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Published: August 18th 2006
4th day - 27 May 2006, Saturday - Banteay Srey & Misc Temples
Today our main destination is Banteay Srey or known as Citadel of Beauty which is located far from the town and this is the last MUST VISIT temple to us. Due to the long distance, we have to pay extra transportation fees to the Tuk-tuk driver (normal rate = USD 10 per day but now = USD 15 per day). Along the way we got the chance to see many things, for example the local people activities, houses, markets / shops and etc. Finally, we took about 1 hour ++ to reach there. A little advice here, to take a car to Banteay Srey is a better choice, because the road condition at certain stretch is not too good, so if you were taking Tuk-tuk it is not comfortable. In addition, there is a lot of dust all the way.
Half way, we stop at the Pre Rup temple for a short break. Recommended to have a quick drop by here, this temple gave us a different feel from what we have visited for the past two days. Within the temple, constructed with few attractive stone
towers and in the centre part is a “pyramid” type of building. Unfortunately, we were too tired and lazy to climb up there.
As usual, before the entrance to the Banteay Srey, there are a lot of souvenirs stalls. When we overview on the whole site, the temple could not give us a very grand impression, it is relatively small and do not have a multi level of building structure.
Then, we came to the first gopura / door / gate. From here we found something that very amazing at the lintel… it is decorated with a very fine carving. Now, we knew that there is something more interesting thing waiting for us to see.
From the 1st gopura to the most inner site, we walked through a causeway then passed the outer enclosure - a perimeter wall, 2nd enclosure - moat and the last enclosure - another perimeter wall.
The moment of truth…
This site really… really never disappointed us. At here, we saw the finest, the most details and the best / excellent of the Khmer art. That is why people described it as “Jewel of Khmer Art”. I would say - if the
Angkor Wat & Bayon Temple represented the greatest knowledge / wisdom of Khmer, then the art / carving at Bantey Srey represented the soul of Khmer. All carvings are telling us about the legend / story of the Hinduism (advisable to have a study on the Hinduism story / legend so that the whole visit can have more fun / satisfaction).
After the visit, Lim wonder to know more about the carving, so before leaving Bantey Srey; he brought a book - Ancient Angkor cost USD 4.00 (the 1st offer price was USD 11.00) for further reading.
On our way back to town, we spent some time dropped by at the few temples at the northern side. There were included the Ta Som - A small temple, Neak Pean - A unique island temple (during our visit, the pond was dry), Preah Khan - In the old time it was a Buddhist university / city, a large scale site but currently not in a good condition, need a lot of restoration.
In the late afternoon, we get back to Bayon again…
The purpose was to take photos at the main entrance that we missed out yesterday.
These few photos we have taken took us more than 1 hour due to the crowed of tourists.
After this stop at Bayon temple, it remarked the end of our visitation in Angkor’s temples.
We back to the guesthouse for rest … and dinner at Pub Street.
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Paul Sinnott Oude
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Incredible adventure
Reading your travel blog is amazing! You are living my dreams! I have always wanted to visit Angkor Wat so its really awesome to see and hear your experience!