Wat Damnak

I woke up to a new day ready to explore more of Siem Reap’s pagodas. The sun was already baking the air outside which made me happy since it was rainy season in Cambodia, but this was the second day with no rain. Already well aware of how devastating Cambodian sun is, I fortified my skin with natural sun block (as close to organic as it gets), applied powerful mosquito repellent (don’t even bother with anything that contains less than 30% deet – Cambodian mosquitoes are vicious, plentiful and active during all parts of day and night), sat on my mountain bike and off I rode for Wat Damnak.

Photo: Wat Damnak Courtyard with Temple in the Rear
Photo: Wat Damnak Courtyard with Temple in the Rear

As always, I used the map provided in Angkor Siem Reap Visitors Guide to find locations of most relevant temples and pagodas in Siem Reap and used it as my main guide in choosing the best itinerary to get me there. Not that it’s in any way difficult, given rather small size of Siem Reap.

Wat Damnak is located near Phsar Chas aka Old Market, just on the opposite side of the Siem Reap river. If you were to take a walk around the Old Market, you would see the stone bridge right on its south-east corner. Take a walk across the bridge and by the time you made it half across, you will see the roof of beautiful Wat Damnak to your slight right.

Photo: Wat Damnak Front Gate with Cables Spoiling the View
Photo: Wat Damnak Front Gate with Cables Spoiling the View

Once I was across the river, I just followed the road that seemed to go in the general direction of Wat Damnak and it got me there. The entrance gate was the same way I got used to seeing from other temples I have visited before – magnificent, but spoiled by presence of disorganized bunch of cables which are used to electrify Cambodia. These cables spoil the view of basically every important or nice to look at structure in Cambodia, except from Angkor Wat temples since this part of the country has not yet been electrified. This was driving me up the wall as no matter where you go, you see beautiful temples, but you have no means of finding an angle under which to take a picture so it is not ruined by crap loads of cables cross knitted along each other.

This would have been the second day of Pchum Ben Festival. The 15 days long Festival of the Dead is an important part of Buddhist Khmer culture so during these two weeks I was encountering it on my every step. Pchum Ben was the most prominent within temple grounds. It always involved presence of dozens of monks, very loud traditional Khmer music played from really old loud speakers (awfully painful for the ears) and lots and lots of food and then some more.

Photo: Wat Damnak Vihara, the Prayer Hall
Photo: Wat Damnak Vihara, the Prayer Hall

Just as with any Cambodian temple during Pchum Ben festival, there were many people around and lots of traffic in and out. It was a scorching hot day but locals were all nicely dressed and carried bowls with food they’d use as offerings to their dead ancestors and to local monks. I parked my bike by Vihara – the prayer hall. It was close to Wat Damnak’s entrance gate and there seemed to be most commotion happening there. Aside from noticeable crowds, there was also obvious audible effect as Buddhists inside were repeating chants with powerful unison after the leading monk.

Photo: Mass Prayer at Wat Damnak Vihara
Photo: Mass Prayer at Wat Damnak Vihara

RELATED GALLERY:
Wat Damnak Photo Gallery

Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chorm Shrine at Night Photo Gallery

This photo gallery contains pictures of Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chorm Shrine in the Royal Independence Gardens in Siem Reap taken at night. This was also the first night of Pchum Ben Festival so the shrine was being continuously flooded with Cambodians bringing offerings for the Buddha and food for the dead. Few stalls selling decorated flower bouquets, decorated coconuts, burning incense sticks and live birds were nearby so devotees can purchase those for use within the temple. There was a band with traditional Khmer instruments set on the shrine floor playing traditional Khmer music. Few monks were seated on the side to give people blessings and take offerings of food and clothes from devoted Buddhists. Inside a small room, there were two statues of Buddha and people were hanging flower rings on them, touching their hands or just leaving other offerings at their feet. Hundreds upon hundreds of incense sticks were being lit up and burned in a large ashtray. The smoke from these could be smelled and seen half a mile away. Devotees also prey before the Buddha images with their palms joined together for a prayer while burning incense sticks are held between the palms. Preah Ang Chek Preah Ang Chorm Shrine is a small, but nicely located and beautifully built shrine that enjoys vast popularity among people of Siem Reap. The gallery is below:

Pchum Ben Festival in Cambodia – Feeding the Spirits of the Dead

As I was receiving my introduction to Buddhism, I was told about the reason why Wat Preah Prom Rath pagoda was so full of people, why traditional Khmer music was being played from a loudspeaker why there was so much food all over the place. It was the first day of Pchum Ben Festival, which was loosely translated to me as The Festival of the Dead or sometimes as The Festival of the Souls (or spirits).

Pchum Ben is a Buddhist Festival but even though Cambodia is surrounded by other Theravada Buddhist nations, Pchum Ben is only celebrated in Cambodia and nowhere else. Pchum Ben Festival celebrations last for 15 days with final, culminating day falling on the 15th day of the 10th month of the Khmer calendar. Granted, Khmer calendar is different from the Gregorian one which is the one used by western countries so even though it was the beginning of September, the Pchum Ben Festival has already started.

Cambodian Buddhists Praying During Pchum Ben Festival at Wat Preah Prom Rath Temple
Cambodian Buddhists Praying During Pchum Ben Festival at Wat Preah Prom Rath Temple

The most prominent observation a foreigner notices during Cambodian Pchum Ben Festival is the fact that it involves a lot of food. You see Khmer families coming to temples and pagodas carrying dishes with food which they arrange along the walkways while they spend hours chanting prayers inside temples, kneeling before statues of Buddha. As it was explained to me, the food is meant for the dead. The premise of Pchum Ben Festival is to feed the spirits of the dead. Cambodians firmly believe that the act of feeding the souls of their deceased predecessors will make their stay on Earth more enjoyable.

