Who Wat Where

We took part of a day to tour the magnificent Angkor Wat temple complex. Because of a crowded schedule, it was the kind of speed tour that leaves you wishing you had days instead of hours to take it all in.

As Jeff and I walked along of the majestic ruins of the Bayon temple, a young man limped forward. Without preamble, he started explaining the stories portrayed by several bas reliefs.

They are majestic tales of Jayavarman VII's battles against the Cham on land and the Ton Le Sap lake. The bas-reliefs are amazingly intricate carvings that depict the glorious king on elephant, his army ahead and concubines behind.

As interesting as the tales and history, was the 26-year-old man who took us through the temple complex. A victim of a land mine explosion 13 years ago, he said he was working his way his way through school by conducting informal tours.

During my only other trip to Angkor Wat, I had another young man tell me almost the same story. However, the first one hadn't lost a leg and a father to an explosion.

So, Jeff and I walked with the young man, whose name I failed to jot down. He told us about the number of faces and towers on the Bayon, what the levels of the structure represented and about how the temple had been built.

He also took us to the best vantage points for photos.

"I no have camera, but I can picture with my eye," he said.

Later while checking out the temple faces along the top level of the Bayon, Jeff and I met some guards and pretty soon they were teaching us phrases we could use for flirting with girls, not to mention some dirty words that made our companions blush.

Although I have now had two chances to scramble on the rocks of temples at Bayon, it occurred to me that it's the human touch that makes many of these structures come alive.

For all the majesty of the buildings and their history, I am invariably drawn to the stories of the people.

--- Greg