Phnom Bakheng, Angkor

A Step in the Dark

It is a 5.30 start for the sunrise views from Bakheng. We drive out from the hotel in the dark. This was to be our introduction to the whole Angkor Wat area. We arrive at the admissions block as the first light is softening the sky. The officials are all on duty; the lights are on, the cameras loaded. You don't get to sneak into this world heritage site just be being early.

Digi-photos taken*, passes issued, we are ushered back into the car and driven off into the woods where it is still pitch dark. (* If you don't look good at that time of day, think about going the night before, passes issued after 5pm give you that evening as a bonus & the clock starts ticking the following morning.)

Somewhere we stop, and alight.

Walking up the hill in the pre-dawn gloom with an occasional bird-call and little else to hear. Clamber the steep steps of the temple itself to sit and wait, watching for the sun to come up just to the south of Angkor Wat, shrouded in the distant mist.

The temple which has given its name to the whole region of ruins to the north of Siem Reap is just under a mile away, slowly taking shape as the night fades to grey.

Fewer than a dozen people have chosen this spot to greet this day. It isn't the traditional view that you will find in all the travel brochures. For Piroum, our guide, and as it turns out for me too, that is the point.

You're more likely to be brought here to see the sunset lighting Angkor Wat: something of a circus the guidebooks say, and a dangerous one at that as crowds make their way down the unlit hillside in the dark. The vista is no doubt impressive, but you'll need serious photographic equipment to do it justice at this distance.

Me? I'll settle for being contrary. For that walk in the dark up a winding track, not knowing what was waiting at the summit. For wishing I'd had the sense to bring my torch and wear boots rather than sandals. For the silence among the grey towers. For first seeing the lions from above, and for watching Angkor Wat's towers appear as just so many more trees in the forest and that first sight of the sun, well above the horizon, clearing the murk, a very solid, round balloon of yellow and red.

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Phnom Bakheng was built round about the turn of the 9th/10th centuries. Dedicated during the reign of Yasovarman I. It is the earliest of the temples in the area, being the first one constructed when Yasovarman moved the capital to Angkor from Roulos

As with all of the temples of the area its structure is laced with symbolism. The seven levels (including the base and the summit) are the seven Hindu heavens. The original structure had some 108 towers, which is a highly auspicious number in both Hindu and Buddhist doctrines. And of course, it is on a hill, a virtual Mount Meru.

It's believed that the hill is natural but that it was originally enclosed by a moat and outer walls. Foundations of the four gopuras at cardinal compass points have been traced, and stairways still lead up from three of them. It is possible that the fourth, to the south, was never completed.

The temple is remarkable in that much of it rather than having been built is carved from the fabric of the hill itself to produce a five-tier pyramid rising some 13m above the designated "base".

The Eastern staircase is the main entrance, but in the darkness we took the winding "elephant path" on the southern flanks, missing the close up view of the (much later) Buddha footprint shrine that graces the paved way between the stairs. The name is probably apocryphal but with ever an eye on the tourist dollar it is now possible during the middle of the day to ascend this route by pachyderm. Not something I'd personally recommend.

Although the vegetation that had begun to engulf the temple has largely been cleared, the building is in a ruinous state. The summit towers are all-but gone, save for a few fragments that hint at the fine carvings that once adorned the whole, their structural sandstone blocks having been robbed out (or reclaimed if you prefer) in the 16th century for other devotional projects. The remains however show early precursors to the stepped turrets of the grander projects that were to succeed this early building.

In terms of scale and detail of the remains Phnom Bakheng might fall into the also-rans in the league of Angkorian riches, but if you can catch it at first light, it provides an experience that is just a little bit special and worth the pre-breakfast excursion.

Just don't tell too many people.

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Location & Access

For those who have not accessed the info in earlier reviews: the Angkorian temples are located a couple of miles north Siem Reap. Admission is by way of a pass valid for a day, three consecutive days, or a week (currently costing $20, $40 and $60 respectively). Passes are purchased at the large official entrance on the road to Angkor Wat and include a digital photograph taken on the spot. They cover all of the temples in the area and must be worn at all times. You will find officials in all the popular and remote areas of the complex and will get used to them subtly checking your picture as you pass. If your pass is not visible you will be asked to produce it.

Phnom Bakheng itself is 1.7km northwest of Angkor Wat. Access is via the steep Eastern staircase or the longer, winding elephant path. Both are reckoned to be a fifteen to twenty minute climb: thought this might be an over-estimation for the stairway depending upon how fit you are. In the dark, the path should not be rushed.

As with the entire Angkorian area, access for those of limited mobility is limited by the nature of the sites.

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The Trade?

When we passed the entrance later in the day, stalls were set up, the elephants were in evidence, the postcard sellers hard at work. At dawn: they weren't. If you want it to feel like a pilgrimage, rather than a site visit, go early.

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© Lesley Mason
hiker@Ciao.co.uk
21.7.09