Interesting to see the different approaches to conservation. Different temples have different international sponsors who have agreed different approaches with the Apsara authority (which looks after the park).
So the Chinese-funded repair of the first one we did today (Chao Say Tevoda) had practicality been rebuilt but with clear differences in material. Others we saw on day three had material replaced but left bare of carvings or sample corners reconstructed completely to show what they should have looked like. Beng Mealea (day three) has been simply left as found – see later.
But the most most famous of the lot is Ta Prohm. The French – back in the 30s – decided to minimise restoration here. They left many of the trees that had been growing around the walls and buildings, intact. So the effect is of a romantic ruined city, emerging from the jungle. Walls are in the grasp of the roots of strangler figs. Towers are smothered by silk cotton trees. Sculptures peer out from behind branches and blocks of stone tumble from unrepaired galleries.
It’s all so pretty, but also full of crowds as it’s one of the most popular sites. But you can still find quiet spots.
After lunch we tuk-tuk into the countryside beyond the park and towards the distant hills. Empty and dry-looking fields have scant activity but there are plenty of roadside houses and shacks where people sell wicker weavings and boil down sugar palm in big basins to produce tablets of fudge-like sweets.
Brief visit to landmine museum and onto Banteay Srei, a small temple on the foothills. It’s got the prettiest carvings; deeply set into a pink sandstone. Massively detailed depictions on Hindu myths and apsaras. Famously, the French writer André Malraux tried to steal some of the best apsaras in the 1920s, but they didn’t get further than Phnom Penh. De Gaulle still made him Minister of Culture. It’s got the only visitor centre at Angkor, so you actually get to see the history and some explanation of what’s what.
Back to watch sunset – an Angkor tradition (over-rated) – off the huge 10th century pyramid of Pre Rup.