ANCOM 2018

sa Davao ko huling isinuot ang Lilang Apron

du'n ko unang nakita si Pantaleon

 at nadinig magmura si Digong

sa Davao ko huling nakasama ang mga Ginoo

du'n ko natuklas ang lihim ng mga Guro

at itinabi ang tapis at hiyas sa baul 

mga dighay ng tuna belly, balaybay at bihud

pasalubong sa nagbalik mula Saigon

mga tanda ng nagdaang ANCOM   

THE LAYOVER

-17-

It's the inception

Angkor Wat is sweet dessert

fair finance will fly

-18-

Pinned in Ho Chi Minh

chicken wings and Saigon Beer

whiskey for breakfast

-19-

Laptop in the lounge
long queues and delayed flights

to Davao or bust!

ANGKOR WAT

My (flickr) name is ~MVI~.

I shoot churches and had been to most of the colonial churches of the Philippines including four (San Agustin, Sta. Maria, Paoay, Miag-ao) which have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
  
I've seen the golden stupas of Bangkok's Temple of the Emerald Buddha and Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda gleam under the morning sun, have scaled the grandeur of Borobudur in Central Java, hiked through the ancient temples of Kyoto, and caught a glimpse of Islamabad's Shah Faisal Mosque.

I've taken a ride in a tiny cable car to the Great Wall of China, endured the harassment of taxi touts on my way to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, got lost searching for Vientiane's Patuxai, drank craft beer at Hanoi's Old District, and suffered blisters exploring Singapore's major religious sites (Masjid Sultan, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Sri Maha Mariamman Temple).

I've been to Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh.

But I've never been to Angkor Wat.

Not until now and I can't believe I was actually in Siem Reap until the Angkor Beer kicked in during dinner at the Pub Street where I entered into a pact with a colleague to wake up at 4 am the next day, hire a tuktuk, and go see Angkor Wat.   

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Angkor Wat (City of Temples)

We were told that the best time to view Angkor Wat is at sunrise so by 5 am, we were queuing up for the $37 entrance ticket and was at Angkor Wat by 5:30, nibbling at our hotel-boxed breakfast while watching the sky turned to pink and then a faint mix of azure and gold as the temple's silhouette unfolded like a striptease.

To be clear, Angkor refer to a 400 square kilometer area which is among the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia and once the capital of the Khmer Kingdom.

Angkor Wat on the other hand refer to the 162-hectare temple complex which is the largest religious monument in the world.  

Angkor Wat was built as a Hindu temple between 1113-1150, evolved into a Buddhist temple by the end of the 12th century, and was mostly abandoned by the 17th century.

Official record owe Angkor Wat's introduction to the Western World to French naturalist Henri Mouhut who visited the site in the 1850s, with restoration starting by the 20th century that was briefly interrupted during the Cambodian Civil War and the rule of the Khmer Rouge regime.

At the top of Angkor Wat's central temple is the Bakan which is a representation of Mt. Meru, the Hindu home of the gods and once accessible only to Hindu priests, the principal sanctuary of Angkor Wat and therefore sacred, but now accessible to tourists who can endure the long queue and the steep climb, which we did.  

We were at the top of Angkor Wat and so is the sun, which means it's time for us to move. 

Prasat Bayon (Banyan Temple)

We reunited with our tuktuk driver who told us that there are actually seven temples in our itinerary and the second will be Bayon, also known as the "Temple of a Thousand Faces" for the almost 200 carved stone faces that adorn its towers. 

Unlike Angkor Wat, Prasat Bayon was built as a Buddhist temple at the beginning of the 13th century and aside from the stone faces of Lokeshvara who is the Buddhist God of Compassion, it also feature bas relief galleries that narrate Angkor's history.

 Like Angkor Wat, the temple was also abandoned, rediscovered and was started to be restored in 1910.

The Baphuon

A short but refreshing tuktuk ride brought us to the Baphuon, a Hindu temple built in mid-11th century before converting as a Buddhist temple in the 15th century.

