Daydreaming of Cambodia

I never expected to explore Angkor Wat or any of the glorious temples with such authorities on Angkor architecture and history.  Vir, Sam, Cham and I walked down the corridors and studied countless bas-relief carvings, statues and ancient inscriptions along the walls of this inspiring sanctuary.

Vir walked on my right while Sam on my left. In my right ear, Vir talked about the carving of Yama, the god of death. In my left ear Sam talked about trivial facts, “Did you know that out of all the temples in Angkor this is the only temple that contains the the carving of a smiling Apsara dancer?”  or “Did you know that this temple holds the carving of a dog?”  I immediately wanted to know where the dog was located and he said it would be difficult to reach it since it was on the third level of the world’s largest temple.  Supposedly the steps would be too steep to climb.  If I made it all the way to Cambodia from California, then I could climb the stairs at Angkor.  Right? Of course!  And it was well worth the journey.  Found:  Khmer puppy, the most valuable treasure of Angkor.  In my eyes anyway.  Awkun to Cham for helping me find it.  To view this puppy look above in the last image of the mosaic.  It’s located to the left of the apsara dancer’s foot.

Cham would also like everyone to know that aside from the unique carvings of the smiling apsara and dog, Angkor Wat also holds the only nude apsaras in the region. Nude in the sense that they’re using their hands to cover themselves (see the last image below).  Thanks, Cham, for this valuable information.

Finding that Cambodian puppy was truly a treasure but there was much more sophisticated history that both enlightened and overwhelmed me.  Vir, Sam and Cham had so much information I wanted to absorb so I listened as they talked.  There would be no way for me to remember everything but that’s okay. I was in Angkor Wat heaven.