Temples temples temples

What takes 300,000 people and 6,000 elephants to build, and a week to visit? Angkor Wat, of course, which turns out to be a monument to a king's mother (Clinton cards weren't around then).

Like everyone else who comes here, we've been completely awe-struck by the temples at Angkor. We've visited every day since arriving, biking through the heat and water sellers around each amazing site. The "new" temples from the 10th and 11th centuries are at least as imposing as the European cathedrals from the same time.

Some of them lie in ruins with their stones spread out and numbered optimistically by archeologists from India and Japan. Their half-standing walls and chambers are overgrown by huge “Spung” tree roots (think Narnia, or Tombraider). But others, like Angkor Wat itself, are intact enough to be thrilling.

There are dozens of temples. According to our guide book each Khmer king built more to “keep people busy”, something of an understatement given the weight and carving of each stone block.

The carved faces are undeniably Cambodian – a lady in our restaurant last night was a dead ringer for the god-king face carvings at Bayon – spooky but oddly reassuring.

In Bangkok airport there is a slightly disturbing lifesize sculpture in which two teams of men pull a huge snake apart. This is not a monument to animal cruelty (or a cartoon on recent Thai politics) but a reference to a local creation myth called “Churning of the Ocean of Milk”. It also appears on an intricate 50m long bass-relief carving at Angkor Wat.

In the myth, gods and demons have a tug of war over the snake Vasuki, which is looped around Mount Mandara in the middle. As they tug, the mountain rotates, churning the cosmic sea of milk for 1000 years until it releases the elixir of life (or a very pungent cheese). Apparently the gods and demons were going to share the elixir when it was ready but the gods reneged and kept it all, forcing the poor demons to steal it and setting the scene for all kinds of trouble. I don't know whether ancient Kmers believed it literally but the statue appears at every main temple entrance and gate.

The other bass-reliefs at Angkor Wat are about war and judgment. Mythical gods and demons (again) fight in one, while human armies led by god-kings fight in another. The details of each battle are just as elaborate and grizzly. A further panel on judgment shows good citizens going to a heaven full of semi-clad maidens, and bad citizens being dragged by their noses to a hell packed with carpentry-inspired tortures that make the battle scenes look quite appealing (no wonder they had such a big army).

Today we are taking a break from templing and chilling in our hotel, the dubiously named "Golden Banana", to plan the next phase, working in a local school.

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