Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The Grand Circuit
On our second day at Angkor, we decided to start a bit later (around 9:00 AM) and finish at sunset. On our itinerary was the ‘Grand Circuit’ which would drive us around to visit the temples on the perimeter of the Angkor complex. However, our driver had other things in mind and, wanting to make a few extra bucks, suggested that we first drive out instead to one of the more remote temples – Banteay Srey. We did have this temple on our ‘list’ of major temples ‘to see’ so we went with it, also deciding to see Banteay Samre and Kbal Spean on the same run since they were in the vicinity.
We hit one of the ‘Grand Circuit’ stops first: Pre Rup. Pre Rup was the State Temple of King Rajendravarman’s capital. Pre Rup is a temple-mountain, supposed to represent Mount Meru, and has two ‘libraries.’ It also had very steep stairs and 5 large towers… quite impressive to look at! Henk and I walked around exploring, climbing all the way to the top and back down again. (Which never fails to freak me out being up that high with such steep steps!) The temple originally had lime based plaster walls, which is evident by the many holes in the stones in order to help the plaster stick.
The next stop was Kbal Spean and thank God we went in the early morning! It was already so hot by then that we were dripping with sweat before the 45 minute uphill climb to the top even started. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of hiking, I can do it but it is not my ‘thing,’ so it was a bit of a leap of faith to get to the top not knowing exactly what we would find. But I have to say, it was probably one of the most interesting Angkor sites we visited if not just for the fact that it was so completely different than the standard ‘temples’ we had become accustomed to seeing by then. If you feel like you are ‘templed-out’ but still have time on your Angkor pass (and it helps if you actually enjoy hiking because the surrounding scenery and views are indeed beautiful) check this place out.
Kbal Spean, according to our guidebook, was originally a flowing river but unless it’s the rainy season (which it isn’t for us) it is quite difficult to see that. It is also known as the ‘river of a thousand lingas’ because as you walk further down the path near the river you notice dozens of stubby lingas carved into the ‘floor’ of the river’s rock. There were also more elaborate carvings of the Hindu gods Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma etched into the stone. The carvings stretch over 150 meters of river rock both carved below the water’s surface and on the rock positioned just above the water level. While some of the carvings must have been washed away by now it was still quite cool to see the water washing over the remainder!
We made our way back down to find our guide and buy some more water. We had been going through bottled water like crazy our days in Siem Reap and the locals must love the profit. Our next stop was Banteay Srey, famed for being the ‘miniature temple’ at Angkor. As we walked towards it, Henk and I immediately saw the appeal: extremely intricate and detailed carvings which still looked pristine, almost new, entirely covered the small space. The narrower spaces and shorter-than-average doors almost gave the place a ‘dollhouse’ feeling, and it felt as if we were entering a temple more mystical than any other.
Once we reached the temple entrance we used the guidebook to help ‘lead’ us around the temple, however since many of the areas formerly ‘walkable’ were now roped-off it didn’t prove to be too helpful. We learned that the temple’s name was ‘Great Lord of the Threefold World’ and it was not a royal temple, having been built by one of the King’s counselors. Furthermore, the whole temple was made of pretty pink sandstone. The guide enabled us to spot a lintel that had a scene from the Ramayana where two monkey brothers – Valin and Surgriva – battle for the crown. We also saw a carving of a demon ripping open the chest of an adversary.
On the way back towards the Angkor ‘Grand Circuit’ we did a quick stop at Banteay Samre which, being one of the ‘one diamond’ rated minor temples we had written off as not being very interesting. But that was before we saw it! The temple actually turned out to be quite shockingly ‘complete’ in its structure having a tower that resembled those at Angkor Wat. It was nicely compacted so it didn’t take long to make our way around. There was a platform we used to walk around the temple along the inner side of the gallery that our guidebook pointed out to us. Made for a unique temple experience!
Now back at the Grand Circuit we headed to East Mebon where we found many giant stone elephants surrounding the corners of the temple. The temple itself was pretty similar in style to Pre Rup and for a moment I wondered if we had been to it before. Because it was so similar and we were getting quite tired by then (Cambodia’s heat will do that to you very quickly.) we explored fast and jumped back in our tuk-tuk to feel the breeze again.
Ta Som was a small temple with another strangler fig wrapped around it providing for some awesome ‘lost temple’ pictures. Our guidebook explains the simple construction of this temple: “Ta Som’s layout [is] three concentric enclosures and very little in the way of annex buildings. Much of the temple is plagued with fallen stones now, but it used to be a pristine complex housing 22 divinities and known as the ‘Jewel of the Auspicious White Elephant.’ However, we sadly didn’t see any lucky white elephants hanging around the temple. On to the next!
Phnom Bakheng was our destination for sunset. But for Henk this ended up being a bit disappointing. Once we climbed our way to the temple, and then to the top of the temple, he realized that we wouldn’t see the sun setting over Angkor Wat itself. Since Phnom Bakheng was near Angkor Wat, he thought we’d be getting a great view! It turned out to be pretty but not spectacular as the setting sun didn’t overlook any temple complexes. In fact, it ended up being another cloudy day so we actually didn’t really get a sunset at all. But that’s alright, we had seen enough for the day. We found a place to sit down for a bit after walking around the top of the temple. Most of Phnom Bakheng was in shambles and besides its size didn’t have much of interest to look at. Skip sunset here if you are keen on getting pictures and go for a different temple for something more promising.
