Siem Reap and Angkor Wat – a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Zahra at Angkor Wat in monsoon

The Kingdom of Cambodia (Kampuchea)

Cambodia illicits lots of differing images for different people. Those who can recall the Khmer Rouge and the ‘Killing Fields’ (20,000 mass graves) will have dark memories of the millions who died (25% of the population) at the hands of Pol Pot between 1975-1979 in the Cambodian Genocide. Younger people will have fabulous images of the temples at Angkor Wat (a world heritage site), Hinduism and Buddhism. Current day Cambodia has a population of over 15 million and is a “unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy”. This means the monarch is chosen by the Royal Throne Council as head of state. The current head of government is Hun Sen who is the longest serving non royal leader in south east Asia having ruled Cambodia for over 25 years. It remains a country with plenty of issues to resolve but this does not detract from the tourists who flock there daily to see the largest religious monument in the world at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

The Cyclo D’Angkor Hotel

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is in the northwest of Cambodia and is the tourist gateway to Angkor Wat.  We flew into Siem Reap airport which was bright, clean and virtually empty. The visa on arrival process was extremely efficient ($96 for the 3 of us). We were met by the hotel’s driver after we had collected our luggage and quickly proceeded to the Cyclo D’Angkor boutique hotel. The hotel was small and lovely. The staff were extremely helpful and very knowledgable, suggesting the best routes and tours for the time we had available in order that we could see the maximum amount of temples possible without being exhausted. We booked a 2 day tour with a car and driver. A good decision considering the heat – the ac in the car was welcome relief. We commenced our 2 day temple tour the following morning.

Our guide told us that The name “Siem Reap” can be translated to mean “Defeat of Siam” (siem in Khmer), and is commonly taken as a reference to an incident in the centuries-old conflict between the Siamese and Khmer kingdoms. According to oral tradition, King Ang Chan (1516–1566) had named the town “Siem Reap”, meaning “the defeat of Siam”, after he repulsed an army sent to invade Cambodia by the Thai King Maha Chakkraphat in 1549. (The tour guide was good!).

Siem Reap Town

Siem Reap’s recent history is coloured by the horror of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. There are land mine victims everywhere. Since Pol Pot’s death in 1998 the tourist industry has revived the city and province. Siem Reap now serves as a gateway town to the world heritage site of Angkor Wat. It is a vibrant town with modern hotels and restaurants and yet still managing to preserve culture and traditions. 

Tourism is clearly an important aspect of the economy of Siem Reap. Most tourists in Siem Reap come to visit the Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, (about 6 km north of the city), and other Angkor ruins. There are many shopping opportunities around the Psar Chas area, and there are also a number of western-styled pubs and bars catering to tourists.

Pub Street in Siem Reap, tourist central!

The Old Market or Psah Chas is located between Pub Street and the Siem Reap River and sells a mixture of souvenirs for tourist and a variety of food produce. The Made in Cambodia Market is a night market where all the products sold are made in Cambodia. The market hosts daily and nightly shows. Other markets in Siem Reap include the Angkor Night Market, Phsar Kandal (The Central Market) which mainly caters to tourists, and Phsar Leu (The Upper Market) which is the biggest market of Siem Reap used by the locals.

Siem Reap

What is a UNESCO World Heritage site?

A World Heritage Site is a place (such as a building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, or mountain) that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as being of special cultural or physical significance. Angkor Wat was designated a UNESCO site in 1992.

Angkor Wat

Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. They include the famous Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its sculptural decorations.

Angkor, in Cambodia’s northern province of Siem Reap, is one of the most important archaeological sites of Southeast Asia. It extends over approximately 400 km2, including forests, and consists of scores of temples and other structures (basins, dykes, reservoirs, canals and communication routes). Temples such as Angkor Wat, the Bayon, Preah Khan and Ta Prohm are great examples of Khmer architecture.  These temples have been used in many films such as Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Angkor is a huge site of cultural, religious and symbolic values, as well as containing architectural, archaeological and artistic significance. The park and many villages are inhabited by locals, some of whom have ancestors dating back to the Angkor period; they grow rice. 

Monks at Angkor Wat

Banteay Srei 

Banteay Srei is a 10th-century temple located about 30 km northeast of Siem Reap. This is the first temple we visited on our two day tour and being apart from the rest of the temple complex was relatively quiet first thing in the morning. It is notable for its rose pink sandstone and fine intricate decorative carvings.

