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Published: March 13th 2006
Our last day at Angkor was spent visiting the ruins located farther away. Our first stop, Banteay Samre, has an unusual theme. Instead of the usual battles and conquests by egotistical kings, its elaborate ornamentation tells the story of a poor farmer of Samre origin, who specialised in the cultivation of sweet cucumbers and who eventually became king after the ruler died, leaving no heirs. It's a smaller place, but certainly worth seeing.
Kbal Spean is farther away than the main set of ruins. The road isn't paved the whole way there, but it isn't bad either, just a bit dusty when trucks or cars pass by. It is not actually a temple, but carvings of Vishnu and other Hindu deities in a riverbed. It was a steep hot hike up the hill. We skipped the waterfall because it's only a trickle in the dry season, but the carvings were very interesting. It was completely different than anything else at Angkor, because it was from an earlier period. Some of the carvings have been looted, but many are still intact.
Banteay Srei was built by Jayavarman V (not J-VII) and finished in 968. It is an example of the
idea of making a temple complex comprised of several buildings, and features some very fine carvings in pink sandstone. The whole complex was surrounded by a moat. This area was inhabited by several priests who tended the shrines and performed the religious rituals of worship. This site is best known for its amazing carvings, which are so delicate it is claimed that only women could complete such work. Many of these carvings have sadly been looted, including some by a Frenchman who was arrested for stealing Banteay Srei carvings in the 1920s. He later became Charles de Gaulle's Minister of Culture.
It seemed fitting for the final set of ruins that we visited to be the Ruluos group, which were the earliest built at Angkor. These temples are not Buddhist, but are dedicated to Hindu deities. Bakong is a pyramid that is supposed to represent the 5 levels of Mount Meru, a "Stairway to Heaven," if you like. Its most interesting feature is the stele carved in Sanskrit, which describes the composition and rituals of the temple court and how the temple was built.
Lolei is still a working monastery, and the monks have modified various parts of
the grounds over the years. There are some interesting gargoyle carvings and you can still see the plaster over the carvings on the outside walls, but the temple is smaller and not in the best shape.
The largest structure in the Ruluos group, Preah Ko (Sacred Ox), is an early temple that was built as the funerary temple of Jayavarman II by Indravarman I in the late ninth century. It has huge moats and looks more like the other Angkor temples than the rest of the Rulous group. There are ox statues throughout the grounds (hence the name "Sacred Ox"), some more well-preserved than others.
So there you have our 3 fantastic days at Angkor. It may sound like many of these places were the same, but we never felt "templed out." Each one had some fascinating characteristic that made it different from the rest, be it moats, carvings, towers, pyramids, or sculptures. We are so excited that we were able to see such a fantastic place, to walk the same walls and hallways as the god-kings that ruled this amazing empire. We would encourage all of you who are thinking about visiting Angkor to come and see
it for yourselves. You won't be disappointed, I promise.
Our apologies about taking so long to post these entries. We took so many photos and it has taken a long time to go through them, plus it has been difficult to find PC's with USB ports and adequate connection speeds. More to come soon, I promise.
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