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Published: February 18th 2010
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Ta Keo sitting majestically amongst the treesThe next stop on my tour of Cambodia was one of the must-sees of my entire trip - the temples of Angkor. I planned to spend three days exploring the complex, which is vast to say the least. Established by the Khmer kings back in the 9th century, Angkor contains hundreds of temples spread across a huge swathe of the Cambodian jungle. Much of it lay abandoned until it was rediscovered by French botanists and explorers in the 19th century. Now, it stands in various states of decay... some temples have been fully restored, some left almost to nature, and others are still undergoing extensive restoration for their protection or reinstatement. The nearby town of Siem Reap served as a great base, with cheap accommodation, great restaurants and friendly people on hand to help.
I arrived in Siem Reap with Jelle and Debra, but as they were only planning two days at Angkor and wanted to see the big boys first, I decided to hire a remorque moto for the first day and start off with some of the smaller temples, working up to the big boys for my third and final day. So for day one I hired a
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A tree tries to replace the eastern entrance of Ta Som moto who drove me around the Grand Circuit, starting at Phnom Bakheng and finishing at Banteay Kdei. On the second day, I hooked up with Jelle and Debra (who had now decided to stay for three days!), and we took a moto out to the more remote temples of Banteay Srei, Kbal Spean and Banteay Samre (the day started with sunrise at Angkor Wat, but I'll cover that in part 2). I make no apologies for showing so many photos of stones... Angkor is an amazing place with so much to see. What's here is just a fraction...
Phnom Bakheng photo 1 Phnom means 'hill', and this temple sits atop a small mound just outside the walls of Angkor Thom. It's a great spot to watch the sun rise behind Angkor Wat, but I went there after the sun had risen and the clouds had set in. Brilliantly though, I was alone, so got to explore the extensive views across the surrounding jungle in solitude. Sadly, most of the temples are hidden amongst the trees, so the panorama is almost entirely natural.
Ta Keo photo 21 Built by Jayarvarman V in about the 10th century, Ta
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Paintings for sale at Banteay Kdei Keo is a big pyramidal temple, with it's central tower rising to a height of 50 metres - only 5 short of Angkor Wat. For some reason though, it remains unfinished... abandoned, maybe, after being struck by lightning? Its upper levels are reached via steep stone stairways, which were ok for me, but I had a chuckle watching the groups of diminuitive Korean and Japanese tourists clamber up them.
Preah Khan photo 22 Not so much a temple as a walled city, Preah Khan is one of the gems on the grand circuit. It comprises an outer wall and compound, with a series of inner buildings built in a cruciform, with corridors leading to a central sanctum. It previously housed around 1,000 Buddhist monks, and today is undergoing preservation (including the restoration of around one hundred Garudas (mythical man/bird creatures) which support the outer wall... you can sponsor one for about $25,000). It's therefore in a pretty good state, so you can wander around and admire the hundreds of finely carved figures adorning most of the walls.
Preah Neak Pean I have no doubt that this small temple used to be spectacular when it sat in
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Jelle and Debra enjoying the rickshaw ride the middle of the Eastern Baray (reservoir), accessed by a narrow landbridge. Now, with the Baray reclaimed, it lacks any real drama, sitting instead surrounded by trees, with its four water tanks largely drained.
Ta Som photo 23 This was my first taste of 'fromage trees', the massive, rubbery looking trees that grow incredulously out of the stones at Angkor. Ta Prohm has the most numerous and astonishing examples, but Ta Som has a huge tree growing directly over and through the eastern gateway, as if it's muscling the stone out of the way to form the entrance itself.
Eastern Mebon photos 2&3 Big, stark and impressive, the Eastern Mebon mirrors the smaller Western Mebon at the other extreme of Angkor (although that one still sits on an island in the Western Baray). It resembles Ta Keo in form, with a series of tiers rising to a central tower. Although its in a fairly advanced state of ruin, you can still see the amazing carving on the stone doors, which feature three dimensional geometric shapes - almost like a puzzle.
Pre Rup photos 4&5 Similar again to the Eastern Mebon (the two sit relatively
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The beautiful Banteay Srei close to each other, so that you can see the Mebon's towers from the top of Pre Rup), Pre Rup is surrounded by open grassland, so you can better appreciate its size and scale. In any other place this would be a star attraction, but at Angkor its just one of many supporting cast.
Banteay Kdei photos 6&7 I finished my first dayäs tour at Banteay Kdei, a smallish temple fairly well hidden in the jungle, but with some beautiful carvings and fantastic green and red stones, coloured by age and the vegetation. The temple also had Cambodian kids running and hiding in between the columns, a common feature of a number of temples and a reminder that the Angkor complex still supports a healthy population, even today.
Banteay Srei photos 10,11,12,13&14 Day two took me out to Banteay Srei, some 32km north of Siem Ream (about 12km from Angkor Thom). Banteay Srei is known as one of the artistic masterpieces of Angkor, and its easy to see why + sat delicately on an island surrounded by a lill filled moat, the temple is built of pink sandstone and features numerous finely carved doorways and statues.
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A carving at Banteay Srei The temple is surrounded by the Cambodian countryside, a world of rice paddies, water buffalo and stilt houses... nice to see and a change from the thick jungle of Angkor.
Kbal Spean photos 15,16&17 Not so much a temple as a site of worship, Kbal Spean is a series of stone carvings within and next to the "River of a Thousand Lingas". It's about 15km north of Banteay Srei, and is accessed via a 1.5km walk from the car park, through thick forest. It's a bit disappointing at first sight, as the river is more of a stream and the carvings are fairly simple, but they continue on down the river for a few hundred metres, and it's great fun clambering over stones to see if you can find the carved faces and figures. The riverbed itself is carved into an orderly pattern of circles, with a series of figures on the rocks next to the water. It was only rediscovered in 1969, but sadly some of the artefacts have been looted in recent years.
Banteay Samre photos 18,19&20 As we'd seen the two distant temples faster than intended, we headed to another temple on the
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Faces in the ground at Kbal Spean way back to Siem Reap... not mentioned in any of the guide books, it was close to our route and looked interesting. We're glad we made the detour... Banteay Samre is on its own to the east of Angkor. It has a plain red sandstone outer wall, but inside are a series of finely detailed shrines, coloured green by lichen. There were three cheeky Cambodian kids there when we went, and they played about the place while we took our photos. With only 5 other tourists there, it proved that you can shake the Angkor crowds pretty easily and still discover an amazing treasure.
Exploring the temples is a great experience. The vast complex is manicured and swept so that it resembles a leafy English country park... in this setting some of the temples almost look like fakes, placed picturesquely as follies to delight visitors. In between and beside the temples are clusters of stalls selling food, water and trinkets, staffed by an army of Cambodian women and children who pester you to buy something at every opportunity... 'sir, you want water sir... you want cold drink sir... you want bracelet sir, two for one daalor'. I don't think
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Cheeky children at Banteay Samre I've ever said 'no thank you' so many times in one day! But after two days of temples I was more, not less excited about seeing the star attractions.
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Hello!
Nice pictures! Did you make it to Beng Melea! It's another massive temple completely left to ruins! It was my favorite Angkor temple easily beating Angkor Wat!