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| Just before dawn |
The strangest part was walking in
the dark, using the torches on our phone to light the way. All I could hear were
our footsteps, and the noises of the jungle – plus the occasional swearing as
someone tripped in the dark
I’d woken before dawn, and left my
hotel in Siam Reap before the sun rose. Most tourists reach Angkor Wat via the
front entrance, where a grand causeway stretches over a wide moat. Instead, my
guide led me in from the east, where thick tree roots stretched across our
path. Suddenly the jungle cleared and the temple rose before me: a black shadow
against a dark blue sky, the grandeur of a world long gone.
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| A temple hidden in the jungle |
As Homer once wrote about another
vanished world, Dawn comes early, with
rosy fingers. As she does so Angkor Wat rose from the darkness. Hundreds of
people stood around me, yet in the darkness I stood alone, watching the temple emerge
along with the past. My guide had me to the edge of an ancient library pool, where
the reflection of the temple floated amongst the lotus flowers. A light rain
fell, and Angkor Wat rippled across the water.
As dawn comes, so does the heat. I
took my time exploring the temple complex. Ankor Wat means temple city, and it
really cannot be explored in a day. Built at the height of the Angkor Empire, Angkor
Wat reflects the artistic splendour and achievements of the time. Despite the hoards
of tourists, I easily found places to sit by myself, or wander along empty
stone corridors and try to imagine how the place must have been in its heyday, with
the moats full of water and the temples overflowing with locals, monks and royalty.
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| An empty corridor |
As the sun rose ever higher and the
humidity bordered on overwhelming, I took a ride in a hot-air balloon. The size
of the temple complex is quite staggering, larger than can be appreciated when
wandering it by foot in the heat of the day. The vastness of the jungle
stretched in all directions below me and in the distance, other temples peeped
from amongst the trees.
What lingers most in my memory is
the atmosphere. Despite all the hype, despite the tourists jostling for the
best view, Angkor Wat remains a place beyond my imagination. The mere sight at
dawn brought the sense of the distant past, so that it stood beside me in the
darkness of that jungle.
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| View from on high |
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