We asked our driver if he could drop us off for dinner at Angkor Palm, which was supposed to have great local food. While I had the sweet and sour chicken, (which wasn’t special) Henk did enjoy his turmeric soup. We finally got to relax back in the room after the long day of activities after dinner. Next stay tuned for… Angkor Day 3!
We hit one of the ‘Grand Circuit’ stops first: Pre Rup. Pre Rup was the State Temple of King Rajendravarman’s capital. Pre Rup is a temple-mountain, supposed to represent Mount Meru, and has two ‘libraries.’ It also had very steep stairs and 5 large towers… quite impressive to look at! Henk and I walked around exploring, climbing all the way to the top and back down again. (Which never fails to freak me out being up that high with such steep steps!) The temple originally had lime based plaster walls, which is evident by the many holes in the stones in order to help the plaster stick.
The next stop was Kbal Spean and thank God we went in the early morning! It was already so hot by then that we were dripping with sweat before the 45 minute uphill climb to the top even started. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of hiking, I can do it but it is not my ‘thing,’ so it was a bit of a leap of faith to get to the top not knowing exactly what we would find. But I have to say, it was probably one of the most interesting Angkor sites we visited if not just for the fact that it was so completely different than the standard ‘temples’ we had become accustomed to seeing by then. If you feel like you are ‘templed-out’ but still have time on your Angkor pass (and it helps if you actually enjoy hiking because the surrounding scenery and views are indeed beautiful) check this place out.
Kbal Spean, according to our guidebook, was originally a flowing river but unless it’s the rainy season (which it isn’t for us) it is quite difficult to see that. It is also known as the ‘river of a thousand lingas’ because as you walk further down the path near the river you notice dozens of stubby lingas carved into the ‘floor’ of the river’s rock. There were also more elaborate carvings of the Hindu gods Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma etched into the stone. The carvings stretch over 150 meters of river rock both carved below the water’s surface and on the rock positioned just above the water level. While some of the carvings must have been washed away by now it was still quite cool to see the water washing over the remainder!
We made our way back down to find our guide and buy some more water. We had been going through bottled water like crazy our days in Siem Reap and the locals must love the profit. Our next stop was Banteay Srey, famed for being the ‘miniature temple’ at Angkor. As we walked towards it, Henk and I immediately saw the appeal: extremely intricate and detailed carvings which still looked pristine, almost new, entirely covered the small space. The narrower spaces and shorter-than-average doors almost gave the place a ‘dollhouse’ feeling, and it felt as if we were entering a temple more mystical than any other.
Once we reached the temple entrance we used the guidebook to help ‘lead’ us around the temple, however since many of the areas formerly ‘walkable’ were now roped-off it didn’t prove to be too helpful. We learned that the temple’s name was ‘Great Lord of the Threefold World’ and it was not a royal temple, having been built by one of the King’s counselors. Furthermore, the whole temple was made of pretty pink sandstone. The guide enabled us to spot a lintel that had a scene from the Ramayana where two monkey brothers – Valin and Surgriva – battle for the crown. We also saw a carving of a demon ripping open the chest of an adversary.
On the way back towards the Angkor ‘Grand Circuit’ we did a quick stop at Banteay Samre which, being one of the ‘one diamond’ rated minor temples we had written off as not being very interesting. But that was before we saw it! The temple actually turned out to be quite shockingly ‘complete’ in its structure having a tower that resembled those at Angkor Wat. It was nicely compacted so it didn’t take long to make our way around. There was a platform we used to walk around the temple along the inner side of the gallery that our guidebook pointed out to us. Made for a unique temple experience!
Now back at the Grand Circuit we headed to East Mebon where we found many giant stone elephants surrounding the corners of the temple. The temple itself was pretty similar in style to Pre Rup and for a moment I wondered if we had been to it before. Because it was so similar and we were getting quite tired by then (Cambodia’s heat will do that to you very quickly.) we explored fast and jumped back in our tuk-tuk to feel the breeze again.
Ta Som was a small temple with another strangler fig wrapped around it providing for some awesome ‘lost temple’ pictures. Our guidebook explains the simple construction of this temple: “Ta Som’s layout [is] three concentric enclosures and very little in the way of annex buildings. Much of the temple is plagued with fallen stones now, but it used to be a pristine complex housing 22 divinities and known as the ‘Jewel of the Auspicious White Elephant.’ However, we sadly didn’t see any lucky white elephants hanging around the temple. On to the next!
Phnom Bakheng was our destination for sunset. But for Henk this ended up being a bit disappointing. Once we climbed our way to the temple, and then to the top of the temple, he realized that we wouldn’t see the sun setting over Angkor Wat itself. Since Phnom Bakheng was near Angkor Wat, he thought we’d be getting a great view! It turned out to be pretty but not spectacular as the setting sun didn’t overlook any temple complexes. In fact, it ended up being another cloudy day so we actually didn’t really get a sunset at all. But that’s alright, we had seen enough for the day. We found a place to sit down for a bit after walking around the top of the temple. Most of Phnom Bakheng was in shambles and besides its size didn’t have much of interest to look at. Skip sunset here if you are keen on getting pictures and go for a different temple for something more promising.
We asked our driver if he could drop us off for dinner at Angkor Palm, which was supposed to have great local food. While I had the sweet and sour chicken, (which wasn’t special) Henk did enjoy his turmeric soup. We finally got to relax back in the room after the long day of activities after dinner. Next stay tuned for… Angkor Day 3!
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