During Pchum Ben the spirits of the dead descend from the spirit world and walk the Earth. Those who are still alive prey for their souls and offer them food. As it goes with Buddhist Monks in Cambodia, people also bring food for them. The festival is very spiritual and considerably one of the most important festivals in Khmer calendar. As the history of Pchum Ben has it, the festival was originally celebrated for three months but has been shortened to 15 days as modern lifestyle makes 3 months of celebration complicated.

After me and my girl guide were done talking about the life of Buddha, we went to the prayer hall where several people were already gathered and chanted their prayers as one while their chants were played back from a loudspeaker. As confused westerner, I asked if I could join them for a prayer and take a few pictures while I was at it. There was no issue with that as Cambodians are vastly tolerant of foreigners when it comes to cultural and religious differences.

Pchum Ben - Festival of the Dead, Notice the Time on the Clock. I Had 15 Minutes Till my English Lecture at 5pm
Pchum Ben - Festival of the Dead, Notice the Time on the Clock. I Had 15 Minutes Till my English Lecture at 5pm

This was the beginning of Pchum Ben Festival but as it became apparent during the following 15 days, Pchum Ben was a big deal for Khmer people who take the festival very seriously and dedicate most of their focus to it while the festivities last. Even Cambodians who are otherwise non religious would prepare their food and bring the offerings to one of the temples. during Pchum Ben Little did I know at the time that the most significant events of my personal stay in Cambodia will be directly connected to Pchum Ben. Let the festivities begin!

Wat Bo Pagoda in Siem Reap – Photo Gallery

Morning Rituals of Buddhist Monks

While I was munching on my Fish Curry with Steamed Rice at the Khmer Family Restaurant, something extraordinary happened, something that I had no idea how to properly respond to. Since I was sitting on an outside patio, I was within reach of people on the street which was abused by little kids and landmine victims who continuously and repeatedly kept bothering me with requests to buy something from them. Since none of them takes “No” for an answer and each is determined to literally molest you into buying something from them just so they can leave you the hell alone at last – I grew excessively wary of not being left alone for half a minute. Then a couple of young Buddhist Monks came, stopped before the restaurant and stood there motionless with a firm stare pointing inside the wide open restaurant. Having just been to a country for a few hours and unaware of morning rituals of Buddhist Monks, I had no idea what they were expecting and how to respond to it without stepping over the line and offending (or worse).

I did the best I could in this situation – I pretended I was too busy reading stuff from the menu, hoping it will look like I have not noticed they are standing there, staring in a general direction where I was seated and that it will get resolved without my involvement, which would be inappropriate in any case.

The monks were young boys. While age of Khmer people is oftentimes hard to guess as they are of smaller built than us Westerners and virtually all of them are slender (kind of looking like kids most of the time), these monks looked like boys of about 16 years of age. They were definitely teenagers. They were both dressed in bright orange robes, which appeared to be made of one solid piece of fabric which was skillfully wrapped around their bodies offering an impression of a safely enclosed and well protected body temple within. Both monks had their heads shaved and one of them seemed to have been carrying something that resembled a large bowl underneath his robe.

I saw them as they were walking up the street when they were just outside the restaurant and since this was the first time for me to see a real Buddhist Monk, it was kind of exciting. Yet still, being anaware of proper etiquette when dealing with monks (who are undoubtedly considered a form of “holy men” walking the Earth), I feared that my actions, regardless of good intentions, would be inappropriate, offensive or worse. What do you do when two Buddhist Monks stop right by the table at which you are seated and silently look inside in a general direction of your presence? I have rejected all beggars and hustlers who approached me so far – should I now break my stance on not being able to financially support everyone who asks me for the money and offer some to the monks? Or am I supposed to share some of my food or drink? Or just play a complete dumb tourist, pick up my camera, shove it in their faces and start taking pictures while mumbling to myself: “Cool, a real Buddhist Monk!” I really had no idea what these monks were there for, so coming at them with the money could potentially offend? But does ignoring and not giving do any better? I was stuck, unable to act. I did not know what to do in this situation. It seemed like a standard morning ritual of the Buddhist Monks as while I was sitting there embarrassed, not knowing what to do, I have noticed another pair of Buddhist Monks stopping in the same way at the restaurant across the street.

The rescue for my stickiness came quickly, though. The boy who worked the shift in the restaurant along with that cute girl who served me my breakfast came to the monks after about a minute of them standing there and passed them small plastic container the content of which they had emptied into the bowl one of the was carrying underneath his robe, the boy then gave them a bank note (not sure how much), joined his hands together as if for a prayer and bowed his head. The monks did the same and uttered a prayer in native Cambodian language. It was just something short, perhaps a brief sentence thanking the boy and the establishments for their generous donation and blessing them in the name of Buddha.

After that the monks moved on to the next restaurant to do the same there. It truly seemed like a morning ritual that Buddhist Monks in Cambodia perform as part of the beginning of every day. As I have learned later, monks rely on support from all people who offer money and food as monks don’t work and have no income similar to regular working class of Cambodia. Cambodia people are impowerished, they don’t make much. Average monthly salary is about $60 to $80. However they always take out of that little bit and give to the monks. Very devoted believers who despite not having much themselves, always find some money to give to the representatives of Buddha on Earth.