KBAL SPEAN—INDIA IN CAMBODIA

How will ‘Paanchvi Pass se Tez’- Shahrukh Khan spell Kbal? Will he pronounce it like k k k Kbal? He may utter or stutter... whatever, but the magical spell he had cast on the Cambodians was unquestionably pronounced and perceivable, when we were touring Cambodia. His then released 'Mein Hoo Naa' was running hit; likewise many other Hindi movies were also shouting ‘Hum Hai Naa’, from the shelves of video parlors in Cambodia. This was just the beat of ‘Reel India’ we could palpate on the streets of Phnom Penh before exploring gigantic ‘stone- scape’ in Angkor where ‘Real India’ has been throbbing for last 1000 years. It had been my dream for a long time to visit this biggest Hindu temple in the world -Angkor Wat.

When we flew from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, we didn’t miss home. Right from customs clearance to catching a cab, we went through our chronically common-crowd, chaos and confusion. Our drive from the airport to the city was even 3-Dimensionally familiar-Dust, Dirt and Diesel fumes. The Khmer Rouge revolution and civil unrest of more than 20 years had their disastrous effect. A most beautiful colonial city of the Far East of some few decades past had been pushed back to a dilapidated stage of 'Big Village'. Now it has gradually started to regain its past glory.

Cambodia is a 'hot' tourist destination right now, recently grabbing the honor of top ten "coolest places in the world to visit" by Lonely Planet. However when I was still studying medicine in India some 30 years back, most of the doctors in this country were killed, as were most of the educated and intellectual citizens. Such genocide, bigger and more barbarous than a Nazi holocaust had happened during our life time: this was the painful thought which haunted me and prompted me to plan this unusual side trip to Phnom Penh, before visiting Angkor Wat. Can anybody believe that one third population of eight million was brutally murdered by Pol Pot and his red army? Mass graves, Killing fields and The Tuol Sleng Museum are just few of the stirring testimonies of the terror of the Khmer Rouge which we visited.

From Phnom Penh we opted to travel to Siem Reap by Mekong Express-a fast motor boat. This five hours journey on Tonle Sap Lake was an experience by itself. Our family of five was like aliens amongst a big French group. We were amused to see them confused, as they probably could not correlate our features with the local Khmer population who generally has flat faces, curly hair, and wide cheek bones with stubby nostrils. From the decks we could view the interesting morning life on the lake with rice fields, bamboo boats and fishermen going about their work, reminding us of our Backwaters in Kerala. The rows of floating houses, standing on long poles along the banks were making a unique landscape. Actually Tonle Sap is a river, which swells up during monsoon when Mekong River reverses its flow in this tributary. This results in the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and a unique ecological hotspot, which is now designated as a UNESCO biosphere since 1997.

Angkor Wat is the biggest temple complex, of any religion, in the world. And it is just one of a hundred or so monuments that remain scattered over an area of about 150 square miles in northern Cambodia. These Hindu temples, built between 9-13 century A.D. [and thousands miles away from Indian shores] are more Majestic than Pyramids, more Magical than Taj mahal, more Magnificent than Colosseum, Mightier than Great Wall, more Mysterious than Machu Pichu, more Mesmerizing than Redeemer Christ and more Monumental than Petra .Anyone who visits Angkor will always lament for- it not being listed in above seven wonders of the world!.

Thanks to the internet and travel web sites-I’d downloaded many references and reviews of serious travelers which optimized our itinerary. We had a three days pass, with a cab and a driver cum guide, during which we could maximize and visit many of the temple complexes. Angkor Thom, Bayon, Bantey Srei, Srah Srang, Bakong ,Neak Pean, Prah Khan,Ta Prohm…. These temples [and their ‘tongue-twister’ names] startle us with their splendor and artistry, perfection and geometry, architecture and lyrical poetry. How ever for us, visit to them was far more than that... it was like reliving the Hindu legends, recollecting epic stories, recognizing the characters of Ramayan and Mahabharat, and more than that resolving the queries of many foreign tourists and even guides; and the highlight was Vrushali's rendering of the 'Mudras' of Vishnu's 'Dashavatar' before that French group! We were proud and fulfilled Indians.

