So ... here's what I remember about our trip to Banteay Srei. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. It is called "The Citadel Women" because of the delicate carvings. They say it could only be women's handiwork, or that the temple's beauty could be compared to that of a woman's.
Banteay Srei was built during the second half of the 10th century, but it has retained most of its sculptures' sharpness because of the hardness of pink sandstone.
What stun factor Banteay Srei lacks from afar, it makes up for up close. The temple lives up to its title of being "The Jewel in Khmer Art" because of its very fine carvings. This temple alone will convince you that Siem Reap is a Hindu mythology mecca. Nearly all of the surfaces are decorated with mythological narratives that are so fascinatingly small, you'll miss them if you don't look closely.
A false door for the spirits on the left, and a devata on the right. See the nāga (multi-headed snake) at the top? The foliage have also been carved so deep into the stone they look 3D.
Another devata. Some say that Banteay Srei is also called the "Citadel of Women" because of the numerous devata bas reliefs in the temple.
We spent an hour in Banteay Srei, and I think only Istine, who's taking up her masters in Asian Studies, wasn't overwhelmed with information. Most of the time we'd tell her to listen to what Narith was saying, and then just relay the simpler version to us. I was going to save this for my next entry, but since I mentioned getting overwhelmed with information, I might as well give you tips for your temple tour, or a list of the things I wish we had done:
1. Brush up on Hindu mythology. A lot of the images and structures you'll see in Cambodia are related to Hinduism (sculptures of nāgas and depictions of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk are everywhere).
Stone image of Nandi, Shiva's bull.
Lotus carving.
Depiction of a scene from Ramayana of the fight between Valin and Sagriva
2. Visit the Angkor National Museum before checking out the temples. The museum will give you a background on the temples' history and the stories behind the carvings and bas reliefs. Most of the sculptures from the temples have been moved here too.
Windows with lathe-turned balusters behind the replicas of the guardians.
Tourists.
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Replicas of the guardians. Most of the original figures and statues at the temples of Siem Reap have been moved to museums to protect them from vandalism and looting.
3. Allot three days for your tour ($40 pass). We only managed to visit six temples from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and at that rate we were very exhausted and overwhelmed. I was going to say we didn't get to visit other interesting temples too, but just now I remembered what Narith said about having a reason to go back to Siem Reap after two years. :)
4. Start your tour as early as possible so you don't compete with other tourists for picture-perfect spots. ;)
5. Get a tour guide so you have someone to bombard questions with. :) Seriously, the fee they ask is small for the services they offer. I must say I was fascinated with the multilingual guides in Siem Reap. You'd hear guides speaking in French, Korean, Japanese, etc.
6. If you don't feel like hiring a tour guide, buy Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques' "Ancient Angkor." The book describes the temples in detail, has a suggested schedule, has a list of the great views at Angkor, and even suggests where to enter and exit a particular temple. The book is sold at the Night Market for $7.00 but if you negotiate you can get it for a lower price. A young man peddling the book near Banteay Srei tried to get our attention by making it sound as if he were selling the book for only $1.00. I asked Narith if it was a good price, and he said that the book is really $7.00 and these young men would only tell you that when you're about to pay. He says they sometimes cause trouble because visitors can get aggressive when asked to pay a higher price. Narith said that $5.00 is a reasonable price for the book.
Landmine victims playing traditional Khmer instruments outside Banteay Srei.
On our way back to the tuktuk. (Photo by Narith Pong)
On our way back to the Angkor Wat complex, we spotted something that really looked like turon (deep fried bananas in spring roll wrappers), and that made us try Siem Reap's street food. The place where we stopped over did not have the turon-ish food, but they had palm sugar candies and waffles (this is when I found out that palm trees are abundant in Siem Reap, and what had looked like to me as coconut trees were really palm trees).
Palm sugar candy wrappers and the palm sugar candy maker/vendor. The large pan naturally reminded my companions of the witches of Macbeth. They're geeky like that. This stopover put our EQ to the test too because there were lots of stuff sold along the road, but we reminded ourselves we'd get a better deal if we waited 'til we got to the Night Market.
Waffles, Siem Reap style. We bought four pieces for $1.00.
I adore the vintage bicycles in Siem Reap. These photos were taken while we were in a moving tuktuk, so I had to be constantly on the lookout for children biking on their way home from school. Narith shared that children in Siem Reap attend either a morning class or an afternoon class (similar to the setup here in the Philippines, I guess).
Next, I'll write about the other temples we visited - Pre Rup, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Prohm. 'Should be relatively short because we didn't get to spend a lot of time in these temples.
Don't the bike shots look pretty much like they were shot here in the Philippines? What do you think about the place? Leave me a comment y'all!
Labels: Banteay Srei, Cambodia, Siem Reap, Siem Reap temples