Temple Photos

This would be an incredibly long blog if I went into detail about all the temples we visited whilst we were in Angkor Wat, so instead here are some of the photos of our time there. (The photos including me were taken by our tour guide.)

Monsoon!

Janmashtami

What is it?

Janmashtami is the celebration of the birth of lord Krishna. Krishna is the absolute representation of god to Hindus.

When is it?

It falls on the eighth day of the Krishna Paksha (the dark lunar fortnight or waning moon in the Hindu calendar) in the month of Bhadra (a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds with August/September in the Gregorian calendar). In 2016 this is Thursday 25th of August.

History

When Devaki’s brother, Kansa, was taking Devaki to her husband’s (Vasudeva’s) place after her marriage, an oracle from the skies announced that Devaki’s eighth child would cause Kansa’s death.

According to legend, lord Krishna was the eighth avatar of lord Vishnu (one of the three main deities in Hinduism) and the eighth son of Devaki and Vasudeva. On the birth of the eighth child the prison doors opened themselves and the guards fell asleep. Vasudeva took the new born child to Gokul. Here he was brought up by Nanda (or Nanda Gopa or Nanda Baba) and Yashoda (or Yasoda). Nanda was the head of the Gopas, a tribe of cowherds referred as Holy Gwals

Later, Krishna became the killer of Kansa. Kansa was the tyrant ruler of the Vrishni kingdom with its capital at Mathura.

How is it celebrated?

It is celebrated with much devotion, fervour and gaiety in the northern states of India, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Temples are decorated with tableaus/ images depicting scenes of Krishna’s birth and the various events in his life. Images are also placed in cradles and swings in homes and temples. 

Hindus fast and stay up until midnight offering prayers at a special time – when Krishna is believed to have been born. At midnight devotees gather round for devotional songs, dance and exchange gifts.

Faith Camp 2016

What is Faith Camp?

Faith Camp is a gathering of Christians from around the UK and abroad at the Peterborough Arena  at the East of England Showground. It is a family friendly festival of Christianity – it’s all about Jesus- run by Kingdom Faith church based in Horsham on the south coast. It is an action packed week for the children and teenagers with inspirational speakers for the adults in the twice daily ‘Big Event’. There are a wide variety of seminars and a group for every age of child from 0 to 18. There really is something for everyone.

Life on site

 

The showground is a secure campsite for a week and split into units. Each unit has a unit leader who welcomes you on arrival, disseminates information and arranges social gatherings of the unit campers during the week. We were on Unit 14 and had the lovely Kate and Jeremy as our unit leaders. 

As we had travelled from Bangalore, India we had hired a tent and equipment in advance and this was pre erected for our arrival on the unit. After lugging two heavy suitcases across London on tubes and trains I was grateful our tent was ready for arrival. 

Alex had picked us up from the station and we had managed to keep our attendance at Faith Camp a secret from our church friends (except Matt and Alex who were notified on the day I booked!). When we arrived we were greeted with great enthusiasm and surprise by our friends. It was lovely to be reunited with them after such a long time. It was going to be a great week. 

The site has a general store, a camping shop, a food ‘court’ (a few food vans), the Hub cafe (great hot drinks), a helpful info point (who were doing a roaring trade in charging mobile phones), a resource centre (full of christian books, music and gifts) and an exhibition area. It is well organised and catered for campers on site. 

The toilet blocks are clean with hot water and loo roll are plenty. The shower blocks were also clean with push button showers with hot water. This was decent camping.

There is also camp radio for the week covering the events with interviews and music in between.

Children and Youth

Throughout the week there were inter unit football and volleyball competitions. In addition there were indoor activities (football and basketball) as well as an area for roller skating and scooters in the cowsheds.

The children and youth have separate groups for their age range – all focused on fun and Jesus. The groups are:

Tiny Treasures 0-2 years from 9:15-11:30am each morning

Bounces 3-4 years from 9:15am – 12:15pm each morning

Powerpack 5-7 years from 9:15am – 12:15pm and 6pm-7pm each day

Powerpack 8-10 years from 9:15am – 12:15pm and 6pm – 8pm each day

Resolute 11-13 years from 9:15am – 12:30pm and 6pm – 8:30pm each day

The Move 14-18 years from 8am – 8:30am, 10am – 12:15pm, Cafe 7:30pm – 8:45pm, XL 9pm – 10:45pm, Wind Down 10:30pm – 11pm. 