“I wouldn't count Kbal Spean as a 'must see'...I won't advise you to visit Kbal Spean, though... I don't find it worth the additional cost and effort...” Similar kind of reviews on few travel forums initially deterred us to visit it. When we learned that we would need to trek through the woods (and to break the monotony of the temples' trail), we decided to start our second day from Kbal Spean, which means 'Head Bridge' literally in Khmer language. It is famous as the “valley of a 1000 Lingas” and is set deep in the jungle, some 45 miles north east of Angkor. It was discovered back in 1968 and closed to pubic till 1998 as the place was occupied by gorillas of Khmer Rouge and infested with land mines. At present only the small area and pathway has been cleared of these deadly bombs, to make way to this sparingly visited destination.

It took our Toyota Camry cab more than an hour on mud road to reach the base of the hill, but on reaching there we realized that we need to have 30-40 minutes steep up hill trek, for which we were not properly ‘geared’. However it turned out to be a great fun and quite an adventure- through stony paths, slippery boulders, twig swings, shaking ladders, Log Bridge… But on reaching the top we were rewarded by relishing greenery, gushing waters and even chirping birds. Gradually we discovered that hundreds of phalluses are carved on the riverbed-few visible as geometrically arranged circular bumps, while many more as cylindrical shafts like ‘Shivling’. As we explored along water stream, we could spot out many images carved out on the rocks. A closer look revealed, to our astonishment, figures of Vishnu, lying on Shesh Nag with his consort Laxmi near his feet. On another rock we could identify reclining Vishnu, with a lotus coming out of his navel with Brahma on its tip. Few more carvings like Shiv-Parvati on the back of Nandi, Ganesh etc were hidden in nearby niches or immersed partially under water. Unfortunately we did not have any audience here to share our discovered treasures.

We remembered India here also for one more reason. Many of the carvings have been hacked away by probably greedy thieves or hooligans, a common scenario in India [My friend, Tushar from USA, who visited Angkor this year, sent me the recent pictures. Heartening news is that main carving where Vishnu’s figure was defaced has been now repaired and restored].

The main story as told about these mysterious edifices is equally interesting. These thousands of Lingas and divine carvings bless the river water flowing down from the hills to the plains of Siem Reap .This pious water in turn enrich and empower fertility to the people and their rice fields. I postulate that thousand years back Hindu pilgrims would come to this ancient site to bathe in the sacred water ,worship those ‘Trimurti’ of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, and carry back with them sacred water in pots like Gangajal’. This must be like the pilgrimage of ‘Gangotri’ to Cambodian Hindus in ancient times

As we started to climb down along the river, a bigger surprise was waiting for us. Some70-80 yards down, there was a beautiful water fall surrounded by a canopy of lush green trees. Soothing sound of cascading water, refreshing cool breeze, colorful butterflies perching on us –all these created an intoxicating air and a dreamy ambience! After this pilgrimage of ‘Gangotri’, as if we had achieved ‘Nirvana’!! This took me back to my childhood, when I grew fantasying Phantom’s comic fictions and this place exactly replicated my image of his den called ‘Denkali’. And if somebody asks for the best experience of the whole trip, my children will unanimously shout-‘Water Fall-Kbal Spean’. We had spotted stone carvings of beautiful nymphs ‘Apsaras’ in hundreds on many temple walls. We managed to attend a special cultural evening of ‘Apsara Dance’. Incidentally the name of the aircraft on our return journey from Siem Reap was ‘Apsara’. Right from boarding till our flight landed in Bangkok, we were praying that this 'Apsara' should not get a mistimed urgent summons from Lord Indra to his heavenly abode! And probably Lord Vishnu listened to our sincere prayers and sent us His mount 'Garuda' to escort us safely. Yes, preceding flight to take off before ours was of the Indonesian 'Garuda Airlines' to Jakarta!! Was that via Bangkok?!! God knows!