Two Sore Backs

Day two at the temples. Are you templed out yet? We have one more day in us.

We head out just before 8am. Possibly an earlier start at 7am would have given us an hour in slightly cooler weather as it is going to be very warm today. Instead, we enjoy the hotel breakfast and are fortified with a couple of cappuccinos.

One benefit of the big tour is the temple sites are further apart so the rest and water period in the tuk tuk is longer. And the tuk tuk gives a nice breeze. We decide we will navigate these temples ourselves. Pon was helpful but he seemed to want to fill every silence with information and it was just too much for us to process. Instead we have some note threads on each of today’s temples copied from Wikipedia. With the knowledge we retained from yesterday’s tour we’ll probably achieve about 80% on a self tour given our limited brain capacity.

As we are leaving town in daylight this day we spot this Toyota Prius hotel 😉

Angkor Wat Moat

Yesterday we approach Angkor Wat in the dark. Today we see the size of the moat around the temple grounds.

Sras Srang – Royal Bathing Pool

We start at a large reservoir – 700 meters x 350 meters. This reservoir was dug in the 10th century.

We are at the west landing – flanked by stone lions and naga (seven headed serpents).

Banteay Kdei

Dating from the 12th century, the temple name means ‘citadel of monks’ cells’. The style is of an administrative center – many corridors and rooms. A citadel is in the eastern section. More recently until the 1960’s (that is recent given we’ve gone back 9 centuries) monks were living here.

Temples have many Buddhist Yoni and Linga – below. Together, the linga and yoni represent the unity of the male and female aspects of life at both the cosmic and individual levels.

Pre Rup

A 10th century Hindu temple mountain (aka lots of steps) built as the state temple of King Rajendravarman. This temple and East Mabon were constructed in the same period.

Road side snack

The next temple is 25 kilometres away so we will rest and hydrate in the tuk tuk. Channara surprises us with a stop for a local coconut muffin. These yummy steamed muffins have a coconut center.

Banteay Srei – lady temple

The temple complex is 10th century Kymer style dedicated to a Hindu god. The temple is on a smaller scale and carvings are more delicate. Red sandstone is an easier carving medium. Given its more remote location the buildings and smaller size, the remediation has been easier.

The name lady temple is a misnomer. One explanation is that the delicate nature of the carvings led to the name ‘lady temple’.

The carvings are wonderful.

Road Trip

A couple of photos from the tuk tuk.

East Mebon

This 10th century Hindu temple was once on an island surrounded by a large reservoir. There are four guardian elephants on the terrace level – one in each corner – possibly indicating the location of the entrances. Access would be by boat.

Te Som

This Hindu style temple is a shrine dedicated to the father of King Jayavarman VII (12th century).

Pat shares a 30 second panorama of the interior of Ta Som. You’ll get a sense of the place.

More Buddhist Yoni (female) and Linga (male) representations.

The World Monument Fund is supporting restoration as the trees are encroaching.

Krol Ko

This is a small temple nearby Te Som and probably not as frequently visited. Channara tells us the temple name means ‘the park of the oxen’. The experts speculate that despite its name, this temple was probably a chapel hospital for nearby Neak Pean and Preah Khan (we head there next).

We enjoy walking into a ‘relatively’ small space and just exploring for a while. It gives us time to focus on the small temple and a few of the temple details without getting overwhelmed.

Another 12th Buddhist temple built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII.

Depictions of Lokeshvara, in Buddhism a holy person with healing powers.

This stone wall catches my eye.

Looking closely, these three faces look more like a photograph than a carving. There is something eerily lifelike about the face on the right.

The level of preservation is impressive. Recently , many countries have supported this work with expertise and crews. But restoration is a slow process.

Neak Pean

We cross over a water way possibly used for bathing or irrigation. And within is a smaller pond and a serpent temple. This temple and the pond were constructed at the same time as Preah Khan (our final temple to visit).

Preah Khan

This temple was built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII to honor his father and it was built in the administration style. Apparently over 100,000 people worked here.

Our last temple of the day with a long ceremonial walk to the temple and then the temple to explore. We press on.

This style is getting familiar. We imagine the long corridors going W to E and shorter corridors crossing. These corridors go on for a long while (and we are getting weary). Still it is an interesting temple and has the added interest of the trees creeping into the structure.

Today we are out for 8 hours. After a rest we head out for dinner. Siem Reap is quieter tonight. We sleep well.