The Big Event

This is in the Peterborough Arena and runs alongside the children and youth groups during the week. It starts with loud worship! There is a huge band on stage with a singing group too. A few thousand Christians together can worship loudly and freely. It is exhilarating.

The speakers at the Big Event were Colin Urquhart, Clive Urquhart, Jarrod Cooper, Andy Elmes and Bengt Wedemalm. In addition, on the Wednesday morning, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK came to speak.

The meetings are designed to “inspire, inform and equip” us – and they certainly do. The teaching was, as always, very good. The variety of speakers meant that there was something for everyone. We certainly encountered God and His Holy Spirit during the week. 

Afternoon Seminars

Throughout the week there was aseminar series running in the afternoons with excellent speakers on a wide range and variety of topics. In addition there were specific seminars for different groups such as leaders and worship seminars. 

In addition running alongside the seminars was a 24/7 prayer room so we could “constantly and persistently” pray.

My week at Faith Camp

The week went so fast. Zahra loved being with her friends the whole week and the freedom of being able to play on the site, without my constant supervision, as it was secure. She loved PowerPack and learnt a lot. 

I enjoyed the freedom to worship and enjoy being with God and His people. It was a sanctuary. I learnt a lot as well – the Bible teaching is always superb. It was lovely being with so many other Christians and friends – I was able to relax and enjoy myself for the first time in a long time.

The nightly gatherings at Matt and Alex’ tent became a feature. We gathered as a church to discuss the day’s events and what we had learnt and how we were going to put it into practice when we were back home. Over a glass of wine / Prosecco of course! It was good to catch up with friends and just chat. It is something I have come to treasure more now that I am separated from them in India. 

Faith Camp was refreshing and restoring and I hope we manage to go next year – even if it does mean a 5000+ mile journey.

Raksha Bandhan

What is Raksha Bandhan?

It is the festival celebrating the bond of love between a brother and a sister. It not only celebrates the bond of love between brothers and sisters but also signifies that love is not bound by the considerations of religion and community. It is also called ‘Janai Purnima’  or ‘Rakhi Purnima’ and is observed by Hindus and Jains. Raksha Bandhan means ‘Bond of Protection’.

When is it?

It falls within the month of ‘Sharavan’ (or ‘Shrawan’) on the day of full moon (‘purnima’). In 2016 this is Thursday 18th August.

History

According to this legend (there are several of them) the festival of Rakhi has its roots in an incident from the Mughal period. Chittor was once attacked by the King of Gujarat. Rani Karnawati sent a silken thread to the Mughal Emperor Humayun. He sent a large army in response to the message seeking protection and helped Rani Karnawati to defend Chittor.

What happens?

On this day sisters tie rakhis (meaning ‘sacred thread’) made of threads on the wrists of their brothers for their long and happy life, love and prayers for well being. The brothers vow to take care and protect their sisters all their life. Brothers present gifts to their sisters and the sisters prepare delicacies (sweets, dry fruits or other seasonal delicacies) for their brothers and feed them. They then hug.  Sometimes an aarti is involved where a tray with a lighted lamp or candle is ritually rotated around the brother’s face, along with the prayer and well wishes. Sometimes a ’tilak’ or ‘tikka’ is applied. This is a colourful mark on the forehead.

Children fly kites.

Today

Cards and gifts have been exchanged and Facebook is full of love posts between siblings. Children have been flying kites in the street. It is not a huge festival but an acknowledgement of love. It brings together families including distant family members and cousins, across religions, diverse ethnic groups and ritually emphasises harmony and love. The rakhis have been worn all day by the brothers.

Back in Bangalore

So after several weeks away over the school holidays I am back in Bangalore. I have numerous blog posts to write about the holidays, sights we have seen and friends we have reunited with. However I thought I would note about my first days back in Bangalore after weeks away. How quickly you forget about the details and complexities of life here. 

Mosquitos

I haven’t missed the mosquitos but clearly they have missed me considering the plethora of bites I have already received despite lathering up on Odomos (local mosquito repellent). I have loaded up on antihistamine tablets in the UK so I am raiding those to keep the swelling down and applying tea tree oil as well. (Thank you for that tip Taran – best tip ever). 

