Alright lets continue with my second day exploring the Angkor complex!
My third day in Cambodia started really early - 4:45 AM early to be exact. This is because we were going to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat! Although we're not lucky on that day sob sob. Anyway I woke up at 4 AM, didn't shower or anything, just washed my face and grab some dried fruits I bought the night before for snacks. Met Mr Sophea again at 4:45 and off we go to Angkor Wat!
No luck for sunrise. But still magical!
Before we left I looked up the sky and see no stars at all. It was just really cloudy. So I kinda knew we won't be so lucky with the sunrise. Got a nice spot at Angkor Wat for the sunrise but well it was really cloudy so there's no beautiful colours of the skies behind the temple. Nevertheless it was rather magical seeing the sky slowly light up. It was pretty quiet, with only the sounds of crickets and frogs harmonising beautifully. Spent a few more minutes after sunrise to take more shots!
6 AM
After that we went back to the hotel, it was 7 AM then. My plan was to shower, eat breakfast, and meet Mr Sophea again at 9 AM. But err plan failed. I fell asleep after I showered till 8:30 and rushed to meet him haha. Oh well no worries, I had a super filling lunch later on haha.
For today we went to explore a few more temples, and some which is located 20 KM away from Siem Reap. We went to the temples in the "grand circuit" which includes Preah Khan, East Mebon, Neah Pon. And also temples that are further away like Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre.
Entrance to Preah Khan
The first temple stop was Preah Khan, which is a temple dedicated to the King's father. It is also used as a monastery with lots of Buddhist monks that used to live there. It looks and feels similar to Ta Prohm, also it is quite significant in size as compared to the other temples. The entrance of the temples is lined with boundary stones. The purpose of these stones is to protect the temple from evil.
Boundary stones leading to the temple
Which my guide shared an interesting story with me. So he once brought a guest from India, and when they reached this temple, the guest told him that he couldn't enter the temple because there's fire at the entrance (which there isn't, obviously). So my guide was saying that maybe this guest practised some incantations which goes against the incantations of the king, hence preventing him to enter the temple. So he actually waited outside the temple while the others went in! :O
Notice how the doorways get lower and lower as you go inside
The temple is cool in a way that the doorways are made lower and lower as we go inside. The king designed this to make people bow lower and lower, as a sign of respect to his father. Pretty cool right. Also there's a shrine dedicated to Indra Devi. Another interesting story is that the shrine was found in the middle of rubble. While the areas around the shrine falls within, the shrine is still intact, somehow. People still go to the shrine to pay respect to Indra Devi till today. Including me! :P
Looking similar to Ta Prohm right?
The temple ground is quite huge, and it was a pretty enjoyable morning exploring its ground.
Neah Pon = two nagas intertwined. Can you see the two heads?
The next temple we went to was Neah Pon. The temple is located in the middle of the Jayatataka barray. This temple is dedicated to medicinal treatment? The temple is in the middle of a pond. And on each of the four directions of the pond, there are 4 statues of a human, lion, naga and horse. Water would come out of the statues' mouth and people would bathe on the flowing water to get treatments from their ailments. Sadly these statues are off-limit to visitors now so I can only see the human one.
East Mebon
Next stop before lunch was the East Mebon temple. A temple made out of pink sandstone, which make it stands out from the other temples with its colour! It reminds me of The Prambanan temple in Indonesia. The temple has beautiful detailed carvings all over the temple. The doorway in the central tower still looks amazing too after all these years. I think these temples are more well preserved than the others. Well there are still signs of vandalisms here and there :l
Banteay Srei
We then went for lunch where I ate a lot haha. After that we went to smaller temples which are located about 20 KM away from Siem Reap! They are Banteay Srei, Banteay Samre and Pre Rup. Banteay Srei is another one of my favourites! It is also made out of pink sandstone, and it is dedicated to Shiva. The carvings around this temple is so beautiful. Most of them depicting Shiva. Sadly the central towers are off limits, but the other areas around the temple is pretty beautiful.
Beautiful carving of Shiva
Although Banteay Srei is relatively smaller in size as compared to the other temples that I went to, the beautiful and intricate carvings around the temple definitely made up for it. And once again, thinking about how this temple was built 1100 years ago always send shivers down my spine. There's even Sanskrit inscription on some walls. Pretty pretty cool seriously.
Banteay Samre
The second last temple for the day was Banteay Samre, which is a temple dedicated to the local samre people, who lived around the temple. They helped build the temple and also join the king's army, thus the king dedicated this temple for them. It is relatively bigger in size than Banteay Srei. Not many people visit this temple, maybe because of the distance. There were only 3 people in the temple back then! Pretty serene and nice to just walk around in the afternoon.
Banteay Samre from afar.
It literally rained after I told Mr Sophea "looks like it's going to rain" hahaha
Okay we wanted to go to Pre Rup, but just as we left Banteay Srei, it was pouring super heavily. Apparently it's normal to rain like that in Cambodia, which will last for about 2 hours and then it will come to a complete stop heh. So we just went pass by the temple to see it from the road. Which is still pretty impressive! But the rain got heavier, there was even a slight flood on the road as we made our way back to Siem Reap. But I kinda felt happy cause oh gosh the weather was so hot haha.
Palm fruit seeds. Looks like Calincing to me
On my way back my guide bought for me a type of palm fruit seeds? I'm not sure what to call it but in Indonesia it's quite similar to "calincing". It's kind of like a coconut xiao long bao haha. It's still a bit tough but this is the right time to harvest them. My guide told me it can get even tougher.
Mr Sophea, me, and our wonderful driver! Thank you so much.
I bid farewell to my wonderful guide, Mr Sophea, as he dropped me off back at the hotel. I would like to thank him for being such an awesome guide in those two days! Couldn't ask for a better guide really. To those of you going to Siem Reap, I highly recommend Happy Angkor Tour for your tour around the Angkor Complex. Find them on TripAdvisor (like I did) and do contact them okay! Oh and special mention to our driver, whom I didn't know his name, for being an awesome driver too!
Spent the rest of the day walking around town again, but I'll talk about it in my next post!
Imagine being in this place without learning anything!
So yup that's all for my two short but wonderful and fruitful day in the Angkor Complex. Not gonna lie, my initial plan was to just fly to Siem Reap, hire a tuk-tuk and explore the temple on my own. But after my trip to Tibet, I learned how important it is (for me that is) to learn more about the history of the place, rather than just seeing them! So I decided to sign up for a tour and well it was definitely a right decision. Learned more than I expected myself to learn about the history and culture of the Khmer empire. And about Hinduism too mwahaha. Thank you Mr Sophea once again! Ao Kaun!
Sanskrit inscriptions at Banteay Srei, dating to 960 AD!
As someone who's always intrigued by time and history, exploring the Angkor complex is definitely something I enjoyed a lot. As I walk through the temples, I often wonder and imagine how life was 1000 years ago here, on the same spot that I was standing on? To be in a place where the past remained is an incredible feeling. And it made me eager to explore more places around the globe!
Alright that's all for now. Continuing to part three soon. Thanks for tuning in :)
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