THE DAWNING OF MAGIC AT BAYON
January
2009
While Padma’s friend suggested we experience sunrise at Bayon, she did not tell us what to expect. Being the Pandoras we are, Padma and I headed for Bayon on the first morning of our stay in Siem Reap.
As we passed Angkor Wat, our driver, Tony, asked us if we wanted to go there instead. We said no. It was then that I noticed that the headlight of our Tuk-Tuk provided the only flicker in the darkness. After a few minutes of cruising in the dark, Tony stopped the engine and told us “Here is Bayon. I will see you there later.” The word “where” was just on the tip of my tongue when Tony quickly drove away.
It was so dark that we could not even see our hands when we raised them in front of us. Luckily, Padma’s phone had a flashlight. When we could see a little of our surroundings, we realized that we were standing on a causeway. We followed the causeway until we hit a wall. To the right of the wall was an opening. As we entered the opening, we noticed very steep stairs. We climbed the stairs and found ourselves on the second level of a building. From there, we could see the deep purple sky and stars. At the moment when I was looking up at the sky, I heard the fluttering of wings…bat wings! A few minutes later, we heard a groan and someone (or something) coughing. Creepy!
As we were all alone with the bats and the unseen being who coughed, I thought that it was probably a stupid idea to be in Bayon at dawn. And just what were we waiting for anyway?
As the darkness faded, we noticed about thirty grey stone towers rising from the second level. When the first rays of the morning sun finally hit the towers, it was magic. All I could think of was that those who conceptualized and built Bayon were brilliant architects with a sense of what nature could contribute to a man-made structure. Of course, I am not telling you what we saw. I will wait for you to discover it for yourself.
This entry was posted on Saturday, January 10th, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under 'Pinions, Siem Reap, Cambodia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Nice!
January 10th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Bayon looks breathtaking! …minus the scary part… ;P
January 16th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
It’s the creepy, scary stuff that makes these travels an adventure:)= From panic to having your breath taken away by the sights slowly revealing itself at dawn, that must have been one heck of a rush. So, who (or what) was making that sound/coughing? I want to know:)=
January 17th, 2009 at 12:03 am
hahaha… I am glad you asked this question. When the sun came out, Padma and I realized that the someone who coughed was the person assigned to patrol Bayon. He was a thin middle-aged man who wore a beige uniform. We realized it was him when he walked passed us and coughed. Before it was bright enough for him to see us, he must have been as scared of us as we were of him. I do not think it is usual for tourists to visit Bayon before sunrise.