I have this place locked inside my head as far I could remember. Was it some magazine I've read as a kid? Some TV documentary I've seen? I could not exactly pinpoint the source of my
obsession to see this place. Angkor Wat for me was like a page from a book I'm
reading. As years went by, the pages seemed to thicken and the more I
feel my chances of seeing it slithering away.
A lot have happened since; I've grown into a man and was rightfully thrown into the pits of the corporate
world. While I developed such traits as responsibilities and functioning in
a hierarchy set up of the business world, my one eye remains fixated at my
passion for traveling. While being engulfed with the book of travels, the pages
where Angkor Wat is written and where I could run down my fingers on its smooth
pages, bears something of a cold case waiting to be solved and finally–to be experienced. It was an itch on my back I needed to scratch for good or for ill.
Fast forward to the 3rd of
November at exactly 5:30 AM, I found myself standing at the entrance of
the vast Angkor Wat complex, along with my brother and many other tourists, who
came from Australia, the UK and the United States. I waited eagerly not only
for the sun of the new day to appear on the horizon, but also to finally make
true of what was once just a pigment of a dream. At last! I was a couple of
turns away from finally turning the pages of Angkor Wat.
When the sun finally moved
upward and the last remnants of darkness have faded into obscurity, we finally
walked and as the tiny figure of the distant quincunx towers of Angkor Wat
appeared bigger, the impressive it becomes as we get closer and closer.
Climbing the stairs had me imagining being transported back in the early 12th
century as one of the builders of this temple or even the man himself; the one
responsible for its construction, King Suryavarman II. It was originally built
as an offering for the Hindu God, Vishnu and has since morphed into a Buddhist
religious structure, making it the worlds largest religious building.
There were many of us who
climbed the steps going in and at first I was worried that once inside, the scene would look
like a concert hall cursed with crowded mayhem. Magically, once I stepped my feet inside, I found myself
wandering through long corridors by my lonesome and alighting out into open spaces with
almost no one in sight aside from my brother. It was like I entered another
world and purposely has gotten myself lost.
The intricate bas-reliefs
galleries and the devatas adorning the walls inside are very hard to
explain. It's like the whole history of ancient Khmer were displayed right in
front of you and all clues to the past are just right there staring you back as
you point your wide-awed eyes towards it.
Upon reaching one end of the temple, I
separated myself from my brother and wandered alone towards another section. I
remember feeling the wind coming from all sides, with the wide windows facing
an open field covered with lush trees and a surrounding lake.
As perplexing and mystifying as its architectural design and geographical positioning that has scholars forever debating its meaning, Angkor
Wat managed to solve my very own puzzle that has hounded me as far I could
remember; my curiosity about this place.
200 years after it was
built, the civilization that flourished around the time of its construction
mysteriously vanished. It could be the death of King Suryavarman or the sacking
of Khmer by the Champa, an Indianized kingdom that controlled most of south and
central Vietnam from the 7th to 18th century. Succeeding kingdoms in ancient
Khmer soon moved a bit further, thus the existence of many other temples around
Angkor Wat.
Afterward, the whole temple
complex with its walls covered with decorations and refinements, that had Antonio da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who first stumbled into Angkor Wat in
1586, wondered about "(what) human genius can conceive of" ,
was mostly eaten by the dense jungles and was momentarily hidden from view of
the Western explorers, albeit remained an open secret to the people of
Cambodia.
Until its rediscovery by Western explorers in the early 19th century, renovations immediately commenced and throughout the years, along came archaeologists, conservationists and researchers who made never-ending studies about the rich and colorful history of Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples.
As I cross out Angkor Wat
from my life's list of things to do, I will be putting it on a very special
place in my memory vault. A return trip is not impossible and does not lay far
in the future. At the end of the day when the sun that shone up early in the
morning starts to descend, I looked up at the sky and recognized
its similarities to the very same set of skies King Suryavarman II and his people used
to see everyday. The only difference now from theirs, is the state of the world
we're in. The walls and the strong foundations of Angkor Wat remains the same
and still mesmerizes people from all over the world.