The Baphuon took 51 years to restore and is known as "the largest 3D jigsaw puzzle in the world" with 300,000 pieces of stone scattered across a 10-hectare area meticulously labelled and then put together.   

Chau Say Tevoda

Our 4th temple is actually a ho-hum compared to the first three: it is a small, historically insignificant minor temple which just happened to be on the way.

But it was old, built as a Hindu temple in the middle of the 12th century, and rebuilt in 2000 with Chinese assistance from the ruins of 4,000 scattered stones.    

Ta Keo

The steep climbs and long walk at the Baphuon almost broke us, the stop-over at Chau Say Tevida bored us, and Takeo which was once known as "The Mountain with Golden Summits" is looking like another boring climb and walk.

But we persevered, arguing that we might not have the chance again, and climbed the steep steps to earn the bragging rights of being in what possibly can be the first temple in Angkor to be built entirely of sandstones, and left quickly as we came. 

Ta Prohm (The Tomb Raider Temple)

If you've watched Laura Croft in "the Tomb Raider", then you have seen Ta Phrom where some of the movie's scenes were shot.

I like Angelina Jolie but not as Laura Croft and have not seen the movie but I can say I've now  been to Ta Phrom, rightly described by Atlas Obscura as the personification of a "battle between nature and architecture in the Cambodian jungle" with giant trees growing out of the temple ruins which indeed makes it a "Jungle Temple".

Built in 1186, it's natural state has made Ta Phrom one of Angkor's most visited temples and has been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, thanks mainly to a decision for the ruins to be a "concession to the general taste for the picturesque".  

Banteay Srei (A Citadel of Chambers)

Finally, our 7th and last temple.

It's almost mid-day and we were almost out of gas but this is the last one we told ourselves, so we mustered the last remaining "temple interest" in us, tried to get inspired by the lunch that awaits ahead, walked through the ruins that reeked of bat excrement, then back to the tuktuk as quickly as we can.

Banteay Srei, which means "Citadel of Women/Beauty", is really old having been consecrated in 967 AD and was rediscovered only in 1914 after a theft of its stone carvings was reported, with restoration commencing in 1930. 

The half-day Angkor tour drained us of our energy but it was worth it and each of the dollar spent.

With seven temples visited, we have completed a visita iglesia of sorts, perhaps a tribute to my my flickr name which is the acronym for "My Visita Iglesia".

I have fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting Angkor Wat and that fills a big void in the mosaic on the continuing saga of an accidental Lagalag.  

My name is Shubert and I was in Siem Reap.

THE PURGE

old friends, beer and stories to tell
laxatives to a sozzled week 

a missed breakfast in old Manila

pressured lunch in a cooker in Ecija

foreskins massacred and bleeding 
a footnote to the innocence of childhood 

the rising Hulk has been exorcised
relief and release in Angkor Wat

INTO THE TWILIGHT ZONE

the Monster stirred
roused by absurd brainlessness

to the Trails!
pure vexation murdered in 143 kilometers

to the Craft!
distraction as antidote to fatal aggravation

farewell Friends!
i'm happily done on April 28

100 KILOMETERS FOR THE FUNNY MAN

In memory of the big man with a big heart, in fond remembrance of the laughter and joy he brought to us whose lives he touched, and in gratitude to his unselfish assistance to the many who came to him for relief and comfort.

My brother, the dash between the day you were born and when you were called to the Celestial Lodge is not enough to illustrate your life and times, all 40 years of it, but we know in our hearts that you lived every year fully.

Your sudden departure is unexpected and left bitterness to us who protest the unfairness of it all, and a void as dark as the abyss of eternal mourning, but it is the will of the Great Architect of the Universe to whom we convey our prayers for the comfort and assurance of those orphaned by his good and faithful servant.

And to you, I can only offer what I can do best...

To the trails I grieve

A hundred kilometers

        Three days of penance        

   

Totoy Bibo lives!

Senate and Congress concurred

So be it, Amen!

Black hat, white flowers

Devotion of the White Caps

Friday liturgy 

The Broken Column

Lamentations of the Craft

A Brother comes home...