Day 1: Apsaras in Stone and in Flesh

We arrived in Siem Reap airport at around 9.50am, Cambodia time. The airport is not large, but it is immaculate and well laid-out. We were to learn that in Siem Reap, everything is tourist-oriented. The immigration process was very smooth (especially since we did not have to queue for the visa) and high-tech with the little digital camera on hand to take our photos. Our driver was waiting just outside to whisk us away to our hotel. The hotel itself was most pleasant - we could have wished for a room with a better view, but the room itself was fine.

After lunch (a really enjoyable dish of amok fish, which is rather similar to otak), we proceeded to our first round of temples. I had been told by someone that Banteay Srei was worth visiting, so we decided to go there first especially since we knew it was a little out of the way. We got our tourist passes first and again, this process was smooth and efficient. No one gets their passes in the middle of the afternoon and so there was no queue. The little camera was again in evidence, this time to take our photo for our pass. Apparently, the ticketing system has been tendered out to one of the nearby hotels to manage. Payment was in US Dollars. We were to learn also that this is the standard currency in use in the area, at least by tourists. Which made prices of everything pretty expensive. We are talking US$1 for a single postcard in the hotel! (You can get 10 for US$1 from the little children selling postcards outside the temples). We drove on to Banteay Srei - everything is well sign-posted and there are many other tourists on the roads, including a few cyclists. We passed them quickly in our Toyota. I wondered whether Cambodia is a recipient of second-hand cars from Singapore. Whilst Cambodians drive on the right side of the road, the driver's seat seems to be on the right just as often as it is on the left.

Banteay Srei (the Citadel of Women) is a small, exquisite little temple - one of my favourite temples for this entire visit. Built of red sandstone, the shrine was covered with fine, highly detailed carvings telling stories of the Gods. It is one of the older temples, built around 968-1000. It was apparently not built by the king of the day, but by his high priest instead. With the shrines and carvings at eye level (without the need to climb!), it is easy to take photos of the shrine. Here, I first started really making use of the ND filter on my camera. That's why I managed to get these lovely blue skies. Here too, we learnt some essential phrases - "Gopura", or entrance pavillion; "Library" which really refers to a little shrine; lintels and pediments - often beautifully carved especially here at Banteay Srei.

Our next temple, Pre Rup, was an example of a temple-mountain. In other words, the temple itself was built on the top of an artificial mountain, rather like a tiered wedding cake with steep steps up each side. The true believer would undergo this arduous journey in order to worship the gods. We were not (alas) true believers. We decided that such climbs would take place the next day when we got to Angkor Wat and Phnom Bhakeang. The temple itself was not fully restored, with plants growing out from between the bricks of the building. Nonetheless, it was still most impressive.

Our third temple for the day was Banteay Kdei. It is a very different temple from the other two we saw. It is not a temple-mountain so there is nothing to climb (hooray) but it is also large in scale with large sandstone blocks. It seems to be in worse condition than the other two, with props supporting stones here and there, and the blocks of the main towers tied together. Needless to say, this added to the interest and excitement of walking through the temple... Here we saw for the first time the towers, with the face of Buddha on all sides, and halls with Apsara dancers on each of the columns. Now Apsaras (celestial dancers) are from Hinduism and Buddha (obviously) from Buddhism. So the mingling of the two denotes the practical nature of the builder, King Jayavarman VII, who was a Buddhist but who nonetheless incorporated Hindu symbols into his buildings so that his people (still largely Hindu) would feel some connection to the buildings.

We went by also Prasat Kravan. It would have been good to go in but we were concerned that we needed a little rest before our evening appointment (we were also a little tired by this time considering our early start to the day) so we just stopped outside and took a look. Prasat Kravan was restored through the process of anastylosis, which means that the restorers numbered all the stones, took down everything, and built it up again with reinforcement done for the weaker areas and replacement stones where stones were missing (done in a different colour, or marked in some way so people would know the difference).

We ended the day with a cultural performance- Apsara dances, and folk dances. After seeing the Apsara dancers carved in stone all day, I was eagerly anticipating what they would look like in the flesh. I had also been reading a book, "Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma" by Amitav Ghosh, prior to coming to Cambodia. He had written of a visit that the Cambodian King Sisowath had made to Paris in 1906. He had brought with him the famed Royal Dancers, who performed to great acclaim. Rodin made several sketches of the dancers and (so enraptured was he) apparently followed them to Marseille from where they were to take ship back to Cambodia. I can only say, these graceful dancers were indeed like the Apsaras in stone - with the curved hands and feet.

And that was the end of Day 1 in Siem Reap! More photos can be seen on my Flickr page but I'm uploading them in batches so more will appear over time.