An Angkorian Celebration fit for a Queen

In late October Mum arrived with plans to share her big birthday with me here in Cambodia. 

I wanted to make it a special one and decided the best place to celebrate would be with sunrise over Angkor Wat.

"Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years." - Ausonius

A friend of mine is a tour guide here and between us and a few others we planned a nice morning of Angkor Wat, fizzy wine, croissants and fruit as the sun came up.




Cheers!

Cheers to you too!

We sat a little out of the way, but were joined by a young girl travelling with some friends, we couldn't leave her out, so she had some fizz and fruit too!

A close up.

So many people looking to get 'that' shot! Literally hundreds every morning.

In we go...

Here is one of the four pools - these are mirrored at the very top of Angkor Wat in the most sacred space.

Up here is the most sacred place - you have to ensure you cover knees and shoulders, be quiet and respectful.

Mum looking around in wonder.

View from the top.

Lots and lots of stairs.

Amazing carvings in all the stone, some are Hindu and some are Buddhist, and some depict various kings, all depending on which dignitary was in charge and which religion was the focus of the day. Often you see Buddhas or other statues with missing heads or carvings of one religion over another.

"I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit." - Khalil Gibran

Beautiful script carvings.

And story depictions.

One of the large Buddha statues, people leave offerings here.


More views from the top - the Angkor Park just goes on and on.

One of the most sacred statues at the top of Angkor Wat.

The detail everywhere is so amazing.

What an amazing, huge site.

Only a few of the carvings still have any colour.

Coming down from the steps - very, very steep!

Love these long doorways.

"Every doorway, every intersection has a story." - Katherine Dunn

"The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind." - E. B. White

Most of the temples have some sort of moat or boray around them, Angkor Wat has both.

On the way back out...

Looooots of tourists!

The moat around the temple. 

I have to say Angkor Wat is truly amazing, it may not be my favourite - I, personally, think some of the smaller ones are more beautiful. However it is a real feat of engineering, beauty and symbolism and a real pleasure to watch the sun rise over this spectacular site.

Happy Birthday Mum!

From here we headed to Bayon Temple. Sadly, in this area they have a few elephants that are still used for tourists to ride. Whilst the elephants looked in good condition and we did not see any cruelty taking place its well known that these majestic animals are broken and beaten with bull hooks in training in order to make them submit to having people ride them. Very sad to see this.

Here again at Bayon the carvings were very different, I particularly loves these dancing Apsaras.

There are also many linga statues that still remain as symbols of fertility.

The stone faces here are vast and its amazing to look into these ancient Khmer faces. 

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you."  Walt Whitman

Some tourists posing with Apsara dancers.

It was so crowded we had to get out of there as it was hard to breathe with all the people! We took some chill time and visited a friends mum for BBQ pork skewers and coconuts.

After this it was time for a monk blessing. Our friend and guide used to be a monk and kindly organised for us to have a water blessing. These blessings are symbolic of washing away the old and welcoming in the new - ideal for a 60th birthday! 

Mum and I took part and the below clips are worth a giggle at - it was cold and it went on for a long time. We truly had the old washed away.  In one of the videos all you can hear is the chuckling of our friend!

We sat with a family also having a blessing and just over the balcony was a car that was also getting in on the action.

"Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new." - Sammy Hagar

The experience was definitely refreshing! And it felt good to be blessed and start anew on this big day.

Next up was a visit to Ta Prohm (Tomb Raider Temple) where the trees are taking back what man built thousands of years ago...

This is one small carving unique to the whole set of temples that appears to be of a dinosaur - go figure?! 

[Part of me wonders if there is an archaeologist somewhere who created this and who is having a good old chuckle].

"A dinosaur out of context is like a character without a story. Worse than that, the character suffers from amnesia." - Jack Horner

Ta Prohm is one of my favourites - perhaps as the first time I saw it I was almost the only person there.

We had some photos outside the famous spots!

And saw some more great examples of the trees taking it back.

All too soon we were on our way out.

After a lovely lunch of the best BBQ chicken and rice in Cambodia with a view of Angkor Wat it was time to relax.

We headed home for a rest and that night headed out to celebrate with a lovely birthday meal and some more fizz!

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" - Satchel Paige