visitors. Yet, given the Hindu context of the ruins, it’s not a surprise to find a host of Indian travelers, some on half pilgrimage half vacation. We made friends with a few of them, and they are as useful as a tour guide, being familiar with all symbolism and stories, and being very excited to share about their own religion. It was so much fun to talk with them and discuss the theology together!
Banteay Srei was my favorite site for the wonderfully elaborate depictions and floral details of the carvings that have a red tint—never a bad color. Widely considered a Goddess temple, it is also possible that the intricate cravings may have been done by women. It was also nice because it was away from the bigger temples and you could really take the time to enjoy it.
We were there for 5 days, three full days exploring temple sites. I was ecstatic, I love ruins! But as Yitaudl put it after the day 3, she was “Wat-ed out,” and all of them started to blur together. It was a really great experience, and I would love to go back. Not only to retake pictures of some of the sites we trekked to, like the River of a Thousand Lingas with ruins scattered through a river, but also see some of the others farther out and even more enshrouded in jungle! This is the remains of the female principle that contained a Linga now lost or stolen.