Siem Reap ……finding temples further afield

Cambodia 2018......painful memories and memorable temples

December 14th

Another early morning departure, although we have time for breakfast ….Mr. Sam is at the hotel at 07:00 and carrying our snack boxes we depart for Beng Melea Temple a spectacular jungle temple around 70km drive to the northeast of Siem Reap. It is one of the “new” highlights of Cambodia, having only been cleared of land mines at the end of 2003. A new road linking Siem Reap to Beng Melea was cut through the jungle in 2003, and is now paved so getting there is quite easy for mere mortals. The plan by leaving early is to try to beat the tour buses.

Built by Suryavarman II, in the style of Angkor Wat; its scale is huge; being well over 1sq. kilometer within its moat. Approached by four causeways; Beng Melea appears to be a huge pile of rubble partially hidden in the trees. Once you get closer the high walls, the ancient Khmer Architecture reveals itself. Cloaked in vegetation and with few concessions to tourism; this temple looks like it would have done when the early French explorers found it.

The entry fee is 10 USD for us both, and as we saunter down the path leading to the temple we suddenly realize we are the only people there save for the guards….we haven’t experienced this since the Mesquitta in Cordoba where we were one of the first in for a few minutes……here we have the place to ourselves for almost 20 minutes before the first tourist arrives…..very, very cool!

…we really liked the solitude, especially as this temple is resting almost unchanged from the time it was discovered…translation we took a lot of pics and just hung around listening to the birds and the silence….

…as we were ending our tour we could see the flags waving on the path (large tour groups often have a tour leader with a flag leading the way) and were glad we had taken Mr. Sam’s advice and left earlier than the madding crowd. BTW if anyone is reading this post and is contemplating a visit to Siem Reap we would definitely recommend Mr. Sam, he is a driver and not a guide (and as such cannot go into the temple areas with you) however he clearly loves what he is doing, his command of English is strong (17 years in the States after escaping to Thailand through the jungle and thereafter to the USA ) {when they were inclined to take refugees} and now resides with his family in Siem Reap. Gave us lots of tips and explanations and stopped to show us what was growing in the fields as we drove through the countryside….samtuktuktours.com…..don’t worry all this driving was in an A/C car > he no longer tuktuks.

Back in the car and on the road again…..on the way we truly left the city behind and entered a countryside of rural villages and farms. No running water here, no irrigation and a significant dependency on community. As we drove into what could be described as a plateau we could see rice & corn fields as well as banana, cashew, mango and papaya plantations….and of course the ubiquitous local hand-held walking tractors which fulfill a multitude of rolls. As rice is being harvested now we would see these contraptions towing a wagon with bags of rice piled high, the family on top of the bags and various utensils, implements hanging off the sides > families camp out on their fields to harvest their crops and we encountered many who were returning to their homes.

At one point we stopped by the roadside and Mr. Sam showed us cassava which had been harvested …

…..and black pepper vines climbing on poles in orderly rows…

The folks in the above pic were working to the beat of local hip hop > a tad incongruous given the surroundings.We reached the border of the Koh Ker park where we paid our entry fee (20 USD for us both) and enjoyed some nice and clean WC’s….Mr. Sam was always telling us when “good” restrooms were available.

The city of Koh Ker was the capital of the Khmer Empire between 928 AD and 944 AD replacing Angor Wat (the how did this happen is complicated, fascinating and beyond the parameters of this blog but the intrigue and subterfuge must have been of significant proportions). At the time this ancient city was a thriving, busy hub home to over 10,000 inhabitants covering 80 square kilometers and comprising some 180 temples. This represents an amazing achievement when you consider how short a time period it took to build this entire complex, including massive reservoirs to allow life in this particularly arid area during the dry season.

At this time approximately a dozen temples can be visited as the surrounding areas have yet to be cleared of mines…

There is a dirt ring road that allows us to visit a number of them:

Prasat Bram, there are five towers erected in a compound and enclosed by a laterite wall. Only three of them are Prasats (shrines for idols or deities) and the two towers in front were so-called libraries. Note the tower in the second pic completely overgrown by strangler figs.

Prasat Krahom, the “Red Temple”actually is a Gopuram, it can be crossed through doors to different directions. Prasat Krahom marks the beginning of the tendency to build towers as gateways, which became typical in later periods of Khmer architecture. The “red temple,” is known for its sandstone carvings…..

As we walk further into the complex we reach Prasat Prang the biggest single building and the landmark of Koh Ker. The temple mountain has 7 tiers dressed in sandstone, at the base it is 62 m wide and reaches a height of 36 m. The uppermost terrace measures 12 metres on a side. The pyramid’s only stairway is on the eastern side (however a wooden staircase helps the tourist reach the top). The steps in the temple stairways are very narrow and steep….we understand this is to make the “supplicant” crawl up the mountain. There is conjecture that there was once a wooden Prasat on the very top sheltering Prasat Prang’s imperial Lingam (a phallus or phallic object as a symbol of Shiva)….

…..views towards Thailand from the top …..

As we started to head back Mr. Sam pointed out a few more, smaller temples/ruins which he felt were worth seeing…all these we were able to enjoy by ourselves. Prasat Chrap has two concentric enclosing walls, the three tall towers in the centre of the compound have all lost their front walls. They are built of laterite. Usually laterite has a warm reddish tone because of iron oxides, which is the typical colour of early monuments in Angkor. The stone here looks burnt due to oxydation and apparently there are many examples of darkened laterite stones in Koh Ker. Laterite can be called a natural stone as well as a clay brick, though only big blocks of laterite are used in Khmer architecture. But the term “laterite” is derived from “later”, the latin word for “brick”. Laterites develop by long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock and can easily be cut from the soil, but after being exposed to sun and air, they soon become rather tough stone…….

In the pic below you can see how the forest swallows up these temples….we are standing at most 50 meters away…

This is a ligna >>> water drips in through a hole in the roof, then down the head of the ligna and then travels through a channel and out through the wall. There it is collected as, “holy water”….

We then retraced our steps to Siem Reap, passing the HQ of the bomb clearing operation…a slow, deliberate and dangerous task which continues as there are still casualties from unexploded ordnance…

Another great day which we celebrated with a free dinner at the hotel…

…..inclusive of an Aspara performance a traditional dance of the Kingdom of Cambodia that dates back to the 7th century …