Last night whilst we were sat at the dinner table we heard the familiar ‘hiss’ sound of the mosquito fogging guy. With Ninja like reflexes we all darted from the table, dropping knives and forks in the process, and dived for the windows. The windows were open (mosquito screens across) which meant the smoke from fogging was going to come straight in. I lunged for the lounge windows whilst Rez and Zahra sprinted upstairs to close the balcony doors and bedroom windows. Unfortunately I was a little too late and breathed in a lung full of the fog as I was closing the window. Rez and Zahra were safer upstairs as the fog hadn’t reached there yet. 

I had forgotten about fogging. It usually is around dusk (6pm), rarely when it rains and rarely after dark. It was 6:30pm and dark – we had been lulled into a false sense of security that fogging wasn’t occurring that night. What rookies.

Shopping

As soon as I returned I had a list of things to buy, mainly cleaning products, from the supermarket. I couldn’t face going to the ‘megastore’ (if only it were) and stopped off at the local supermarket on the way home from school pick up.  I gathered most of the items on my list quickly but could not find bin bags despite walking the whole store twice. Eventually an assistant asked if she could help. My pronunciation of ‘bin bags’, ‘rubbish bags’ and eventually ‘garbage bags’ offered “Pampers?” And two unrelated products in return. Eventually she understood my poor grasp of the English language and took me to a closed cardboard box under the stairs near the entrance and pulled out two rolls of bin bags. Now why didn’t I think of looking in that totally inaccessible and unobvious place?!

I also wanted dishwasher tablets. There were two boxes of 20 Finish tablets for sale. One cost INR 1999 (£22.93) and the other INR 2499 (£28.67). Clearly there was subtle difference in the two boxes I hadn’t spotted. I decided to give it a miss and leave them on the shelf. 

I paid for the products, put the receipt in my bag and exited the store. Only to be stopped by the ‘security’ asking for “Bill madam”. Oh yes, I forgot. Every store in Banaglore has them. Despite the ‘security’ at the door sitting (in this case) in clear sight of the till and watching you pay, they still insist on checking your receipt (but not your bag of goods) before hole punching the receipt. I have absolutely no idea what the purpose of this rigmarole is other than to employ someone as part of job creation. (Similar job creations in Bangalore include the chaps sat in lifts to push those buttons for you and the ladies at the car park ticket machines to push those buttons for you too. I wish I was joking.).

I put the bag in the car and turned back to complete my shopping at the fruit and veg section located inconveniently outside the front of the store. I looked despairingly at the sad selection of vegetables and fruit. I did decide to splurge and buy 3 nectarines (incorrectly labelled as peaches) at INR480 (£5.51) per kilo and 6 kiwi fruit INR290 (£3.33). Whoever said living in India was cheap clearly hasn’t been shopping in Bangalore.

I forgot to get drinking water. [insert your own expletive here]. That’s another trip. How quickly I had got used to drinking tap water back in the UK. 

The bread ordering group on WhatsApp is in full swing and I have put in my order for delivery. (See previous blogpost on WhatsApp groups). Bread without added sugar – something you can’t get in the local supermarket. Rez has discovered a local bakery selling artisan bread (ie without sugar) so we’ll be trying that in between the weekly deliveries. (‘Local’ is a 20 minute drive away).

Staff

Managing the staff again. We have a part time housekeeper (Saroja), a part time cook. (Saroja’s niece, Bhuvana), a part time gardener (Padmamma) as well as our full time driver (Manohar).

Gosh how simple life is in the UK when you can drive yourself anywhere at anytime without the need of a driver. He called me after the school run, work run and his breakfast: “Mam, what are your plans today?”. Every aspect of my life has to be planned in advance so the driver knows where to be and when. It can be exhausting. Suffering jet lag and trying to think straight was impossible. I gave him the day to himself and told him to return at 2.30pm for the school run. The shopping could be done then. 

Trying to organise a schedule where the driver is not just sat outside waiting at your beck and call is more hard work than it sounds. Whilst locals and some other expats here are quite happy to have their drivers waiting around, I am not. He’s got a job and I am not going to treat him like a slave. Be the  change you want to see in the world – right? That does however mean some energy, effort and organisation on my behalf. I need to get into gear and get going with the plans for the week.

