Advertisement
Published: January 28th 2006
Edit Blog Post
River of the Lingas
Some of over 1000 lingas carved into the riverbed. This was the last day of visiting the countless temples of Angkor Wat. We drove past the main complex out into the countryside to a National Park to see the River of a Thousand Lingas. A linga is a Hindu phallic symbol, having a square base, an octaganal section ablve it and topped by a rounded column.. The female symbol is the uma, a square hole with an opening in the middle of one side from which water flows from the surrounding lip. Sometimes lingas are found in the middle of umas. Quite Freudian.
In this river, the Kbal Speam, actually a stream at this time of year, has over a thousand lingas carved into the the stream bed. There are several umas on the riverbanksand also some faded carvings in the sandstone along the sides of the stream.
There is also a small waterfall tumbling into a pool overhung by the jungle. Hundreds of butterflies flitted in the speckled sunlight over the pool. It was a peaceful setting after trekking about an hour through the undergrowth.
We had to stick to the beaten path for fear of landmines. I dared not go off behind a tree for
An Uma
The female symbol with lingas surrounding. a pee. The water flowing over these lingas are said to bring good luck and prosperous rice harvest.
Backtracking along the dusty road, we arrived at Bateay Srei, another 10th century temple complex filled with intriquet carvings. We also visited Ta Prohm, a complex mostly still overtaken by the jungle. Partsd of the movie "Tomb Raider" were filmed here. It is pictures of this temple that I saw in National Geographic as a child that excited my interest in visiting Cambodia.
Giant root systems snake out from cracks in the walls and towering trees filled with the squacks of parakeets push walls to dangerious angles and strew building stones everywhere.
Totally eerie.
We then returned to our temple school for another English lesson. Claudette and I helped them with an exercise in taking a hotel reservation. All went well until we tried to improvise and change the situation to a restaurant reservation. These kids learn by rote and if we deviate from the script, they are totally lost. So as not "lose face", they are reluctant to admit that they do not understand. The students were a little more open with us as this was our third
Linga River Rock Carvings
Along the banks of the river. Apparently over 800 years old. day with them.
The class only had half the number of students as many were starting to celebrate the Chinese New Year early. They will insist that they are Khmer and not Chinese though many have Chinese grandparents.
We went back downtown for supper to an Indian restaurant, the Taj Mahal. Excellent 5 course meal for $4. Few of the streets in the centre of the city are paved as they are all dug up for the instalation of a sewer system. It is badly needed in this fast growing city. This makes traffic more chaotic than usual. Even when the streets are paved, people drive 4 abreast, in both directions. There is no painted centre line.
Thankfully, most people drive scooters or bicycles. It is first come, first go. To cross the street, you must bravely venture forth and slowly walk out into the traffic. People will veer to avoid you. Don't stop as this will confuze traffic even more. Thankfully, people drive slowly and cross traffic seems to have priority.
Claudette is anxious to leave so no time for pics.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0273s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb