At around 6am I left our hotel, the Shinta Mani to see if I could find anyone practicing tai chi in the main park, but although there were many people exercising, unfortunately no-one was practicing tai chi.
I have found that in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, tai chi practice has been replaced by a greater focus on "fitness".
Parks now contain fitness equipment and are filled in the mornings with people exercising in modern colourful gym gear instead of traditional clothing.
Today we visited Angkor Wat (City Temple) which is the largest and most famous temple in the Seim Reap area originally constructed in 1150 CE within the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor as a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Vishnu.
We had not realised before we arrived that it is only one of many hundreds of temples of differing sizes built in the region. It was later gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the century.
Hailed as the largest religious structure in the world, it is one of the best examples of Khmer architecture and a symbol of Cambodia, depicted as a part of the Cambodian national flag.
The damage to the temple since it was built almost 900 years ago is due to both natural causes and invasion by Thailand about 200 years later. Many of the stones around the entrance were removed by the Thai King after defeating the Khmer, and he used it in building build temples in Thailand.
Many of the statues had their heads removed, not to steal, but to disempower the Khmer. The Thai king did not use the main entrance or adjoining entrances because he believed that the Khmer king had left a curse there, so he had another entrance/exit cut into the walls away from the main entrance.
Interestingly, because the main tower of the temple near the centre is 65m high, no buildings are allowed to be built in Siem Reap above that height - not like in Phnom Penh with its many skyscrapers. In was in 1586 that António da Madalena, a Portuguese Capuchin friar was the first European who recorded seeing Angkor Wat.
When it was built, the Khmer were practising Hinduism, so the temple was dedicated to the three Hindu gods Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva. About two centuries later when the Kymher converted to Buddhism, these statues were replaced by Buddhas and Buddhist monks painted the walls which had previously been left bare with the only being carved reliefs. Subsequent temples contained a mixture of Hundreds and Buddhist motifs.
There are many versions of traditional Apsara dancers, however a feature of the 32 figures in the main area is that their headdresses and hairstyles are all different. Four internal reservoirs were created to collect and store water temporarily to avoid weakening the foundations. The water was used for ceremonies and washing and then it was transported out of these pools to the surrounding moat. The Thais and the French removed some of the internal statues although some are now housed in the Siem Reap museum.
There were may tourists, but also local Cambodians visiting the temple - we paid $US62 for a 3-day pass but fortunately Cambodians have free entry.
From Angkor Wat we travelled a short distance to the former city of Angkor Thom, built in the 12th century and containing the ruins of the Bayon Temple. This city’s temple was completely overgrown by thick vegetation for centuries and as a result it suffered substantial damage.
Angkor Thom was built after the Khmer King converted to Buddhism and all the towers are topped with four faces of Buddha, each depicting one of the four virtues: Equanimity, Loving Kindness, Compassion, and Sympathetic Joy.
The intricate relief carvings in this temple depict battles with the Thais and the Cham, but in contrast to Angkor Wat, they also included many aspects of daily life at the time - small moments in time captured forever in stone.
It’s tempting to take hundreds of photos of these natural wonders, but I tried to resist and only took a few. Features included the Terrace of Elephants, which used to be the base for the king's grand audience hall and the Terrace of the Leper King, which housed the royal cremator. We stayed to see an awe-inspiring sunset at the magnificent Angkor Wat before heading back to the hotel.
That evening were we attended a very tasty farewell dinner and entertainment by young Cambodians.
The highlight was Apasra dancing which was originally only performed for the king and banned by the Khmer Rouge but is now having a resurgence.
Interestingly the hotel itself was set up in 2004 as a foundation to help underprivileged youth to learn the hotel trade.
