Another gloriously sunny and hot day and we have arranged for Mr Su to pick us up at 8.30am for our second day visiting the Angkor temples. Our itinerary includes Preah Khan, Preak Neak Prean, Eastern Mabon, Ta Som, and Pre Rup. At every temple stop there are a line of food stalls as well as others selling clothes and souvenirs. Even before we can get out of the tut-tut we are accosted by young children selling scarves, postcards and bracelets. They are hard to resist with their smilie faces, sense of humour and pleading voices.
Preah Khan (Sacred Sword) was home to 1000 teachers and may have been a Buddhist university. One of Angkor’s largest complexes it is a better state of repair than Ta Prohm but still overgrown with trees growing out of and over the surrounding walls. It includes a Grecian-like structure with Doric-looking columns which seems rather out of place here. Part Mayayana Buddhist and part Hindu, the temple has a cruciform layout. The corridor dedicated to Buddhism has equal-size doorways, whilst the other three dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma respectively have successively decreasing doorways apparently reflecting the unequal nature of Hinduism. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prea_khan
Preah Neak Prean is a small well-preserved temple set in the centre of a rectangular pond with small shrines on each of the four sides. It is a serene setting and we take time out to sit at the waters edge and chill. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/preah_neak_prean
One of the smaller temples, Ta Som’s eastern gate has been completely overwhelmed by an ancient tree which is both supported by and one suspects supporting, the edifice, invading between the cracks and engulfing the stonework. A beautiful fusion of nature and man-made structure which warrants several photographs. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ta_promh
Eastern Mebon is a 10th century temple built by Rajendravarman. It stands on what was an artificial island in the now dry East Baray reservoir. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built to honour the King’s parents. It was built in the style of Pre Rup using a mixture of sandstone, brick, laterate and stucco – although little remains of the latter. Impressive 2 metre high elephants stand at the corners of the rectangular raised terrace. A central tower is surrounded by four others all built of brick and looking very much like enormous kilns. Four landing jetties on each of the four sides tell of a time when this temple was surrounded by water. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/eastern_mebon
Pre Rup is built primarily of laterite and brick by Rajendravarman similar in style to Eastern Mebon. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pre_rup
By the end of the day we are hot and exhausted and we are losing track of all the temples we’ve visited. So what do we want to do tomorrow our third and final day, Mr Su asks? We decide to take a trip further afield to see a temple and waterfall about 30km north of Angkor Thom. Of course, it comes as no surprise that this is going to cost us extra!