The housekeeper Saroja is lovely and a chatterbox. As soon as she arrived she was full of questions about the holidays whilst noting I looked tired (that would be the jet lag!). Then came the list of shopping required and updates on her sons exam successes – one just off to University. She’s so proud of them both. A three year Uni course here costs INR 4500 (£5,163) in total. Which doesn’t sound a lot until you know that the average good working wage here for maids/ housekeepers/drivers etc is INR 500 (£5.67) a day. It will be hard work for her to pay those fees. I can see where her bonuses will be going this year.

Bhuvana turned up with ingredients (thankfully, I forgot those too) for dinner. She cooked chicken biriyani, cauliflower in white sauce, egg and roti. It was enough for two meals but she had put some hot chilli in the biriyani and we couldn’t eat it. (We gave that away the next day.) We hired Bhuvana after I became so ill and needed to control the food I ate and the environment it was cooked in. Bhuvana regularly shops for the ingredients (unless I want something in particular) which not only saves me hours of time but also means it’s from a clean, reliable source and cheaper. (We always have to pay more unless we buy from a fixed price supermarket.) It’s definitely helping with my recovery too. 

I’ve not seen Padmamma yet but she’s kept the plants alive whilst I’ve been away and removed one huge plant that was dying. The climbing plants I have trailing across the front porch railings have started to flower. The squash has started to die. (There’s a whole other blogpost to come on the trials and tribulations of trying to grow plants from seed here.)

Powercuts and laundry

Oh boy. How quickly these become annoying. Several every day. Still, I managed to get all the washing done despite the power interruptions. One great thing is that the washing dries within an hour or two here. A wash load takes about 1 .5 hours on a cycle here (without a powercut) so by the time the next wash is done the first is dry and ready to iron. There is a man here who collects the ironing and delivers it back, ironed, the same day. We brought our iron and ironing board with us to Bangalore – but of course you need power to use an iron. The ironing man uses a good old fashioned hot iron and water – no power required. The laundry is returned folded (with newspaper in the shirts to keep them stiff whilst stored) the same day. All for the princely sum of INR 5 (6p) per item. I had a full laundry basket returned the same day, ironed for INR250 (£2.87). One of the benefits of living in Bangalore.

TV

Wow I had forgotten how loud and shouty Indian adverts are. No controls over the volume of the programs you are watching and the subsequent adverts. You need to keep the remote handy. I’ve already been reminded several times that “Smoking is injurious to your health. Smoking kills. None of the actors in this program support or promote smoking.” etc.

We’ve been watching the Rio 2016 Olympics back in the UK. As we have the sports channels here we have 3 channels showing some of the Olympics. One of the channels is in English (I know not necessary when watching sport). We have been flicking through them to find anything Team GB are competing in. We can see some of the Team GB in the highlights and medal ceremonies but that is it so far. I’m missing the women’s hockey and were in the final. All video footage on the BBC and UK newspaper websites is blocked here so I can’t even catch up online. YouTube doesn’t have anything either. It’s so frustrating. 

School

Zahra retuned to school on Wednesday 17th August, very excited. She loves her new teacher and is delighted that she is able to sit with her friends (rather than being designated a desk by her teacher like last year). This teacher has relaxed rules on the placement of their water bottles in the classroom and some other minor ‘homeroom’ rules are relaxed now she is a year older. The timetable is different too with more information and different subjects. She also has a free period every Friday afternoon to undertake her own research. She has decided to research racism in preparation for her end of year exhibition. 

We bought some more uniform to replace the paint stained shirts and shorts from last year (no wash friendly paint here – this stuff stains!).  I had her feet measured in the UK and bought new school shoes there – at an eye watering £48. I hope she doesn’t have another growth spurt anytime soon. 

There are lots of dates to put in the diary and PTA meetings to attend. Sports camp is the first thing on the agenda in a week or so’s time – a night away camping at school whilst undertaking swimming, basketball and football. A camp fire, barbecue and scavenger hunt add to the fun. A great back to school ice breaker and great for new joiners to get to know their classmates.

Time for a cuppa

Manohar returned with the bottled water. Time to make a cuppa and catch up on the hundreds of emails I didn’t delete whilst I was away. Boring admin and bills to pay in the UK, oh and the re-letting of our home, which apparently  now needs redecorating after the last tenants left…I don’t want to think about that yet. Back to life, back to reality!