CAMBODIA

          After leaving Thailand we took our Air Asia flight to Siem reap a North west city of Cambodia. The flight took hardly 40 minutes and we landed in Siem reap whose airport had an Kerala type architechture with tiled roofs.  The immigration was quite easy and quick and we saw a statue of Indra on his Iravath on the airport lounge which spoke about the link of Cambodia with Indian culture.  Our Cambodian guide Mr.Narun was quite at ease with us and he had a sound knowledge of spoken English. After putting  our luggage in our hotel Saem Siem Reap. Our first stop was at Angkor Thom which was the capital of ancient Angkorian empire with a million people living in it.  The Bayon temple in Angkor Thom is a famous Buddhist temple built by King Jayavarman VII in 1181 AD.  The figures in the temple ie, the mammoth faces are that of king Jayavarman VII they say.  There are many bass reliefs on the walls of the temple showing the life and times of the people in 12th century.  The south Gate of Angkor Thom is famous and many shops in Siem reap were selling a replica of South Gate as well the face of King Jayavarman VII.  In the evening we went to Prerup temple a Hindu Shiva  temple built by King Indravarman II in 961 AD. The Khmer dynasty which ruled Cambodia from 802 AD to 1431 AD were primarily Hindu Kingdom and worshippers of Shiva. The Khmer started to follow Buddhism from King Jayavarman VII onwards in late 12th century.  The Prerup temple is built of brick and has separate shrines for Goddess Uma and Saraswathi.  The sunset here is famous.  The next day in the morning we went to Angkor Wat one of biggest Hindu temples in the world.  The temple was built at the height of Khmer empires popularity by King King Suryavarman II during 1113 to 1150 AD. It is dedicated to God Vishnu deviating from the previous temples built which were dedicated to God Shiva. It is built in 500 acres of land surrounded by a moat of 200 metres wide with a perimeter of 5.5. kms. It has three Tiers/Levels one above the another with the central tower representing Maha meru and raising to a height of 699 feet.  The king was called Devaraja or God king. The bas reliefs at the corridors in the first level represent  various episodes in Ramayana and Mahabharath in stone carving for 1200 sq,metres. It is said that when Kulothunga chola was renovating  Chidambaram temple  Suryavarman II sent a stone with his name inscribed for Kar Seva.which can still be seen in  the temple.  The Angkor Wat is a UNESCO heritage temple.The statue of God Vishnu which was in the sanctum at the top is now in the corridor of the temple.  We also visited two other temples Ta prom temple and Banteay Srey temple dedicated to Hindu God and built by Rajaraja varman II in 944-968 AD.  All these temples have beautiful artistic and architechtural value. We also visited one Beng Meqalea temple situated in the forests and almost in ruins.  It is similar to Angkor Wat temple and built by king Surya varman II in 12th century.
           Indian food is not a big problem in Siem reap and we had our food on all the days in Indian restaurant like Curry wala, The Indian restaurant and one restaurant run by a Malayali with background music of Yesudas songs on Iyyappa.  For the shoppers Siem reap is a big market and there are many shopping markets were both Dollar and local currency Riel are accepted.There is a separate street called Pub street for the drinkers including many massage parlours at each and every place.  The eight day trip to Thailand and Cambodia was a worthy visit.