Humbled

As I walked through the temples of Ta Som, Neak Poan, and Preah Khan I began to exclaim out loud. I simply could not keep the thoughts in my head as I was bombarded with images of the ancient splendor, the massive scale, and the sheer audacity of these ruins. The amount of human labor and suffering that went into these monuments to kingly vanity is simple staggering.

Each of these millions of stones was quarried over fifty miles away and floated here on rafts. The stones were then cut, shaped and lifted into place with human, oxen and water buffalo power. There are mazes of passageways, enormous bathing pools and reflecting pools, and carved rock. Mountains of carved rock.

Nothing that I write in this little blog will ever come close to what one will witness at the Angkor temples. There are many websites with some amazing photography of these sites. There are books devoted entirely to Angkor. While these resources far exceed my humble efforts, I think that even they pale before the actuality of Angkor.

This is only day one. I am very tired in a very good way. Tomorrow I will set out again, this time on the Circuit Petite. Even the names are fantastic, To Keo, Pre Rup, Banyon.

My third day will start at sunrise for the Big One, Angkor Wat. I will suffer the hordes for this, and then disappear again into the mazes of the temples, where it is relatively easy to find some solitude.

I admit to being hesitant to come to Angkor. I am so glad that I did. Tomorrow, I will leave some of my friend Karen's ashes in a hidden spot somewhere in one of the temples. I will know the spot when I see it.